Art Problems

Katie Hargrave is a visual artist and associate professor at the University of Tennessee Chattanooga, where she's lived and worked for twelve years. This is the second episode in a series on artists building careers outside city centers.

Katie talks about what that has required: virtual studio visits that now feel more natural to her than in-person ones, a social media presence built on sharing other people's work without an obvious ask, and getting really good at logistics. She and her longtime collaborator Meredith Laura Lynn work six hours apart by car, and Katie explains how that distance has shaped their partnership for the better. She also talks about why being direct early in a relationship makes everything that follows easier.

Katie Hargrave is represented in exhibitions across the Southeast and beyond, including recent shows at the Hunter Museum of American Art, the Knoxville Museum of Art, and Granary Arts. She often collaborates with artist Meredith Laura Lynn.

Relevant links:
Katie Hargrave: katiehargrave.com
Meredith Laura Lynn: meredithlauralynn.com

Ever wondered how to build a growing art career without moving to New York or L.A? Today, I speak with Jodi Hays, an artist who has done just that. 

In this episode, Jodi talks about deciding early on not to bend to the art world’s preference for artists located in major cities, and to build something sustainable on her own terms. This meant investing in Nashville as her home and part of her practice, taking the long view on relationship-building, and using follow-up, not just outreach, to open doors. She also gets into the financial realities of working outside the major markets, and what it looks like to finally have gallery representation she trusts.

About Jodi Hays: Jodi is a visual artist based in Nashville, Tennessee. Her work is held in public and private collections, and she is represented by David Lusk Gallery. 

Relevant Links 

Jodi Hays
David Lusk Gallery

with Constance McBride, figurative ceramic sculptor, curator, and co-founder of The Hook Experiment

Constance McBride came back to art at 47 after 25 years in the corporate world, eventually joining Netvvrk in 2021. Four years later, health reasons pulled her away from the membership. What happened next is the kind of story Paddy doesn't always get to tell: a former member building something real.

Now based in Chester County, Pennsylvania, Constance is co-running The Hook Experiment, a nonprofit gallery and performance space in Oxford, PA, where artists can show large-scale installation and experimental work free from commercial pressure. The space hosts group shows and open calls, rents to outside organizations, and recently completed its first international juried exhibition. It's a 501(c)(3) now, with a board, an executive director, and a calendar that includes performance, sound events, and more.

In this conversation, Constance and Paddy talk about how the skills she built inside Netvvrk showed up when she wasn't even looking for them, how artist-run organizations can be structured to protect studio time, and what it looks like to build infrastructure for your own community when the existing options don't fit.

Constance McBride is a figurative ceramic sculptor and installation artist based in Chester County, Pennsylvania. She is a co-founder and board member of The Hook Experiment.

Find Constance's work at constancemcbride.com or follow her on Instagram at @constancemcbride_art.

Find The Hook Experiment at thehookexperiment.org or on Instagram at @hookexperiment.

Questions? Email support@netvvrk.com.

Subscribe on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

Do you feel like an imposter? Most artists do, at least sometimes. But artist anxiety can take on a life of its own -- the voice that says your work doesn't matter, that you don't belong, that it's only a matter of time before everyone figures it out.

This week's guest, Holly Wong, has thought hard about why the art world breeds this so reliably. When even objective markers of success can be questioned, the goalposts never stop moving. In this episode, we talk about how negative self-talk shapes outcomes, why grant writing can be a path to self-acceptance, and how to stay generous without losing yourself in the process.

Resources: 

https://hollywongart.com/

Biography
Holly Wong creates fiber and drawing-based installations and collaged paintings that explore healing and resilience. She was educated at the San Francisco Art Institute where she graduated with a Master of Fine Arts. Holly has participated in over 100 exhibitions including group shows at the de Young Museum, the Marin Museum of Contemporary Art, and the Contemporary Jewish Museum. A Presidential Scholar in the Arts, she has received grants from the California Arts Council (Established Artist category), the Puffin Foundation, the George Sugarman Foundation, and the Barbara Deming Memorial Fund. She is represented by SLATE Contemporary Gallery in Oakland, CA, Bridgette Mayer Gallery, Philadelphia, PA, ELLIO Fine Art in Houston, TX, and Walker Fine Art in Denver, CO. Holly lives and works in San Francisco.

Crystal Hartman has been a Netvvrk member since we launched in 2021 — long enough to know exactly how she uses it, and what it's actually done for her practice. She joins me today to talk about what it looks like to run a studio with your values front and center: finding community after relocating to a new city, using Netvvrk as a resource library rather than a fixed routine, and how learning to articulate what she needed led directly to getting the keys to an experimental exhibition space in her town.

Crystal Hartman (b. 1983, Durango, Colorado, USA) is a multimedia artist based in Urbana, Illinois. Her work has been exhibited at the CCCB, Barcelona; National Palace of Culture, Sofia; BMOCA, Boulder; Arvada Center for the Arts; and Denver International Airport. Her work appears globally in arts and literary publications, as album art through independent labels, and on book covers published by Oxford University Press and A5 Publishing, Madrid. In addition to her studio and curatorial practices, she teaches workshops on Light and Alternative Photographic Processes each spring through the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign at The Farms: An Allerton Folk School.

Free Info Session: How to Get on a Museum's Radar - Tuesday, April 28th at 7pm EST. Register here.
Website: https://www.crystalhartman.com/