Demystifying the Art World: See and Be Seen

Session 4 of the series Demystifying the Art World: Practical Knowledge & Skills for Early-Career Artists is an in-person workshop for early-career artists focused on how to best capture and share images of artwork.

Having clear images of your artwork is essential for proposals, grant applications and your own archive. How can you take good images yourself or direct someone else to do so? What do you need to consider about environment, lighting, display and what to include in the frame? How do you convey scale and materials? What should be considered when documenting performance, video installation and multi-media work? Artist, photographer, and community leader Anthony Gebrehiwot will lead this in-person, hands-on workshop session that will answer these questions and teach early-career artists how to best document their work.

This session is free and open to all early career and emerging artists. It will be offered in-person at U of T Scarborough (BV340 studio, Bladen Wing). Space is limited, registration is required – please ensure you can commit to attending, before registering. If you have accommodation needs, please let us know through the registration form or contact dmg.utsc@utoronto.ca.

Participants are asked to bring their own DSLR camera (a few cameras will also be available at the program to share; recommendations for camera rentals can be provided if needed) and notebook. Optionally, participants can bring in their own small works, in any media, to be used in demonstrations.

Anthony Gebrehiwot is an award-winning visual artist, photographer and community leader whose creative lens re-visions photography as an ongoing dialogue of social change between subject and society. A self-taught artist and photographer, Gebrehiwot founded XvXy-photo in 2014 focusing on studio portraiture. To date, he has worked with several notable brands such as Nike, Royal Bank of Canada, Vice Canada, Absolute, Hudson Bay, The City of Toronto and Linkedin to name a few. His work has been featured in over thirty local and international publications such as the Toronto Star, the Globe and Mail, PAPER Magazine, Elle UK and Yahoo Lifestyle.

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This session is offered as part of the series Demystifying the Art World: Practical Knowledge & Skills for Early-Career Artists, running from September 2023 - May 2024.

Whether you’ve attended art school, pursued other forms of art education or are self-taught, there are foundational professional skills and practices that are rarely taught in formal environments. Artists often glean such knowledge through trial and error, having mentorship, or through information shared in their social and professional circles. Conceived of for early career and emerging artists, this series, organized by curator and educator Su-Ying Lee for the Doris McCarthy Gallery, aims to make key information accessible and demystify how artists approach essential tasks. Through nine sessions, some in-person and some online, participants will be familiarized with the practical knowledge needed to enhance and support their careers, through advice offered by a wide-range of experienced artists, curators, writers, and arts workers. The entire series is free, and participants can sign up for one session, multiple sessions, or the whole series – choose your own adventure and learn with us!

Session 1
Professionalism Starter Pack: Besides making art, what makes an artist a professional?
Thursday, September 21, 12:30 – 2 pm

Session 2
How to Talk About Yourself: Writing CV’s, artist statements, and artwork descriptions
Monday, October 23, 12:30 – 2 pm

Session 3
Get to Know Curators: What do they do, why approach them, and how?
Thursday, November 16, 6:30 – 8 pm

Session 4
See and Be Seen: Documenting your artwork
Saturday, December 9, 12 – 3 pm

Information on sessions 5 - 9 to be announced in December, stay tuned for more details!