In Response, Some Thoughts

I had really dreaded reaching the 10-year mark in my art career because that is typically when one is no longer considered emerging, and I didn't feel that I was ready, nor did I feel like I had matured as an artist.  I worried that I would lose out on opportunities, especially since much of my work is challenging & provocative and does not stick to a personal, easily identifiable signature approach or style, all of which make it considerably harder for me to pursue solo endeavors and/or build a steady fan base.

However, by reconciling this over the span of the entire year through my anniversary celebration, with all of its ups and downs, and culminating it in the big LAST CHANCE! show, I sense that I have physically made manifest that which I was uncertain of by essentially creating my own "coming-of-age as an artist" ritual.  Though I am still very much processing it, I feel that this entire experience has transformed me, and has ignited my passion for art once more and made me more accepting of where I am, what I have and haven't done, and further opportunities for growth and development.

Thank you again for all of your support.  I invite you to continue to join me on this crazy journey as I navigate the next 10+ years of my art career.

Sincerely,
Jennifer Weigel
http://jenniferweigelart.com/

PS.  I didn't cancel the December raffle for naught and shall revisit it when the time is right.  I intend to post the results here when I do so.  Metamorphoses take time...

Local Legacy Fund

I, Jennifer A. Weigel, hereby declare that any funds generated from sales during my 10-year art anniversary LAST CHANCE! One Night Only! retrospective exhibition and performance on Saturday, December 8, 2012 shall be donated to the St. Louis Chapter of the Women’s Caucus for Art to help establish a Local Legacy Fund.

This fund shall continue the efforts of the national legacy campaign & initiative on a local level, promoting women artists of the greater St. Louis metro region and helping to ensure that we are recognized for our achievements; collected among local institutions, colleges and universities; and written into local history.  I will gladly work with the Board to help determine what this means and how these monies may be used towards this end.

I welcome anyone who wishes to donate more monies towards the establishment of this fund to join me in doing so.  Let’s make sure that our local legacies continue to live on so that we may continue to connect with, inspire, and promote women artists within our community as well as abroad.

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Above is the announcement I delivered at the St. Louis Chapter of the Women's Caucus for Art holiday party this evening after considering what I wanted to do with the monies generated from sales from my LAST CHANCE! show.  Although selling my work was clearly part of the original intent (as evidenced by my flyer), I hadn't thought through the outcome of what I would do with the money since I was focused more on the logistics of the show itself and presumed I'd likely not sell anything anyway, preferring not to get my hopes up.

I know I could just keep the proceeds, but I have instead decided to use them to instill a sense of hope and bring some closure to the discourse that I raised.  By helping to create a legacy fund aimed at recognizing local talent, I hope that this need becomes better addressed and that, with time, some of the questions and concerns I posed in my show may thusly be resolved.

Destruction, Part 2: Indoors and Conclusion

Indoor footage & conclusion of the destruction of over 150 artworks during Jennifer Weigel's 10-year art anniversary celebration finale LAST CHANCE! One Night Only! a retrospective show and performance event at Fort Gondo Compound for the Arts, St. Louis, MO on Saturday, December 8, 2012, 6 - 10 PM.

Performed by artist Jennifer Weigel
Recording by David Wilbur

Destruction, Part 1: Outdoors

Outdoor footage of the destruction of over 150 artworks during Jennifer Weigel's 10-year art anniversary celebration finale LAST CHANCE! One Night Only! a retrospective show and performance event at Fort Gondo Compound for the Arts, St. Louis, MO on Saturday, December 8, 2012, 6 - 10 PM.

Performed by artist Jennifer Weigel
Special guest appearance by St. Louis art collector Andrew Limanni
Recording by David Wilbur

Declaration of Legacy

After my speech, Chuck read this Declaration of Legacy as a "will" of sorts and distributed signed & authenticated copies (printed two-sided with my artist's statement), encouraging those who attended the event to take detritus from destroyed artworks as party favors, souvenirs, mementos and/or materials to repurpose into new art.


Declaration of Legacy, December 8, 2012

I, Artist Jennifer A. Weigel, hereby declare that those Artworks created over the course of my career as a practicing Artist and accumulated during my life shall be destroyed upon my passing so to not grant greater significance and value to my Artworks through my death.

I shall not relinquish my Artworks to misinterpretation and misrepresentation by those critics, curators and historians who were disinterested in those very same Artworks over the course of my career as a practicing Artist.

I shall not allow my Artworks to increase in monetary value to collectors, dealers and patrons upon my death after remaining unsold, underbid through auctions & raffles, and being otherwise devalued during my life.

I shall not leave a legacy of Artworks to an unappreciative, undeserving and unsupportive public following that undermines living, local Artists in favor of those who are deceased or hail from afar. 

Therefore, I declare that any Artworks in my possession upon my death that somehow escape destruction are henceforth disowned and disavowed by myself, Artist Jennifer Weigel, and shall no longer be considered viable as my own for the purposes of value assessment.

In contrast, I hereby grant that the remains of those Artworks destroyed shall be allowed to act as Genuine Articles of my passing to record my career as a practicing Artist and to document my life, and may be distributed as such only if accompanied by a signed copy of this Declaration, as authenticated by my Husband Charles G. Wilbur.


Authentication of Genuine Article

These remains serve as a Genuine Article to act as documentation of the career and life of Artist Jennifer A. Weigel as authenticated by this copy of her Declaration of Legacy, originally distributed on Dec. 8, 2012 during her 10-year art anniversary retrospective show, Last Chance! One Night Only!

Signed,
Charles G. Wilbur
Husband to Artist Jennifer A. Weigel

Speeches

These speeches preceded the destruction of over 150 artworks during Jennifer Weigel's 10-year art anniversary celebration finale LAST CHANCE! One Night Only!

Performed by Jennifer Weigel & her husband Charles Wilbur
Recording by David Wilbur

Artist's Statement

Question Legacy

This is for…

… the activists who assume artists will freely give of their time, money, talent & artwork to support and champion their causes.

… the arts organizations that have had to financially rely more heavily on the artists they support, further alienating those individuals without funding.

… the collectors, curators & historians who find greater value in an artist’s work after death rather than in life when the artist is able to add more to the discourse.

… the commercial enterprises that are concerned solely with the salability of the art that they represent and are unable to try or disinterested in taking chances.

… the educational institutions that perpetuate the myth of finding a tenured teaching position after pursuing an advanced degree.

… the fans who sheepishly follow the hottest, most popular new trends but aren’t really interested in seeing further development or evolution afterwards.

… the hobbyists who undervalue their own time because they enjoy doing what they do, and thus subsequently undercut equal work by selling cheap.

… the idea that one must have an advanced degree as a form of validation, to lend credibility & significance to one’s art & ideas.

… the networkers who are ultimately only interested in their own endeavors and who go to events to be seen, schmooze and talk about themselves.

… the notion that culture should be imported, causing local artists & artisans to be underrepresented among major institutions and underappreciated overall.

… the poor economy and resulting lack of sales that has caused well-established artists who have been self-sufficient to have to take other jobs to survive.

… the presumption that legacy matters, that an artist will be celebrated & remembered after his/her death while in truth many are forgotten or lost to time.

Performance Notes

Here are the performance notes for the speech I delivered:

Thank everyone for coming.  I am truly blessed and honored to be celebrating my 10-year art anniversary and am grateful to all of you for being here for me and for coming along for the ride as I navigate the ups and downs of my career.

Thank Galen for hosting the show, and for continuing to promote and foster art and community by taking risks and opening the door to dialogue and discourse to celebrate, collaborate, comment, explore, play and question.

Thank Chuck for helping me to reach my potential.  I wouldn’t be who I am today if not for your love, support, and willingness to join me on this crazy journey.  You are the light of my life and inspire me to strive for more, push the envelope even harder, and continue to pursue my creativity and vision even when I feel adrift, alone and isolated in doing so.

I know that many have wondered why I am doing this, questioning my integrity, necessity, sanity and validity.  Is it my place to do so?  What gives me this right?  What is the purpose and reasoning?  WHY?  I don’t myself have all of the answers to these questions, but I can say with certainty that I am doing this because I feel in my heart it is something I must do.

Aftermath

I know you're dying to hear of the aftermath from the big event, but I am taking my time to recuperate.  I promise I will post things as they evolve but I have a lot of responses forming and in the works and want to be able to digest, evolve, explore before I reemerge; metamorphosis takes time and energy!  In the meantime, I will post some of my performance notes and statements.

LAST CHANCE! preview 2

LAST CHANCE! One Night Only! is fully installed.  Only a few tweaks left to go, and a party to get together...  :)

LAST CHANCE! One Night Only!
solo 10-year art anniversary retrospective one-night art exhibit & performance event
Fort Gondo Compound for the Arts
3151 Cherokee St., St. Louis, MO
Dec. 8, 2012
6 - 10 PM

LAST CHANCE! preview 1

My LAST CHANCE! One Night Only! 10-year art anniversary retrospective show is coming together.  Here is a preview of some of the impending doom.  Gold Rush Popcorn, an older assemblage, post-sledgehammer...  I will post some preview photographs of the exhibition display after I finish setting it up tomorrow.

LAST CHANCE! One Night Only!
solo 10-year art anniversary retrospective one-night art exhibit & performance event
Fort Gondo Compound for the Arts
3151 Cherokee St., St. Louis, MO
Dec. 8, 2012
6 - 10 PM

LAST CHANCE! One Night Only!

I am extending my December raffle to my upcoming show this Saturday, so feel free to enter there rather than on the blog if you prefer.  This retrospective exhibit & performance will be my big finale for my 10-year art anniversary celebration, so please come and join in the party!

LAST CHANCE! One Night Only!
solo 10-year art anniversary retrospective one-night art exhibit & performance event
Fort Gondo Compound for the Arts
3151 Cherokee St., St. Louis, MO
Dec. 8, 2012
6 - 10 PM

December Raffle CANCELLED

PLEASE NOTE: THIS RAFFLE HAS BEEN CANCELLED!!!
After my LAST CHANCE! event I've had a change of heart and have a new plan in mind for this artwork.   I apologize to those who entered and will offer a consolation prize of some sort.  This piece will be developing into something new, and I will post the end results of this at the end of the month.
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December FREE Raffle: Enter to Win This Artwork!!!

I will be posting a raffle every month in conjunction with my 10-year anniversary celebration. New raffles will be posted at 12:00 PM on the 1st of every month. To enter, just leave a comment with your name in response to the original raffle blog post. If your comment doesn't appear within a couple of days, email me at jennifer@jenniferweigelart.com to be sure that I got it. By leaving a comment you state that you have read and agree to the terms noted here. Anyone who doesn't abide by these rules will be automatically disqualified. 

Raffle entries are due by midnight on the 14th of the month. Winners' names will be posted to the blog after being drawn from a hat on the 15th of each month and contacted through their Blogger IDs within three business days after the drawing. (If you don't have a Blogger ID, be sure to check back to see if you've won and, if so, to contact me.) Non-winning entrants will not be contacted.

All artworks must be picked up in person. Winners must arrange with me to claim their prizes by the end of the month or forfeit their prize. Schedule is subject to change at my discretion. Each entrant may only win once; previous months' winners will be disqualified from later months' drawings. The artist assumes no liability for any damages of any kind related to these raffles and/or the artworks included therein.

About this Artwork:
Title: Regret
Media: deconstructed found chair reappropriated into a tree, faux fruit, shredded paper, spray enamel, plastic pot, gravel
Dimensions: installation, variable (approximately 5 feet H x 2 feet diameter)
Date: 2008
Value: $200