san diego as an artist.

[boygirlparty]

today i thought about how i've lived in san diego for over 6 years now. i love our home here in san diego and i love our neighbors. day to day, life is so fulfilling here, between the sunshine and our little bungalow and the coziness of our neighborhood. i love the friends we have made, and how we're always discovering new corners of our amazing

Comments

[ext_942971]

Maybe if you meet halfway between the two and live in chicago? hehe, yeah right, instead of being friendly and encouraging it's probably the worst of the two, mean and unsupportive! This is just a guess, as I 1. do not live in the city and 2. am not a paid artist. However I do live in the burbs and it does feel like that somewhat to me. But that just might be suburbia for you.

[boygirlparty]

did you know i'm from chicago? i bet that will always be my idea of the perfect balance, because that's the environment i was raised in!

I understand!

[ext_943009]

Susie.. I totally understand! I live in LA.. and 2 years ago I traveled down to SD to sell at a Holiday show (I said hello to u there :) I've been a fan of your work for a few years now- your name on the list legitimized the show for me so I decided to sell there too) I didn't sell a single piece! People were nice-ish but I was shocked I couldn't sell anything!? What?.. up the road 2 months earlier I did very well in La Jolla. I thought SD was a place I could see moving to because it is so beautiful but I was also surprised that it just isn't the artist community I thought it was.. If there was a way to start something and help change this.. I'd be signing up with ya. It's just a shame to see a great city miss the mark on these things. I dont want to feel like I HAVE to live in LA to make things work.

I think you're doing a great job putting yourself out there.. It really sounds like you're doing everything right. Don't blame yourself.
Sandy

Re: I understand!

[boygirlparty]

sandy, thank you so much for your sweet comment and i apologize that it's taken me so long to respond. i'm sorry to hear about your experience at that holiday show, but if i remember right, i had the same experience at that show and haven't done another with that group since! it's definitely not you, and i think that experience was limited to that particular show. the following year, i organized my own show and it was such a positive experience. i have these glimmers of hope for san diego.
how is living in LA working out for you? thanks for your supportive note and for saying i shouldn't blame myself. when things don't go well for me or when i don't get what i'm hoping for, i definitely tend to blame myself for it not working out! xo susie

[berkumpje]

Sorry to hear that, I would also love to be involved in the art-scene here, but I feel like it is an in-crowd with lots of 'older' people and no younger artists at all :( but I don't live in a city and the bigger cities are about an hour away... sigh. Hope you will find some luck in 2012!

[boygirlparty]

thanks for the well-wishes! an hour away will give you some hope, i hope! san diego is its own gigantic city, so it sucks to have to look elsewhere for support. too bad i can't just be considered local to LA, that would make everything easier :)

[berkumpje]

Thanks :) I'm sure this year will be a brilliant year!

[leanne_opaskar]

Hi there. (: I'm a local San Diego artist too, though I have very little experience with shows or anything like that. I've got a webcomic ( http://www.saijikistories.com -- though it's currently on hiatus while I fix my shoulder), and did a couple of sf/anime conventions last year. I currently have a gig doing some sprites for a startup software company in New England.

TBH, I'm lonely! I don't really know how to meet other artists out here, although I guess I'm more digital-art type than a fine-art type. (: Maybe all of us who are local could get together at some point and meet each other?

[boygirlparty]

hi, fellow san diego artist! i agree, it's a bit lonely as an artist here. since you work digitally, perhaps you would be a better match for a space like the one i mentioned above. i was the only person who worked there without a computer and i think it really made me the odd man out / made me realize how out of place i felt on so many levels.
that said, i'd love to be part of some kind of san diego artist meet up. there is a group on meetup.com but i've never gone to one of their meetups. maybe 2012 is the year for us both :)

[foxinthesnow]

you do well up here, right? I have one of your purses and I get stopped on the street by strangers all the time who either love it and want to know who made it or love you and want to tell me all about how much of your stuff they have! I had a friend come and visit who hadn't seen me in three years and the first thing he did after giving me a hug was take a picture of the purse and send it to his GF!

I think sd is a rough place for any artist. anything that isn't surf or beach related just gets lost, which is a real shame.

[boygirlparty]

i usually have a great experience in LA - events like felt club really gave me such a great foundation as a california artist! still can't thank jenny enough for that to this day. that said, since i do a lot of licensing (such as that bag!) i think my work is really fractured out there -- ie, people may recognize my work but they don't know who made it, what my name is, or that there's more of it. it's really the dilemma of being an artist in the digital age, probably - - your work just has a life of its own, and that sometimes means that as an artist without the support of a local community, you don't end up feeling like you have an identity of your own. i do wish it could be as simple as "move to LA"