Summer in the Nation's Oldest Working Art Colony

There are lots of live/work gallery spaces available on Rocky Neck in Gloucester MA for the 2008 summer season. click the title link to find out more, there are lots of great pics of available digs. If you want to live and work in a beautiful summer place, this is it. Sales? Some artists sell, some don't. The tourists come here to see the art, so if you have what they want, it is worth it.

I can't afford any of these spaces. I know very few artists that can afford this kind of money for short term space. My studio rent in under $500 a month. It is a shared studio space, and off the beaten path in the Magnolia section of Gloucester. Occassionally the tourists find me, but very few buy. Why? because I don't sell any $25 re-prints of my work. Originals only. and the work in progress is usually not what they are looking for. Seascapes and landscapes capture my interest for short spurts throughout the year,then I go back to what I love. process, not product. Most buyors of art around here don't get that. They want the quaint, the over the couch, art that sits on the wall requiring minimal engagement with the work. When folk visit I use it as an opportunity to educate them about the making of art.

Heh...a few visitors last year got very angry with me because I do not sell prints of my work. One day, perhaps I will. When money is a bit more abundant and not dedicated to paying rent, transportation, art supplies and food.