Being an Artist: Artist Interviews with Art21

by Susan Sollins (interviewer), Tina Kukielski (Foreword)

Based on the award-winning series produced by Art21 and broadcast on PBS. Art21 films, educational programs and publications provide a diverse audience with unprecedented access to the personal and professional lives of the greatest creative minds of our time. Art21 is unique in that it collaborates with each artist on every program produced, providing them with a platform to speak directly to audiences. With the mission to inspire a more creative world through the works and words of contemporary artists, Art21 is the go-to place to learn firsthand from the artists of our time.

Published on the occasion of the nonprofit organization's 21st anniversary, this compendium of artist interviews captures the engaging and seminal conversations that have taken place over the organization's history, serving as an essential primer on a generation of contemporary artists for those interested in the artistic process as a tool for curriculum building. In some cases, these interviews are previously unpublished.

Examples Bruce Nauman reflecting on choosing the right questions; Julie Mehretu on the historical and political references embedded in her abstract paintings; Cai Guo-Qiang comparing the process of drawing with lovemaking; Nick Cave describing art as a vehicle to express his emotions; Maya Lin explaining why she keeps art and architecture separate; Catherine Opie narrating her work's evolution from street photography to representational photography; Kerry James Marshall expounding on why art making is about fighting for recognition; James Turrell meditating on spirituality in the arts; and Theaster Gates proposing possibilities for art to go beyond the making of objects. Select images of the artists and their artwork, pulled from Art21's expansive media library, illustrate the interviews.

Genres: Art

275 pages, Paperback

Published September 25, 2018

About the author

Susan Sollins has been well known in the field of contemporary art for more than 30 years for her innovations in public programming and museum education, and as a curator. In addition to her work for many art institutions as a curator and consultant, Sollins was the co-founder and Executive Director Emerita of Independent Curators International (ICI), a nonprofit organization that develops, organizes, and circulates traveling exhibitions of contemporary art presenting a broad range of recent trends and aesthetic concerns to viewers nationwide and abroad. During her 21-year tenure, ICI’s 75 exhibitions featuring more than 1,700 artists were seen at more than 360 institutions and alternative spaces in the US, Europe, Canada, and Mexico.
Sollins was formerly the Visual Arts Consultant for Thirteen/WNET‘s Emmy and Peabody Award-winning arts magazine, City Arts; served on the Boards of the MacDowell Colony and ICI; and has been a panelist for the NEA, NYSCA, and New York’s Percent for Art program. Early in her career, Sollins was the Curator of Education (Chief, Museum Programs) at the Smithsonian’s American Art Museum, and Curator of its Discovery Gallery, which showcased contemporary art. In her private life, as the wife of the late composer Earle Brown, she was actively involved in the world of contemporary music for many years.
Sollins founded Art21 in 1997 and served as executive director for seventeen years. She was the executive producer and curator through seven seasons of the organization’s flagship PBS-broadcast series, Art in the Twenty-First Century. Sollins passed away in 2014.

Reviews

[Daniel]

A buffet of perspectives of the artist's experience spanning a wide range of contemporary artists. I appreciated the diverse voices that are collected in this work with a little bit of inspiration for any reader. I knew less than 10% of the artists and came out with a curiosity and admiration for many new ones. For artists looking to craft their message I would also recommend this as a sort of personal development read.

[Mills College Library]

709.04 B4227 2018