What does it mean to be a working artist in the 21st century?
The Artist Zoo is an exploration of working artists and their day jobs: a diverse sampling of artists actively engaged in making Art, a collection of artists at various stages in their creative careers. When they devote the vast majority of their time and energy to jobs separate from their Art, how do they find their way back?
1.99 million Americans describe their primary occupation as artist. This number excludes an estimated 300,000 people with secondary employment as artists. That’s a lot of people making Art.
Think about how your life has been changed by a work of Art, a movement, or an artist. Think about what 2 million people can create.
Art changes lives, and together we make ripples that can stretch across miles, across borders, across time.
The Artist Zoo is more than just a book. It is a celebration of artists and a commentary on the challenges of being an artist in this day and age.
Join us. Together we are the Artist Zoo.
In Chicago this weekend?
The Artist Zoo will be shooting a video this Saturday, October 22, 3pm-6pm, outside of Lincoln Park Zoo in Chicago (more specifically near the arched Nature Boardwalk by the South Pond).
We need two kinds of people:
1.) Artists, with the tools of their trade;
2.) People in vintage clothing (circa 1920’s-40’s, also Victorian Safari-esque works too).
The idea is a black-and-white, grainy, somewhat cheesy silent movie feel, depicting a zoo filled with artists, as well as some artists who have escaped into the wild. The vintage clothing types will be gawkers, exclaiming over these exotic creatures. It will be a ton of fun.
If you’d like to participate, please rsvp at our Facebook invite or send me a note on the contact page.
https://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=293598827323670
We’ve learned with other projects just how important the promotional video is, and we’d like to get a great turnout of artists for this shoot.
Hope to see you there! And please spread the word!
Thank you.