Artist for Hire (2022)

Worked, curated by Grace Ann Clark, A.P.E. Gallery, Northampton, MA

For the month of July 2022, I took 10 extra jobs in addition to my 9-5. I advertised in the newspaper, on trees, social media, and bulletin boards around New England. The skills I was available for ranged from regular painting and drawing to negotiation advice and delivering hard news. Everyone I worked with had different expectations for the quality and quantity of work I would provide.

To summarize “Artist for Hire,” I wrote and performed an essay to explain how the project evoked memories about money, social class, work, and balance [read full script here]. I stood on a pyramid made by a friend, and I referred to the structural parts of life that make me want to stand at the top of a pyramid and also my disgust with that. The best part was when the little girl I met and later dedicated the project to came up on the pyramid with her mom at the end and they whispered the question: what would stop you from being an artist?

Do you ever wish you could have more control over the work you do and how you do it? I know artists who take all kinds of jobs outside of their practice to support their practice and their life (um most artists but sometimes the famous ones get famous because they don’t have to take other jobs)…and I know that the last two and a half years have found me doing jobs I never thought I would do (and ones I never thought I could do). For this month, I took control of how I work outside of my regular job. I was not available for any of the following types of work: childcare, healthcare support, secretarial or admin work, hair or nail care, or kindergardent/preschool education.

The project was part of Worked curated by Grace Ann Clark at A.P.E. Gallery in Northampton, MA. It was funded through my adjunct union grant program, the gallery, and all the people who hired me.

Video footage taken by Julian Brown, editing by Sofia Taylor.