Guild- 1 : an association of people with similar interests or pursuits; especially : a medieval association of merchants or craftsmen
Within a few months I will be moving into Pneuma Studios in Central Austin. I will be living with 3 other artists and working around even more renting studio space. I am ecstatic for this opportunity. I will begin working with oil paints, I will be working on more mural jobs and commissions. Although I have my final semester of my B.A. in Fine Arts, I am already chasing down what I love to do, full steam ahead. This post is really about a contemporary guild and my thoughts of how it could exist in our time in Texas.
To be a freelance designer can be tough without the knowledge and support of an agency. To be a freelance illustrator, video producer, painter, etc is tough without the proper connections to knowledge and supporting industry. No one can operate alone. A guild of artists in the past was comprised of all tempura painters or all oil painters and illustrators. And respectively for most other trades at the time. But as I had stated in an earlier post, because of technology and the constant advancements on our tools and materials, we can learn at a much faster rate than one could 400 years ago.
If you want to paint with blues and purple paints, drive down to your local hobby lobby and grab a tube. Or a gallon. Lapis Lazuli is the rock mineral that is ground up to make the color we know as Ultramarine. A beautiful pulsating blue that was more rare than gold during the Renaissance. Do you want to build a chair or table? No, no, put down your axe mr. lumberjack. Lowes is 5 minutes down the road. Buy the wood. We already have screws, drills, planers, sanders, etc. If you can stay focused long enough to complete a task, this is a brilliant time to create and produce efficiently. With an art guild of multi-faceted artists, the possiblities extend beyond what was once possible alone. The potential is high, but the stress may follow right on its tail. With that said, it is only those who are willing to go to far who can find out how far once can possibly go. Stay Tan...