Hi all,
I am looking to change my venue and would like to learn about the best places to live as a ceramic artist (not a potter). What towns in the U.S. should I consider for art community, best cost of living, art support like galleries and educational opportunities such as teaching?
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Oh, Thank you! I will look into it.
The Hampton Roads area of Virginia seems to be growing as a Art Community. The main 7 cities are Norfolk, Portsmouth, Virginia Beach, Chesapeake, Suffolk, Hampton, and Newport News. On the Norfolk/VA Beach side of the tunnel, there's an Art Show of some type almost every weekend from April through October, then Christmas shows in November and December. The shows range in size from small to large, with a healthy number of "mid-size" shows - 50-70 Artists.
Lot's of galleries, each with it's own personality, especially in Norfolk and Portsmouth. There are several teaching oppurtunities, also. Tidewater Community College is one of the few, if no the only, community colleges with it's own Art School campus. It's a farely new campus with state of the art everything!
There is also a lot of Art north of here, centered around the Chincoteague Island area. Cheaper cost of living there, too.
I like the idea of being by the sea, a lot of my work is water-related sculpture. Norfolk is a rather large town, I like to hear about the galleries with personality, sounds like a town rich with culture... But you mentioned an island,,,where is Chinoteague Island?
I do rather well in an 'Arts Community' in Gatlinburg, TN. We get millions of visitors/tourists every year. We get new customers daily plus I've built a rather nice steady customer base from people who come to visit the Smoky Mtns on a regular basis.
Ive had my small studio/gallery space here for almost 6 years and my business has been steady. My studio rent is very low and to be honest Im doing better at this space without having to go to any artshows than I did when I was doing 20 or more shows per year. Even though the economy has been very iffy Im encouraged that this month my sales are UP from last year.
We have quite a few studio/gallery spaces opening up in this community so if anyone is interested it might be worthwhile. I used to do artshows for 7 yrs and got very tired of shlepping my art. Now I just sit, make art and they come to ME! heh. Gotta love it! Plus I have more time to create my art rather than sitting in hotel rooms or travelling. The other major plus is that I dont have to leave my 'babies' (My 4 lovable cats) so often. They like having mama home too!
How interesting! Sounds like a vibrant community, and a great tourist destination as well. The Smokies are abundantly beautiful.
Thanks for the info!! I'll definitely put Gatlinburg on my "possibilities" list.