The Art Biz ep. 72: Planning a Year’s Worth of Artwork with Dawn Williams Boyd

Taking charge of your art business isn’t only about bookkeeping, inventorying the work, and promoting your art effectively.

Taking charge of your art business is about assuming 100% responsibility for your actions—all of your actions, especially in your studio.

We all want to increase our productivity and creativity, and Dawn Williams Boyd has mastered doing exactly that by planning ahead.

Dawn makes figurative textile paintings that reveal stories—not always pretty ones—about life in America. Dawn’s work has an unapologetic social activist message that addresses the Black experience, feminine sexuality, social issues, and this country’s politics.

In today’s social and political climate, there aren’t enough hours in the day for Dawn to convey all of the messages she wants to share in her art. She has to carefully plan the body of work she is going to make throughout the year. She takes charge of her production for the entire year.

In our conversation for the Art Biz Podcast, Dawn and I discuss her process for plotting out which pieces she will make each year. We also talk about why now is not the time to make art that matches the couch, what kinds of conversations she wants people to have around her work, and how she makes the valuable connections that are helping her reach her most ambitious goals.

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Music by Wildermiss

Highlights

• Dawn Williams Boyd responds to her daughter’s statement that she is a righteous badass. (3:45)
• Art that represents the effect of the history of the United States on the African American community, created by an African American woman. (6:14)
• What interested Dawn most in her Art History class is featured in her own work. (9:30)
• Dawn reflects on the big plans that she had for exhibiting her work in 2020. (12:47)
• The good things that can happen when you have nowhere to go and no one to see your work. (16:06)
• “The List” and how it influences Dawn’s productivity and creativity every year. (18:02)
• Now is not the time to make art that matches the couch. Dawn explains the opportunity artists have to use their voice to influence others. (21:32)
• A look inside Dawn’s notebook, including the details, fabrics, facts, and titles that drive her work. (26:15)
• Questions that Dawn asks herself in the planning stage of each new piece. (31:10)
• The criteria that guides Dawn’s ability to set goals and plan her work out a year in advance. (34:10)
• Dawn reflects on her 2020 goals, the pieces that she actually created and how she is constantly preparing for what is coming next. (36:50)
• The conversations Dawn wants people to have around her work. (43:50)
• Understanding the worldwide problems that are depicted in the imagery in Dawn’s piece, All Through the Night: America’s Homeless (shown above). (48:03)
• The overarching business and career goals that guide Dawn’s work every single day. (53:10)
• How an ambitious artist can ensure that their art is being viewed by the right people. (57:08)
• A peek into all that is in store for Dawn in 2021. (59:00)

Mentioned

• Faith Ringgold
• Tulsa Race Massacre
• Fort Gansevoort gallery
• Café
• AnyArtist.org
• Artists Opportunities Monthly

Dawn Williams Boyd Quotes

“That art history book that I fell asleep on? I want to be in that book. That’s my goal.”

“It is possible in fact, it’s preferable to determine how you want to show yourself in the world.”

“Now is not the time to make art that matches the couch. You could be influencing someone, or educating someone.”

“I like to have a goal to work toward, because that pushes me to work every day.”

“More black visual artists need to appear in art history books, and why not me?”

About My Guest

Artist Dawn Williams Boyd makes figurative textile paintings that reveal stories—not always pretty ones—about the American experience. Her latest series, The Trump Era, specifically focuses on xenophobia and immigration, but her work has also explored feminine sexuality, the Black American experience, as well as forgotten moments from American history.

In 2021 her piece, Sankofa, entered the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Dawn is represented by Fort Gansevoort gallery in New York City. She is a member of the Women of Color Quilters Network, which was recently highlighted in this New York Times article that includes mention of Dawn along with an image of her work. She helped found and run two influential Black artists collectives in Denver before returning to her native Atlanta in 2010.

Related Episodes

Elevating Women and People of Color with Adri Norris

Making Work That Matters with Suzanne Gibbs

Multi-State Multi-Year Multi-Artist Art Project with Marilyn Artus

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Music by Wildermiss