One of the lessons I have inside of my learning center is a module on collaboration because I believe that collaborating is high-level thinking.
Successful artists know that they will get further faster with the help of others.
In this episode of The Art Biz I talk with Lori Sokoluk and Susan Purney Mark, who met in my coaching group many years ago and started a collaboration during the pandemic.
When I teach about collaboration, I’m usually talking about an exhibition or event.
[ See Multiply Your Audience and Expand Your Show’s Impact with Jill Powers ]
Lori and Susan took it to the next level and collaborated on the artwork itself—resulting in a two-person exhibition.
I wanted to know what the artmaking process was like when you’re presented with someone else’s marks on the canvas. I think you’ll enjoy hearing about it and what they discovered during the process.
We also discussed:
- The parameters of the collaboration.
- The challenges they faced, such as Lori’s physical limitations.
- How they titled the pieces together (a fascinating theme and process).
- How they divided up the business stuff.
- How the exhibition was organized.
- How it has affected their individual work.
- The advice they share with any artist who is open to collaboration.
[ Helpful resource: Art Exhibition Checklist and Timeline to Customize ]
Listen
Mentioned
- The Old School House arts centre
- “From a Distance: Works in Correspondence” on Lori’s website
- “From a Distance: Works in Correspondence” on Susan’s website
- Asemic writing
- Erased de Kooning Drawing by Robert Rauschenberg
- Liz Crain’s “art swap” with Karen Koch
Quotes
“One of the challenges was … looking at some of the things that Susan was doing and saying, Does that resonate with me? Do I want to try that?”—Lori
“While Susan said she was very respectful and very diplomatic about the piece that I had sent her that she struggled with, I have to admit I was less so. The piece that I struggled with, I actually obscured about 90 percent of what she sent me.”—Lori
“A couple of things were wow, why didn’t I think of that?”—Susan
“There there were some pieces that I saw that she had completed, and it’s just like hearing something sung in perfect harmony.”—Lori
“I think it has changed in a way to not force me, but encourage me to be braver, to be more experimental, to be bolder in my work.”—Susan
“Sending something back and forth is a conversation between two people.” —Susan
Related Episodes
These episodes discuss collaboration.
About My Guests
As a textile artist, Susan Purney Mark has embarked on a life-transforming journey into the world of color, design and pattern.
She has studied design, patchwork and embroidery with the prestigious City & Guilds of London Institute, and deepened her knowledge by working with many internationally acclaimed teachers.
Susan has spent the last 20 years learning, experimenting and finally teaching a variety of surface design techniques in dyeing, painting, screen printing and image transfers. Most recently she has focused on mark making and textile narrative. Her work is known for its use of traditional methods with contemporary design and materials.
Susan acknowledges with gratitude her location on SDȺY¸ES (st̕ey̕əs), unceded traditional territory of the W̱SÁNEĆ peoples.
Follow her on Instagram @susanpurneymark.
Making art enables Lori Sokoluk to feel into, and wonder at, the dualities of our nature and our world. Urban and natural landscapes are a major influence and inspiration though she is primarily interested in conveying the beauty, power and mystery behind the things we see and experience in everyday life.
The interplay of man-made grids and the organic landscape and the shift from prairie to boreal forest are evident in her recent artwork. This reflects the coexistence of our physical and non-physical being, our intellect and our intuition, and similar contrasts in our surroundings.
After many years in New York, Boston, Montreal, and Vancouver, Lori now lives in Smoky Lake, Alberta, Canada which is Treaty 6 territory and the ancestral home of the Cree, Dene and Metis peoples.
Follow her on Instagram @lorisokoluk
