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I took on a private student a few years back, right after the worst of the crisis here. She was young, maybe 24, no money at all but she wanted to learn mosaic so badly. She showed up at my studio with a five-liter tin of her family's olive oil and asked if we could trade. I said yes because I remembered what it was like to be young and broke and hungry for a skill. She came once a week for six months. She was terrible with the hammer and hardie at first, kept shattering the glass instead of cutting it. But she learned. She ended up getting a commission for a hotel lobby last year. When she sent me photos I actually teared up a little. Meanwhile I get DMs every week from people who want to "collaborate", meaning they want my work for exposure, or they want me to teach them for free because "it would be good for my brand." I don't answer those anymore. The olive oil was good, by the way. Her family makes it near Kalamata. I used it for six months and every time I cooked with it I thought, this is what paying attention to someone actually looks like.

A gallery took me on a few years back, and the owner asked if I could "loosen up" my style. Make it more gestural, more contemporary. She wanted me to paint the way someone else paints. I said no, and we parted ways not long after. I get that galleries have a vision. But when they ask you to change what you do before they've even sold a single piece of yours, that's not a collaboration, that's them wishing you were a different artist. Anyone else had a gallery ask you to be someone else? Did you bend or walk?

got a DM last week from a skincare brand that wanted to "collaborate", which in their world meant i paint something with their product in it, post it, and they "amplify" (their word) on their channels. no payment. they said "the exposure would be great for both of us." i asked what they were offering. they sent back a moodboard and a brief that literally said "make it go viral" as the objective. i said i don't control viral and asked what the budget was. they said they'd "love to discuss value alignment first." i told them my rate is $800 for a commercial post. they said they'd circle back. they circled back yesterday to offer me $50 and a "feature" on their story. i said no thanks. they asked if i could do it for the "portfolio opportunity." i hate it here lol. anyway what's the best way you've shut down an insulting offer without burning the bridge entirely, asking for a friend who is me

Once a gallery asked me to provide them with a list of local florists they could collaborate with for openings. I was baffled. Anyone else get strange requests during outreach?

just got an email from a gallery i hadn't heard from in like 8 months. they want to know if i'm 'still interested in collaborating'. lol. anyone else dealt with this level of radio silence followed by a casual check-in? what did you even say back?

I'm working on this piece, pietra dura sort of thing but with smalti, very fine cutting, very controlled. And yesterday I'm setting pieces and I notice there's a cicada shell stuck in the thinset near the edge. Must have fallen from the ceiling while I was spreading it, died there, dried out, became part of the substrate. My first thought was to pick it out. But I looked at it for a while and I don't know. It's been there the whole time I've been working on this thing. It's not hurting anything. It's almost invisible unless you're right up close. So I'm going to tesserae right over it and leave it in there. A little fossil. A tiny uninvited collaborator from the studio ceiling. This is what happens when you work on the floor. You make deals with the dust and the insects and the cats. 🙂