Visual Artists Association Avis 85

I joined VAA in 2021 after considering for a long time whether it was a good idea. What you get is care and consideration and swift response to any queries or requests. This growing community is a treasure house of positive activity aimed towards supporting an artist and their career. Please join and you will not regret it

The Gavin Oattes mindset cafe yesterday was entertaining, but within the humour was a strong and pretty profound message which I hope to keep in mind. His warmth and enthusiasm was engaging.

In general the VAA has been a great community to be part of. Laura, Shirley-Ann and all the team have been consistently helpful and responsive at times when I have had an issue or question, which given the growing membership numbers is impressive. They are always supportive and knowledgeable, and the art cafes which can always be accessed retrospectively have been mostly inspiring and useful, usually jampacked with practical advice. One of the great bonuses has been getting to know a few individual members in small breakaway groups where we can give each other additional support and share ideas.

I found the Mindset Micro-learning class extremely useful. Inspiring in fact. The VAA offers great career guidance and so much positive support for artists at every stage of their career, but particularly emerging artists.

I'm a mid stage visual artist who's recently joined the VAA as I felt I needed support to develop my practice and required help with a specific and complex multi-media project. Laura and the team were incredibly efficient and pragmatic after an initial 20min intro conversation. They requested background information prior to the call in order to make the rime more focussed and were able to rapidly assess what actions I should be thinking about kick starting and how they could help.

The organisation puts out regular Zoom meets to assist artists at any stage in their careers and record these in case one is unable to attend. The VAA also shares easy to digest Whitepapers on key factors for success. Above they are hands-on, candid whilst also seem to genuinely care about an artists' individual success. A true gem.

As an upcoming artist I can’t recommend the VAA enough. They have provided so much access to online training programmes, webinars, introductions to professional artists and galleries, I’ve been given a wealth of support from their help desk. They really are available for any questions I’ve had. I am a premium member and this gives me priority access to all events and it’s the best money I’ve ever spent… I would say don’t delay, join today as it’s made such a difference to my career path and I’m so grateful to the individual relationships I’ve made within the association. Their advice and support has been a constant throughout the pandemic and two years on I’m still a happy member.

The VAA is made up of a group of wonderful, helpful people. As an emerging artist I have found their help invaluable. They offer helpful advice and guidance. As an artist who prefers the creative process, to the somewhat less inspiring but essential processes of marketing myself I found the VAA have always been there for me to help push and promote my talent in a business respect also. Five stars from me...keep up the good work!

There appears to have been a discrepancy between when the program was supposed to be aired and when it was actually aired.

The discussion with Vincent Devine this morning was excellent and full of insightful comments about building your art, dealing with collectors, and making sure to set aside a portion of your work to experiment - so very important!
Also appreciated the VAA Updates on Opportunities.
I had no sound or picture issues - everything was clear. Thank you for doing these meetings!

Everything was very excellent, without sounding problems during programme, maybe my own network problems during bad weather conditions here in India...

Nice guy with too many words.
The essence of this presentation could have been dealt with in a quarter of an hour: network and self yourself as well as the work by getting to know people. The attendees seemed to lose interest; the comments n the chat were obviously spun out of boredom.

He certainly had the gift of the gab - but there was little about gaining visibility

It was refreshing and helpful to have Vincent answer so honestly and give such thoughtful direction. He covered multiple questions in a direct way, giving practical advice. I appreciate having some new ideas to put into practise to develop my Art career. He is a great mentor.

I credit Vincent Devine with the gift of the gab, but very little of the 1 hour talk dealt explicitly with topic of Gaining Visibility... I think he got carried away and no one reigned him in back to topic.

The Visual Artists Associaitons's Strategy Session

The strategy session I attended hosted by Shirley-Ann on Thursday 26th was well-structured, welcoming, engaging and helpful. It covered many useful topics, from achievable goal-setting to consistent branding to recommendations of good galleries.

Personal recommendations regarding effective books for structuring one's time as an artist, to generate steady streams of income were also included, as were priorities to set oneself at the start of each day, month and tri-month period.

Was amazing to see how many people enter the zoom meeting and the host was good and clear to identify a few more than one topics at the time
It's good that you're working with us and you are so cool to work with us
Thanks for organising this

Excellent opportunity to connect and explore useful information like the priorities for creative career planning, what collaborators are ready to support and marketing/collector platform information which emerging artists like me always looking for…thank you for the great session!!!

I attended this month's zoom Art Café about Art Fairs.
The meeting was brilliantly well organized with a huge amount of useful content. It has given me a lot to think about. I feel re-energized and ready to make renewed and more focused efforts to promote my work.

I found this webinar extremely helpful and informative with excellent advice from inspiring speakers. If time had allowed, it might have been useful to include some mention of framing in relation to the importance of presentation.

The VAA Summit 2021 was excellent. I found the step-by-step practical advice from Mathew Burrows especially helpful as was the input from all other working artists. I really like Rosalind Davies' practical and thoughtful presentations. Overall, an inspiring and empowering day.

I found the VAA summit to be well prepared; very interesting and informative. It also made me feel part of a community.
Thank you.
Marina