What is an Artist Salon?
An Artist Salon is where space and community overlap! Open to all creatives in the community. This is a free event designed as a space for sharing work and receiving thoughtful feedback from peers. We’ll also make space to discuss creative struggles and offer opportunities for resource sharing, while enjoying snacks!
Artists are encouraged to bring physical pieces—such as photos, paintings, or sculptures—or to present performance-based work like dance, theater, comedy, and more. If you’d like to share physical acts such as circus or dance, videos on your personal devices are a great option, as we won’t have access to equipment or apparatuses in the space.
No pressure to present anything if you are not ready, or if you change your mind when we are in the room. Sometimes just being in the room is an excellent first step.
Please note, this is not a space for troubleshooting specific skills within acts, that is what coaching is for.
When: Sunday April 12th from 4pm-5:30pm
Where: Empyrean Arts: 32 Banks Ave, Asheville, NC 28801 Suite 107
Constructive Feedback
To get the most out of feedback, come prepared with specific questions. Presenting a work-in-progress and simply asking for general thoughts can make it harder to receive useful input. Instead, guide your peers toward the kind of feedback you need. For example: What does this remind you of? How does this make you feel? I am trying to communicate X, Y, Z—did that come through? Clear questions help ensure you leave with insights that move your work forward.
When giving feedback, try to set aside personal preference. Hopefully you will encounter work that isn’t your aesthetic—that’s the fucking point. The goal isn’t to push artists to pander to the masses, but to support them in fully realizing their own vision. Frame your feedback in a way that helps the artist get closer to what they are trying to achieve, rather than what you personally would want to see.
For example: I personally do not like sardines. If a chef poured their heart and resources into preparing a dish full of sardines and asked me, "What do you think?". My reaction would be "Ew, I don't like sardines". This exchange is not helpful. Instead, the chef could say "I made an effort to put a lot of ginger in this dish, can you taste it?" Now I have the opportunity to say 'yes' or 'no' which is valuable feedback for the chef when creating this recipe.
For more info on this here is a podcast from the one and only Rachel Strickland: