Continuous Project Altered Quarterly | March 2024

Parallel Practice

Phrases like “professional practices,” “professional development,” and “professional artist” bring up unresolved questions, opinions, emotions, ideas, and even somatic responses for me. I have to think about these concepts all the time, because I work with people every day on establishing and developing their careers as artists. I struggle with these terms, but operating Continuous Project is the best job I’ve ever had. Reframing “the business side” (another phrase that bums me out) of being an artist as the parallel practice uncovered a well of grace. 

The parallel practice is everything it takes to be an artist in public—a phrase I prefer over “professional artist”—except making the art. If you have no interest in being an artist in public, then you have no need for a parallel practice. But if you want to be an artist in public—to not only self-identify as an artist but to also be identified as such by a field of peers through exhibitions, critical reflection, and other forms of public recognition—then you must have a parallel practice. And if you want your life as an artist in public to be sustainable—to be a life’s work—then you must apply the same attention, persistence, care, and discipline to the parallel practice as you do to the artmaking practice.    

The parallel practice is the infrastructure, opportunities, and community of an independent artist’s studio. Tending to the parallel practice honors the significance of the art practice and allows artists to think more expansively and more accurately about their studio operations and their relationships. Working from this position casts needs, pressures, and responsibilities in a generative light. Without this independent parallel practice, it’s harder to find and participate in the interdependence that I hear so many people I work with craving, seeking, and needing to express themselves, grow their practices, and engage in a life’s work that is sustainable over time; work that you can sustain and that also sustains you. 

I prefer the term parallel practice to “professional practices” or “the business side” because for plenty of artists, they either can’t or don’t want to earn some or all of their living from their art practice, and the word “professional” implies that they do. And for plenty of artists, “the business side” of things is deeply relational and perhaps even nearly unrecognizable as a conventional business, financially or otherwise. 

I want my practice to be inclusive enough to accommodate practitioners who have expanded ideas of what success as an artist looks like, especially during an era when the market defines success more than ever before and social media algorithms have become arbiters of culture. I want this because like all practices, Continuous Project is a world building enterprise. The world I work in is one in which we prioritize curiosity, intention, and process over outcomes; evolution and transformation over perfection; and culture over market. The concept of the parallel practice as an alternative to professional practices, and the concept of being an artist in public as an alternative to professional artist, offer a kind of generosity that aligns with the world this practice is building.

Ideas & Resources
for Art Workers

The April tax filing deadline is almost here, so if you need some support, A smart artist’s guide to income taxes by Katherine Pomerantz for The Creative Independent might be a balm. But I want to highlight another winner on the Ideas & Resources Doc this quarter, too, in hopes that the income you have to reckon with around this time every year is more and more sustainable. Last week in my Parallel Practice class at ArtCenter, one of the students selected Fundraising for Artists: The Ultimate Guide assembled by Fractured Atlas to present to the class. I was grateful for the chance to dive back into this simultaneously concise and nuanced overview of fundraising. Sometimes it’s hard to think beyond the direct sales model for generating income to support your practice, so if you’re seeking some inspiration in that direction, this might just spark some ideas. 

Continuous Project
Updates

I’ve got a few private consulting spots remaining in March. I’m teaching my Parallel Practice workshop for the UCLA MFA cohort in April, so if you’re an established client who knows you’ll want to meet next month, please book in soon as hours in April are limited.   

If you’re interested in working with me, please book in a discovery call—I look forward to talking with you!

Established clients are welcome to drop in on Thursday afternoons, 3-4pm PT for Office Hours. Intended for quick questions and check-ins, Office Hours is offered by donation via Venmo @corrinapeipon. Email me for the link. 

I’m collaborating with Virginia Broersma and Elana Mann on a set of workshops and co-working meetings to provide guidance, accountability, and support for your annual Guggenheim application. Details will be announced in early April. 

Contemporary Art League

Join us as we close out our residency at ICA LA with our next two monthly working group meetings. We’ll work through our formal meeting agenda, which also includes a teach-in on a topic at the intersection of art and labor from a CAL volunteer. We hope to see you on March 28 and April 25 at 5pm at ICA LA. Our meetings wrap up around 6:30, and the museum closes at 7pm.