This week we're joined by Natasha Guy, a multi-disciplinary artist who recently moved from Philadelphia to Paris. Although she specializes in collage, photography, and film Natasha has also worked a few different jobs in the fine arts industry. Listen to our conversation to hear about life as an artist abroad, building a professional network, and determining your own self-worth.
In this episode, we have Nastasha Guy. She is a Paris-based interdisciplinary artist working primarily with collage, photography, and film. Natasha moved from Philadelphia after working for in Philadelphia after working at Paradigm Gallery. Today, she will talk about how she loves art and she established herself as an artist in Paris. Tune in to learn more!
Mowing to Paris
[0:49]
It's been seven months since Natasha moved from Philadelphia to Paris to do her master's in art history at the Sorbonne. She is also an intern at a photography agency which she works in the archives and editorial department, writing texts for photographers and translating captions. Natasha moved to Paris because the government is really good about giving people like artists, specifically funding and money. It's been exciting to see where she may be moving out of Paris for a little bit to another part of France later in the year.
Networking and Community
[03:00]
Paris is a hub for art and fashion. Natasha feels lucky to meet people through friends of friends and then meet a variety of creatives. At first, she was late at meeting a lot of fashion people, which is very much not her thing, but it's interesting to learn about. French people are a lot nicer than they get credit for, most people give her slack if ever she's missing a vocab word, and some things are just better said in English or vice versa, better in French. It's been a learning experience for the French people and her that she has interacted with me and become her friends.
Life in Philadelphia
[06:14]
Natasha started working in paradigm gallery as a liberal teenager. She started part-time as an intern eventually worked there at post-grad as a gallery assistant, and was able to see the gallery's evolution, but also sort of like her evolution into adulthood. Jason and Sarah, the two co-owners, proposed Natasha organize and carry a show based around college because she saw her college work. And they were like; you might be good at figuring this out. And she was excited to work on organizing a show because obviously, it's generally a dream, but be about a medium that's so meaningful to her.
Commissions and Pricing
[10:55]
Natasha considers herself a little difficult to work with because she thinks she works intuitively. It's easy to like to make your visual arts a solitary thing, so she thinks working with people on commissions has been a fun way to do that. Natasha is still working on being open and willing to collaborate with people. A lot of the times people other people feel uncomfortable giving feedback. Right now, she is still learning how to approach pricing her work. For a while, she just offered to reimburse for supplies, which was like becoming the bare minimum. But the technical things that you would expect other people to pay you for - that's what you should get paid.
[15:18]
Many galleries don't have transparent pricing, there is something that's kept intentionally obtuse in the art market. It's sort of meant to be confusing and make people feel excluded.
Defining Art
[22:20]
For Natasha, art is instinctual. It works from instinct. It's like when you get into a state of flow when you're working.
Expectations
[29:01]
There will be a gap between your expectations and the reality of your skills when you start. And also when you are established and are simply trying something new. You're not going to master your art in just one day or just one year, and probably not in five years either. Focus on mastering the project at hand. Then focus on the next project at hand. Then keep doing that day after day until you are finally a master at your art. It's important not to discourage yourself when your ability doesn't match your vision.
Learn more about Natasha:
Website: https://www.natashaguy.com/
Email: natashahannahguy@gmail.com