A sampling of publications from Impractical Labor in Service of the Speculative Arts (ILSSA or Impractical Labor for short). Established
in 2008 as a collaboration between Emily Larned and Bridget Elmer, ILSSA is a union for reflective creative practice. As a union for artists, makers, and creative practitioners of all kinds, ILSSA focuses on improving the immaterial working conditions of members. ILSSA publishes contemplative tools and resources; organizes participatory projects, exhibitions, and events; facilitates an annual group residency; and observes an annual holiday, the Festival to Plead for Skills. ILSSA seeks to
restore the relationship between makers and their tools, makers and their time, and makers and what they make. Basic membership is free and open to all who which to join.
“The domestic joys, the daily housework or business, the building of houses, are not phantasms, they have weight, form, location…”
-Walt Whitman, Leaves of Grass
Life is ordinary. But in that ordinariness, it is no less wonderful, no less filled with moments of sheer pleasure, tremendous pain, wonder, wisdom, strife. We share with our ancestors the same path tread across time, from birth to death, working to survive in between. Ours is a vastly different reality than theirs of many generations ago, and yet each moment of each day is filled with nothing more than time, same as ever. Our days amount to no more or less than what we make of them. It is
up to us to embrace the ordinary, to nurture from it a life well-lived.
Emily Larned spoke to us from a room in her home in Stratford, Connecticut where she never used to spend much time before the pandemic. Now she does much of her work from this space. Before the pandemic, she had plans in place to travel for research purposes but as it became more clear that her travel plans
would need to be put on hold she began to pivot. Over the summer, she learned about the Who Governs? open call at Artspace in New Haven. This led her to research whether there were any feminists who either demonstrated against or worked within the police force in the area. She learned of a woman who not only ran a feminist theater company in New Haven but went on to be the director of the New Haven Police Academy from 1992-2008. Under her direction, the academy became what Larned describes as a
socially engaged art school and recruitment practices changed significantly. To hear more about this and Larned’s other work including her role as co-founder of Impractical Labor in the Service of the Speculative Arts (ILSSA) and more, listen to the complete interview.
Ellen Hackl Fagan spoke to us from Greenwich, Connecticut. Previously, she had a gallery in Bushwick which she moved along with her studio space in 2019. She adapted her garage into a studio space and, as soon as the weather warmed up, began painting for a show in Torrington, Connecticut. In addition to her own work, she
was doing a great deal of collaborative work for various kinds of mail art projects. Over the summer, she closed an exhibition called London Calling Collective which had run since November 2019 as the inaugural show at Ursa Gallery in Bridgeport with a group of women she had previously traveled with. Aside from her own art practice, she runs ODETTA Gallery. To hear more about the gallery, her mail art project and more, listen to the complete interview.
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Maria the Jewess & the Women of Alchemy
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Weekly Grants &
Resources for Artists
Emily Kennerk, installation, 2015
Every week you will find updated resources here to apply for grants, find residencies and more.
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You can’t always get what you want, this much is true. That said, there are plenty of things you absolutely can get if you put in the effort at achieving them. One of those things is opportunity. As a career artist, part of your job is seeking out and applying to those calls that are right for...
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A career in art comes with some measure of expense. There are materials to purchase, studio space to consider, and of course just the general expenses of living day-to-day. Sometimes an opportunity worth having might come with a small fee for entry, but that doesn’t always have to be the case...
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Opportunity comes in many forms. Sometimes it is funding or a cash prize to bolster your finances and allow you to sustain your practice. Other times, opportunity can be the chance to have your art on view for a wide audience or...
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Galleries aren’t everything. While indeed you should pursue ways to connect with gallerists and get your work on their walls, there are other methods to put your art into the world. Many publications have regular calls for artwork, either exclusively or in amongst...
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These are positive and / or negative reviews of galleries, art fairs, consultants, writers, online pay to play offers,
residencies and more – all written by artists so that other artists can beware of situations where institutions treat artists badly, or that end up costing the artist money or are outright scams.
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