On Visibility, Fan Girls, and Commissions

Written By Julie Lipa

Eyeballs, Art Fairs, and September Plans

One of my goals this year was simple: get seen by as many new eyeballs as possible.

When I participated in the San Francisco StART Up Art Fair in April, I learned that fairs were the best way for me to reach a wider audience. One of the attendees was a curator for The Other Art Fair who liked my work and suggested I submit to their show.  So I submitted and was accepted. I’ll be debuting new work there this September, including pieces from my Appliance and Comic Book series. I’m excited! This show draws in ten thousand plus visitors, so I’m hoping to make some good connections and sales there. This four-day art fair will showcase over 140 artists, so it’ll be a great opportunity for you to see some high-quality artists in one place.

Hometown Show, Unexpected Fans

I also submitted to a local group show at my town’s Cultural Arts Center, just a few blocks from me. Two of my pieces were accepted.

Me in my “lips” dress, because you need to identify the artist in the room.

When I dropped them off, I’ll admit, I had that dreaded feeling: Is this going to be a mediocre show? But when I went to the opening, I was relieved, and impressed, by what was shown. The show looked great.

I was happy to see “No Smoking” hanging prominently in the lobby near the front entrance. A staff member mentioned it gets a lot of attention during show intermissions, which was really encouraging. It feels good to know that a wide range of people beyond the typical gallery crowd are seeing the work.

No Smoking in the lobby.

And then I met a fan girl.

We met while she was taking pictures of In Love With A Heel hanging in the second room. Her friend had seen Fly Me at a local framing shop, looked me up online, and found out I’d be in the show. It was so inspiring to meet someone genuinely excited about my work and it reminded me how powerful visibility can be. And how important it is to match that enthusiasm when I talk about my own work with others.

A comic book lover reads “In Love With A Heel”

The Full-Circle Moment

That encounter at the framing shop brought me back to the early days, specifically the 1990s, when I convinced a local framer to hang my work in their front window. That was BC (Before Cell phones), when people actually looked up while walking down the street.

Thanks to the high foot traffic, I got a lot of visibility. That little window show gave me my first taste of sharing work with strangers—and it's wild to think that decades later, someone is discovering my work in another framing shop.

Everything really does come back around.

Polaroid of frame store window on Ventura Blvd. in Studio City, CA circa 1992

Small Work, Big Story

Next week, I’ll have this small piece in a group show at Channel Islands Studios.

“Dream of Death”

A farewell letter, a departing train, and an unexpected reunion at the next station…

This piece explores those strange, dreamlike storylines where endings don’t quite end. She writes her truth and leaves. He follows, only to deliver one final, dramatic shove... literally.

It’s a small work, but it packs a punch. I’m curious to see if viewers spend as much time with my little ones as they do with my larger works.

Come visit me at the opening reception on August 2nd, from 4–6 PM.

A Birthday Commission and Family Secrets

Over the next eight weeks, I’ll be in studio mode, creating new work for The Other Art Fair and hopefully finding the time to sneak in a commission from my Appliance series for a friend’s 60th birthday, which lands on the same weekend as The Other Art Fair.

His parents were pure showbiz. His father was Danny Dayton, a Broadway, film, and TV actor. His mother, Arlene, was a beauty queen, a singer in a touring trio, a product model, and later, a talent manager. Honestly, she could be the prototype for nearly every spokesmodel I’ve ever featured: glamorous, poised, and utterly compelling. What a broad!

Family photo albums with Danny Danny

During one Q&A session, his sister casually dropped a bombshell: the parents had separated at one point.

My friend had no idea.

That moment said so much. You can learn a lot from photos and press clippings, but conversations are what can reveal the emotional texture—the messy, human stuff that gives some depth to the subjects. Not just parents. Not just glamorous figures. People.

This will be the third commission I’ve done and I won’t be sharing the progress pictures with the recipient. I’m learning that it’s not the norm. Based on my conversations with other artists, when commissions are ordered, there’s a process where the artist shares progress pictures for feedback and approval. Those works are being done by request, so I guess that makes sense, but I can’t imagine blowing the elements of surprise with progress pictures. Maybe what I do has different rules? I don’t know.

For example, here’s a video of the reveal for the “Frazer’s Gift” commission. I loved hearing that the panel asking “Where’s the…doorbell gone to?” was spot on! There were a few other elements that weren’t known to me that were revealed in the captions and panels. One was the nature of their offer to the seller, and another was that their dog Hubble, seen jumping out of a rocket, was also a white dog with black spots. I do love serendipity!

The Danny and Arlene Dayton piece will include a few surprises, but nothing as big as “your parents separated!” One of the surprises (probably mostly for me) will be whether or not I can achieve a certain effect for the sky. I’m going to teach myself how to use new equipment, so wish me luck!

Studio Delays = Creative Focus

Meanwhile, the renovation of my studio has been delayed and I’m glad.  It’s giving me some uninterrupted time to focus on these new pieces so I can give them the energy they deserve.

Coming Up:

If you’re in the area, come say hi. If you’re not, I’ll be sharing behind-the-scenes updates soon, possibly including a few new equipment mishaps and unexpected cloud shapes.

Until next time,

Julie

Julie Lipa
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How to Avoid Post Show Depression