Artist Melodie Provenzano, sitting in front of her work. Image courtesy of the artist.
Melodie Provenzano is a contemporary artist redefining the still life painting.
Embarking on a journey of self-discovery and connection, while navigating the business of art with innovative strategies and partnerships, this artist uses traditional still life painting as a springboard for her work.
Using glassware, figurines, toys, knickknacks and gift bows, she creates carefully considered compositions rendered in meticulous detail in acrylic on canvas. Her semi-autobiographical scenes express themes of love, desire, power, fear, vulnerability, companionship and peace.
In recent years, Provenzano has expanded her focus from exclusively painting her collection of objects to include painting other artists' sculptures from direct observation. This shift birthed her traveling, expanding exhibition series "Seeing Oneself in Others", which "embodies group harmony within multiplicity."
While Provenzano finds the business side of being an artist challenging at times, using Artwork Archive has helped her seamlessly integrate it with her creative process.
The artist acknowledges the demands of being a full-time artist stating, "It's a lot of hustle, salesmanship and preparedness to have a career as an artist, so tools like Artwork Archive's Private Rooms are useful."
Read more about how artist Melodie Provenzano uses Private Rooms in Artwork Archive below.
Seeing Oneself in Others on view by Melodie Provenzano. Image courtesy of the Artist.
How Melodie Increased Her Efficiency and Productivity by Getting Organized with Artwork Archive
Before investing in Artwork Archive, Provenzano stored her painting images on external drives mixed in with everything else she might need a digital record of.
"It was always a chore to find the images I wanted or needed to show for an opportunity, and I would inevitably get distracted by completely irrelevant photos," she admits. Details like artwork dimensions often had to be re-measured, sometimes requiring a trip to her storage space.
"I'm not going to lie, I simply wasn't organized," says Provenzano. "Artwork Archive is definitely helping me."
Having nearly 100 pieces uploaded so far with many more to go, she can now easily access images and information from anywhere. "It saves me so much time having these images and information at my fingertips," she continued, "I am no longer tied to an external drive."
This accessibility proved useful when Provenzano was able to submit to an open call while on a family vacation since she had her laptop, an internet connection, and her Artwork Archive account.
Artwork Archive Tip for Gaining More Art Grants + Opportunities:
Stay on top of Artist Opportunities just like Melodie by using Artwork Archive's "Schedule a Reminder" feature. This tool allows you to set personalized reminders for upcoming deadlines, ensuring you never miss a chance to submit your work to exhibitions, grants, or other opportunities.
To schedule a reminder:
- Navigate to the "Resources" tab in your Artwork Archive account.
- Browse the annual opportunity guide or look throught the Call for Entry page to find the opportunity you're interested in and click on it to view the details.
- Click the "Add to Schedule" button.
- This deadline will be added to your Artwork Archive account so that you stay on top of your deadlines!
Junkyard Sun by Melodie Provenzano. Image courtesy of the Artist.
How She Uses Private Rooms to Share and Promote Artwork
One Artwork Archive feature Provenzano uses frequently is Private Rooms.
The first time she utilized it was to show her mailing list and Instagram followers the paintings and drawings exhibited at Sea Grandon's ATELIER in Warsaw, Indiana as part of their Barbiecore show.
"It was an easy way for me to share a clean and clear presentation of all of the artworks that I had consigned to the show," she explains. "People who were not able to join the festivities in Indiana were able to view the images and pertinent information online via an easily accessible link."
Provenzano uses Private Rooms often, whether sending available work to gallery owners, sharing pieces with curators for future shows, or promoting her "Seeing Oneself in Others" traveling exhibition to museums.
Before Artwork Archive, Provenzano admits that preparing materials to send to collectors or potential buyers was laborious.
"I would spend all day finding the right images on an external drive, typing out all of the information, title, media, size, date, and laying it all out in Google Docs to save it as a PDF in order to email it. This was not fun. I would much rather be painting than doing data entry and layout design," she laments.
Now, Provenzano uploads images and inputs data once, and it's ready anytime she needs to include it in a Private Room. This streamlined process helped land the exhibition "Seeing Oneself in Others" at The Tennessee Valley Art Museum. "I shared my proposal with the curator at the museum by sending him a Private Viewing Room link," she notes.
Reign Bow by Melodie Provenzano. Image courtesy of the Artist.
Incorporating Private Rooms into Your Art Routine
With the goal of having her "Seeing Oneself in Others" series travel from museum to museum, Provenzano dedicates time each week to promotion, aiming to reach out to at least one museum. "When sharing my artwork via email, instead of attaching a whole bunch of images and having to type a ton of information, or copy and paste, I send a link to the private room from Artwork Archive, which has text describing the concept, my bio and all of the artwork images and relevant information," she details.
Provenzano has found that organization enables easier self-promotion. "When you have the ability to reach out to the world, put your best foot forward, but do not worry about everything being perfect. The Room is not set in stone. You can edit the information in it at any time and have multiple rooms for various projects," she's learned.
Using Private Rooms has enhanced her efficiency, productivity, and professionalism. "I think being as professional as possible is crucial in the art business and using Private Rooms really helps with that," Provenzano reflects.
By leveraging tools like Private Rooms, Melodie Provenzano exemplifies how artists can optimize their business operations while staying true to their creative process.
Explore how Artwork Archive's Private Rooms feature can help you elevate your art business. Start your free trial today.
