Art School + The Art World: Filling the Gap

This interactive, professional development session is for college students and emerging artists who wish to delve into more commercial areas of art while maintaining a fine arts practice.

Dr. Taha will address proactive strategies to nurture successful careers as fine artists; the how-to of being a practicing artist; how to market oneself; how to conduct studio visits and gallery interviews; sales and exhibition options; how to locate funding sources and how to benefit from the academic side of the art world.

This conversation bridges the gap between art-making and its relationship to the the art world, fills the void found in most fine art curriculums and demystifies the commercial art world.

LISTEN: Dr. Halima Taha on the African American Art Market since the 80’s and the impact of the best-selling book Collecting African American Art: Works on Paper and Canvas. Interviewed by Najee Dorsey.

About Dr. Halima Taha

Halima Taha is best known for her groundbreaking book Collecting African American Art: Works on Paper and Canvas (2008, 2005), the first book to validate collecting African American fine art and photography as an asset and commodity in the marketplace. It was the primary variable in conjunction with the National Black Fine Art Show (1997-2007) for Swann Galleries to establish the first African American auction category in the world. Featured as a PBS membership incentive, it earned three times the projected fundraising goal. The success of this publication also inspired the National Gallery to create a Collecting African American Art Symposium and was a catalyst for major museums worldwide to pursue collections of African American art to exhibit, catalogue and travel. In addition, it provided solid market criteria for publishers to print more monographs about African American artists and collections independent of museum shows, which had not previously been the norm.

Dr. Taha is a graduate of Sarah Lawrence College and New York University.