Artist Story: Deirdre Fox

I spend a great deal of time inside my head when I am conceptualizing and making my work. That can create a box that constrains the work more than I would like. Critiques, which at their best are discussions that jump off from the work, are a way of breaking out of the box and seeing how the work connects to others. After all, art is dialogue.

I cast a wide net. I think it helps a lot to first develop relationships with other artists; often, a critique then can flow from that those relationships. After I finished school, I tried to stay connected with professors who I found particularly influential. Early on, I would go back to them with new work. They were generous with their time, and it was less scary to approach people already familiar with my ideas and work. I rented a studio in a building that included other artists, and when our schedules jelled (not as often as I would have liked), feedback on each other’s work in progress followed. I participate in a number of artists groups that meet regularly to exchange ideas and comments.

I’ve noticed that it is particularly hard to get someone, even someone who is generous with time, to make a studio visit, especially when the studio is not centrally located. I take advantage of programs that are set up to foster interaction with a range of peers. I’ve participated in multiple residencies, including, for example, a residency at The Ragdale Foundation in Lake Forest. In the weeks in Ragdale’s beautiful setting, I had a lot of opportunity to discuss my work and ideas and the work and ideas of the other artists while we worked. I also participated in a curated artist registry called “The Drawing Center’s Viewing Program”, which provides an ongoing one on one opportunity to discuss your one’s work and ideas with a curator from the center. These kinds of programs provide ongoing dialogue and review of the actual work, rather than images of the work.

Locally, the Chicago Artist Coalition and the Chicago Art Dealer’s Association periodically offer portfolio review. I look at these reviews as a chance to get solid feedback from a commercial perspective. The CAC also hosts regular artist salons, which are an opportunity to obtain feedback from a local curator or arts professional and a group of artists. These kinds of critiques are done from printed images, slides, or projected jpegs, which offers valuable feedback on how a juror might receive the work.

In addition, I look for critical feedback by applying for grants that offer jury feedback. With the city’s CAAP Program (Community Arts Assistance Program), an artist can watch the jury discuss the work and proposal, or after the jury process is over, the city will recap the jury’s comments for the artist. Of course, you have to sit silently. I also try to follow up with directors/curators when proposals are rejected.

Finally, I connect online to peers for critical feedback. Both www.myartspace.com and www.artreview.com are art specific social networking sites that let artists post images and give and receive comments back, both as private messages and on public comment boards.

You do commissions. How do you find them and how does that affect your work?

I’ve found commissions by word of mouth, by responding to RFQ’s (request for submissions), and by submitting public art proposals.

Commissions offer a change of pace from working on spec, which is the nature of a lot of fine art. The ideal commission is one in which the client likes the body of work and simply wants one created for them. Some commissions, however, require a design that meets client desires and expectations. If a client has particular needs, I’ll talk with the client at length to develop a sense of the core of the project and make a design sketch based on that, while incorporating my own sensibilities and processes. I don’t like to do a lot of pre-designs: besides setting up potentially never-ending exchanges between myself and the client, working through issues on designs can make the actual piece feel like a copy, which is boring and lifeless.

I develop my bodies of work on a project basis around an idea or two or three, anyhow. So, I find commissions to be a positive influence on my ongoing development: they require finding solutions that meet certain parameters, and they often necessitate expanding outside my immediate work in progress at any given time. This generates ideas and anchors for later work. If I cannot see room within a project to bridge my work or processes or to hone my skills or thinking, I’ll turn down taking on a commissioned project.


Deirdre Fox's drawing and drawing based installations extend drawing from surface and wall into physical and virtual spaces. Fox has a BFA concentrating in animation and painting from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and a materials engineering degree from Northwestern University. Current exhibitions include: Inspiration in Andersonville at the Swedish American Museum Center, Cool Globes on the Road (San Francisco) and Chicago Looks, a juried public art installation along Chicago's Riverwalk. Past exhibitions include: Cool Globes: Hot Ideas for a Cooler Planet (at Navy Pier); Sheets Planes & Pulp (work on and of paper) at Evanston Art Center; and Perish into Being at Caro D'Offay Gallery. Online-curated registries includeThe Drawing Center Viewing Program in New York. Her work is in the permanent collection of the Joan Flasch Artists Book Collection and the Center for Books and Paper Arts.