Elisabeth Tomlinson 伊丽莎白▪汤姆林森 – Artists Abroad

Artist/Educator艺术家/教育工作者

Interview on May 23rd at Ramo, Fangjia hutong (with piles of bricks in the gutted doorway) 5月23日于方家胡同RAMO餐吧采访（在布满一堆瓦砾的门前）

KL: Tell me about this new project. Is this an ongoing thing or a once off charity event?

ET: It is an ongoing thing. Artists Abroad is a non-profit arts organisation I started last year. I would say, the birth of it was last Summer and I've been building it ever since. Our mission is to promote and advance the arts focusing on cross cultural exchange and collaborations.

One of our flagship programs is the Artist Spotlight series. We’re creating a collection of videos giving a look inside the studios and thoughts of artists from around the world. Everyone should check it out at artistsabroad.org/artist-spotlight. This is one of major things we're fundraising for next month. This summer we’ll be interviewing artists in Nepal, Cambodia, Vietnam, and Thailand. I’ve already spoken to artists from China, Korea, South Africa, Costa Rica, the UK and the US. This is just the beginning of a network of artists that has a global reach. It’s an opportunity to celebrate some of the best contemporary artists and get an inside view of their experiences as working artists in their respective countries.

In 2018 we will be launching our two fellowship programmes. The first is arts education based, placing an art teacher in an underserved community overseas for one year. The second fellowship places emerging artists with a career artist overseas to act as an intern, collaborator, and studio partner. Both programmes are scheduled to launch next year and this summer is the ground work for that launch. We’ll be researching and surveying the communities we want to work with, forming partnerships, and meeting with schools and community organizations. We'll also be running student workshops and interviewing artist for the Spotlight Series. These next three months are important for us to create sustainable and mutually beneficial relationships with schools and with artists. Myself and Lisa, the Director of Outreach at Artists Abroad, will be heading up the project and every dime of the fundraising we do will go toward flights and accommodation as well as materials for the workshops we’re teaching. We’ll be traveling to Nepal, Vietnam, Cambodia, and Thailand.

KL：跟我聊聊你的新项目吧，这项目是长期的还是一次性慈善活动？

ET：这是个长期项目。Artists Abroad是我去年创办的一家非盈利艺术机构。我们正在纽约注册的过程中（我来自纽约），以后想带领它走向国际化。其实这个机构大概是在去年七月份成立的，自从那时起我便一直忙于公司的事务，其中一项是和来自不同国家、带有不同文化背景的艺术家们洽谈，并且做了一系列视频，你可以在我们的网站上看到，该系列名叫Artist's Spotlight，这也是我们筹款的主要原因之一。另一项是我们准备明年发起奖学金计划，主要针对两类群体，一类是以艺术教育为基础，为海外学校提供艺术老师。另一类是针对那些想要在海外艺术家们工作室里实习的艺术家。这些都是明年实施的计划，今年夏天主要是做实地调研。为了这个项目，我们将举办教学研讨会，采访一些艺术家，并且走访一些当地学校、非营利机构，寻求建立伙伴关系。这样一来，我们就能在2018年开展这个项目了，这个夏天只是项目的序幕。调研是很重要的，因为你也许知道尼泊尔的艺术项目的情况，但如果你不亲身到访尼泊尔并且和当地的艺术老师和学校洽谈，你不会知道他们需要什么。你要想从一个行业里获取信息，就要去采访他们，了解他们。这就是我和公司的外联部负责人在做的事，而且项目筹款的每一分钱都用于机票、住宿上了，同时还用于正在教公共艺术和壁画的工作室上，我们在尼泊尔已有一间工作室了，现在正准备在越南办一个，以后还会在泰国办一个吧。

KL: Run me through the process of how you actually started this up. Was this something you started solo?

ET: Yeah, I’m the director of the organization but I’ve had a small team around me from the very beginning. I remember exactly where it started. I was at The Local in Sanlitun having a burger with a friend and he asked me, “If you could spend next year doing anything, what would it be?” and my answer was that I would be a full-time artist but travel and collaborate with artists from different cities and communities around the world. If I could set up this relationship where you arrive and work in an artist's studio who was already established and create a collaborative project together. And that's where Artists Abroad started. Then I designed the fellowship programme and it's morphed and grown from there. I studied art education in my undergraduate and that’s what ultimately brought me to China. I have a passion for arts education and doing it well. That's how the educational fellowship came about. I see a need for a reimagining of art education in the 21st century. I see this as a need here in China, and I saw it as a need back in the US. So, I've designed a curriculum for the fellowship programme to that end; to integrate technology, to make collaborative projects, to focus on public display, to teach contemporary art making processes.

So, everything started very selfishly with what I want to do then grew into - how I can make that available to other artists and educators? Studying and teaching overseas has been the most transformative experiences of my life and I think that is not unique to me. Removing yourself from your culture, and your own understanding of the art world in your culture, and putting yourself in a new art world in a new culture is something that is…profound. Allowing that opportunity for other artists, especially young artists like myself, is something I’m excited to be involved in.

KL：告诉我你启动这个项目的过程吧，你刚开始是一个人创办的吗？

ET：我仍依稀记得这个项目的起始之地，那是在三里屯的The Local 餐厅，我和朋友正在啃汉堡，他突然问我：“你的职业生涯规划是什么？你明年有想做什么？”我说：“我想要做一个全职艺术家，这三个月在这儿，另外三个月在另外一个地方和另外一个艺术家合作，如果我能在所在的地方或者艺术家的工作室搭起联系，那么我将可以飞到一个地方就能找到一起合作的人。接着你便能开始下一个合作项目，然后不断往复。”这就是此项目开始的地方。接着呢，我开展了这个奖学金项目，但由于诸多原因，这个项目从那里开始演变和发展。我是一名美术老师，这也是我本科专业，我搬来中国也是因为艺术，所以我对艺术教育饱含热忱并且希望可以把它做好。我认为核心技巧很重要，但同时我想让艺术与人合作与互动，并且融入当代画法，这能将当代元素融入技巧里，这是教育奖学金想法的来源。这是我在中国教学时何在国际学校教学时看到的需求，当我回到美国时，我也能看到这种需求，不论到哪，特别是对于中高学教育来说，这都是一种能提高我们艺术教育的一种需求。所以，我通过融合科技，通过一些合作项目、关注一些艺术展览和研究一些当代实践理论，设计了相关课程和奖学金计划。所以，我从一开始的“我能做什么”转变到现在“如何把它提供给其他艺术家”。其实在国外以一名艺术家的身份去留学和教书是我这辈子带给我最大改变的经历。同时我相信不只是我一个人有过这种经历。 离开一个熟悉的文化环境和艺术氛围，来到一个陌生的环境和新的艺术世界有很深刻的意义。给一些艺术家机会，特别是给像我这样的年轻艺术家机会，能以一种令人兴奋的方式开启你的职业生涯。如果你是刚毕业的美术硕士生，你无地可去。就算你有住所，你还得缴纳昂贵的租金，工作几个月也就3-5千美元，还要因为旅行花掉一大笔费用，靠你的艺术品根本赚不了几个钱，同时你还要给艺术品投资，购买材料，付画廊入场费和其他费用，比如房租，找工作室。这是一场艰苦的拉锯战。

KL: Are you mainly concentrating on people from the US going to study and teach in developing countries?

ET: Anyone can apply from anywhere. It is based in New York but our team is spread out and applicants can absolutely apply from anywhere and go anywhere.

KL：你主要关注的是从美国到发展中国家教书和学习的人群吗？

ET：我关注的是来自五湖四海的人，它总部在纽约主要是因为我必须得在自己的国家和所属的州注册公司。虽然我的公司入驻在纽约，但我的团队分散在世界各地，并且可以接受来自四面八方的申请。因为课程是英文授课，所以唯一的要求是申请者会说英语。 The Artist's Spotlight 这个项目现在已经开启了，你可以从我们的网站上看到，我们正在建立一个艺术家库，迄今为止，我采访过的艺术家有来自韩国，中国，英国，美国，南非，哥斯达黎加，今年夏天希望能采访一些东南亚的艺术家，明年夏天是非洲，再接着是南美的采访。在这些艺术家职业生涯的不同时期，通过所有媒介，创造更多内容和资源，从而能整合到艺术教育的课程里，为来自世界各地的艺术家们建立一个广泛的社交网。

KL: It seems like it has grown really rapidly, how did you put those plans into practice? You mentioned you have an office in New York, you’ve got a team.

ET: We have a small team. There are five of us, three board members including myself, and two more team members that help me with day-to-day operations.

KL：你的项目看起来发展迅速，你是如何将计划付诸实践的？你提到你在纽约有办公室，并且你还有一个团队。

ET：我有一个小团队，只有五个人组成，其中三个人是董事会成员，我是执行董事。

KL: Is it all voluntary?

ET: Everything is voluntary. Everything for this summer is voluntary. My partner and I are going and it's all on our dime.

KL：工作都是自愿的吗？

ET：对，所有事情都是自愿的。这个夏天的一切工作也都是自愿的。 我和我的合伙人会去。除了下个月可能筹集的资金外，所有东西都是我们自掏腰包。现在它只是一个小团队，但我们在发展中，明后两年，我估计我们会壮大队伍。随着工作量的增加，我们不得不扩大团队。

KL: How did you push it forward from your initial idea to where it is now?

ET: I had a lot of help from my two board members in designing the programmes, and together we dreamt up how we could make it happen. It's just tossing out all this stuff and getting some things back and then saying let's get started. It's all self-funded, all volunteers working on this, it's a big dream that's just getting started and this summer is the launching pad for all of it.

KL：你是如何使最初的想法发展到现在的？

ET：我们现在其实还很年轻，很多想法都是即将实施的，所以我们比较积极活跃。譬如说，我们基本上正在做的事情是：我去南非的时候在那里采访了四位不同的艺术家，我去韩国的时候也采访了一位艺术家。这种行为一直烙印在我脑海里，驱使我每到一个地方都要去采访当地艺术家。今年我一直在中央美院全职学习雕塑，同时也给我带来一些机会。我在那认识了一些教授，同学然后接着认识其他人，但这个圈子还是很小。老实说，认识人其实就是与人交际，也许你会认识能在尼泊尔帮忙的人，或者能在越南帮忙的人，这就像是放长线，钓大鱼，然后找到适合合作的伙伴。这是一个所有志愿者都自筹资金的项目，它像是一个遥不可及的梦，而现在只是一个开始，这个夏天将会开展所有计划，从预备开始到现在已经有一年了，我们走一步算一步吧。我有一个五年的规划，我相信这个项目会顺其自然地发展和壮大的。

KL: So what’s the deal with the event?

ET: We have three events, the first one is June 9th at Hot Cat Club (if it’s not bricked up).

KL：所以这次活动你们有什么打算？

ET：我们即将有三个活动，一个是6月9号，在Hot Cat Club，如果它没被拆的话。

KL: There’s always a back door.

ET: Yeah, through the back door of Hot Cat Club we are throwing a big arts party. We’re featuring a few different artists, dancers, video artists, and every attendee will be asked to actively participate in art making. It’s a music-listening, drinking, creating, celebration and display of the arts. Everyone should come, It’s going to be a lot of fun.

The second one is that Daniel [Rothwell of Loreli] has volunteered to help us by contributing the proceeds from his birthday event at Four Corners on June 17th to Artists Abroad. We’re really grateful for their willingness to do that.

Then we will be working with the Loreli team during the Affordable Art Market at Yue Space on June 25th where we will be running an art raffle for an original painting. [note: This was arranged with another member of Loreli so KL was not being disingenuous when asking for details. Also, the art raffle is going to be excellent so come to the art market!] Each of these events will go towards the costs of sending Artists Abroad through South Asia from July-September. AND each event is also promised to be great fun, so show up!

KL：总有后门可以进去的。

ET：可以通过Hot Cat Club后门进去，我们即将举办一个大型的艺术party，我们会展示许多不同的艺术家，有舞者、视频制作家、来自中央美院的学生和他们的作品。我们还会邀请所有参与者来亲自参与艺术创作，并且现场所有人一起制作壁画。我和我一堆同学会提前设计好一切，然后在当晚和所有人一起现场完成这个作品，同时现场还会有音乐、饮品、一些艺术作品的展览；第二个活动是在Daniel [Rothwell of Loreli] 的生日派对上，他将为Artists Abroad这个项目捐款，我们非常感激他的善举；最后一个是6月25日，我们会在乐空间承办的 Affordable Art Market 上和LORELI合作，那时候我们将会为一副原创绘画作品进行抽奖活动。（注意：此次对话是在KL不知情抽奖活动的前提下进行的，所以KL不是在刻意宣传的哦。此次抽奖环节会很精彩，所以一定要来噢！）这三个活动所筹集的款项将会作为维持公司做这些活动和未来活动的开销。

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