What is OUT OF THE BOX?
OUT OF THE BOX is a community of people who believe in the value of artists, the hope that art provides, and the importance of creativity in a world on fire.
The art world has convinced us that art belongs to the wealthy, the well heeled, the elite. They have taken it away from the people and locked it inside the white-box world of museums, galleries, and auction houses.
Here is where we take it back.
After having written for traditional arts publications for a decade, I created OUT OF THE BOX to share things that are either too big or too small (or too weird) for those platforms, things like: essays about why art matters, profiles of artists who don’t have an exhibition coming up; tips for how to become an art collector for $50/month. Sometimes, I may even write you a letter.
The best thing about OUT OF THE BOX, though, is you. Through community discussion and chat threads, you can share your work, turn other people on to the artists you love, discover new artists, ask questions about art that you’ve felt too intimidated to ask, and make suggestions for topics you want to read more about.
If that sounds good to you, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. You’ll get a post delivered to your inbox once a week. You will also be able to access our private chat.
Who is OUT OF THE BOX?
Hi! I’m Jennifer Rabin. I’m an independent arts writer, visual artist, and arts activist. This is a self portrait:
Some of you may know me from when I was the visual arts writer for Willamette Week, Portland Oregon’s Pulitzer Prize-winning weekly, or as the founder of ArtPassportPDX, a free citywide program to increase community engagement in the visual arts. I’m a contributing writer to Oregon ArtsWatch and Variable West, and I’ve written for Hyperallergic and other culture outlets. One of the pieces I’m most proud of was published in a small literary journal.
Art is responsible for everything in my life that I most cherish.
Why Subscribe?
OUT OF THE BOX isn’t just an arts writing project. It’s arts activism, equity work, and community building. I want to create a place where artists and art lovers can seek solace and meaning together.
The more support this project receives, the more ambitious it can become, the more features I can roll out, the more we can challenge the status quo of the art establishment.
By becoming a paid subscriber, you make it possible for me to pour time and effort into OUT OF THE BOX, which seeks to support living artists, to establish a supportive creative community, and to nurture people’s love and understanding of the arts.
