Starving Artist… redundant phrase?

The vision in my head last night was one of crossing the border and proceeding through customs with my passport, which simply lists my occupation as “Artist”. It is a straightforward word, which can be embellished upon with the words painter, photographer, sculptor, metalworker, lapidary…. The joke that occurred to me was that of being asked to explain what kind of artist, and instead of stating my art interests, I replied with “starving, what other kind is there?” Of course, my humour was well received in my little imagining; perhaps it would not go over so well in real life.

This personal humour combined with some articles that I have read and watched lately on “successful” artists, i.e. those that aren’t starving for money, lead me to the following musings:

1) We are all starving artists, regardless of the monetary success. We are all still hungry for something.

2) To insert the word “starving” in front of the word “artist” is redundancy at its finest.

I think that the issue for so many artists is that we have come to accept the definition of success as one of monetary means. If we make money, lots of money, the works sell, has representation in galleries, and orders keep pouring in, then success has been achieved. Add to this that the perception of the public is that the artist is no longer starving and voila, an artistic genius at work, but are we missing something when this is the only measurement we use?

The genius might be hard at work, filling the orders, creating the pieces that replicate the ones that the gallery sold. The genius is staying so busy in the studio that they have neither time to recharge, visit old friends, nor work on developing their own artistic voice and vision any further than where it was at the moment they were “discovered” and became “successful”. This is still a starving artist, one that hungers for quiet, vision, a moment of peace and a recovery of a sense of self.

The undiscovered artist makes do with whatever is at hand to work with, with whatever inspires and excites. Has time to develop new work based on old, and moves forward in style and technique based on their artistic vision. They never seem stuck, or rushed, but the money is always tight. They are starving for representation, hungry for a cash flow that would allow for better or more consistent supply of materials. They are starving for elusive financial success.

Both artists need to create, that is the nature of the artist, but both artists are still starving.

When the success of the artist is narrowly defined by money, the former is successful and unhappy, and the latter poor but inspired. Hardly seems to be a winning combination in any case.

Artist is not a narrow word, there are multitudes of types and styles of artist, so too then artistic success should be defined as broadly. If the artist would no more limit themselves to one type of paper or brush or pen or stone or figure, then why should success be limited to one definition?

As an artist, who dislikes redundancy in a statement, there needs to be a better way to define artistic success, like having enough money to get by comfortably, but enough time and control over the work to remain in forward motion, which also means a willingness to try new ideas, risk rejection and occasionally fire the “too demanding client”. I know one thing for sure, that defining my success as an artist beyond the standard measure of money, makes me a much happier person, and that’s a success too.

Art lessons...

... are paying off.

A long time friend of mine, Carole Forbes, teaches her own pen & ink drawing method. She just returned from out west a few months ago and since I have been finally getting braver about my own art, I decided to treat myself to some lessons. Been enjoying it immensely.

Here is the result, an original no less:

Another friend shot a pic of this tree last summer while out on a road trip. I really liked the gnarly old pine, so I used it as the basis for this drawing, changed a few things, "artistic license" after all, but the result is not too bad after only 5 weeks.

Enjoy!

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Why wait when you can do it now?

It's been an eventful couple of months with all the Christmas shows to do and then getting home on the 17th. of December and rushing right into the mad dash of last minute Christmas shopping for the few things that a person can't buy at a craft show: like gadgets for a teenage girl. It was fun to shop late for a change.

January has come and almost gone at this point. I spent a lot of time since Christmas just reading and getting ready for the wholesale show in Halifax. Most of what I have been devouring has been trade magazines and the ubiquitous self-help/success books which hasn't really been a bad thing. It lead to an A-HA moment last week.

Why some A-HA moments seem to take years to conclude, I'm not sure, but I have a feeling it has something to do with the impracticality of the choice and the fact that we can here our family members whispering over our shoulder about how that isn't a money making or stable career choice. Well damn them all, sometimes you just have to go with your gut in order to be happy... and to be happy doesn't mean that you have to make scads of money either, it just means that you are satisfied with what you do, and look forward to doing more of it tomorrow.

What I realized is that I have always wanted to work in fashion, as a designer/artist. Jewellery making is a type of fashion and like some clothing designers, we establish a sense of our own style and work with that to make our statement. This really didn't come as a great revelation to me, I've always known it just like I've always known that I wanted to be an artist. I also know that it was discouraged and that I was told that it was an impractical way to "make a living".

At some point in our adult lives we have to stop listening to the voices of our parents that are still in our heads, especially when they have finally, at 60+, decided to pursue their dreams of a business in the arts too. So why wait when you can do it now.

My partner reminds me that if all the business does is "right minus wrong equals zero" then we're OK, because it didn't cost anything and if what it takes to make it r-w=0 is to make and show the work, then go for it and stop getting hung up in the numbers.

What I realized is that all I need to do is what I want to do: make and show the type of art that I make everyday.

Yes, it really is that simple.

I'm a Whiner

I'm back to whine some more about my pathetic life.

Just reading that sentence makes my adult self laugh. My reality hits me square between the eyes that it is of my own making and the good and the bad have been invited into by me.

Also, the concept of our inner egos is again confirmed. That we each have a responsible adult ego, a nurturing inner parent ego and the inner child ego, and the child is whining bad today.

And yes, we are responsible for our situations - 100%!

What brings on this slight bemusement is the fact that months ago we knew that The Tragically Hip, one of my favorite bands, will be playing a concert just minutes away from home tonight. And months ago the tickets went on sale and months ago we put off buying tickets and months ago we made some decisions about the business that would substantially change the cash flow situation for the summer. And through the past few months we have maintained a positive outlook that things will get better, they have, but here we are now with no tickets, no way to really justify buying two of the few remaining tickets at the box office either. And remember that I said "better" and not "great".

I mean I could justify it in a 'we deserve this' type of move, but I can't come up with a real reason why we really deserve it.

The problem with responsibility and logic is that they can override the emotional appeal for FUN and it's my fun-loving child self that is whining at my responsible adult self. The usual litany of "it's not fair" and "it's all ..... fault", even though I can not come up with anyone to blame for this, has started in my head and I don't like it. My nurturing adult self now has the job of soothing the inner whiner.

As an aspiring artist (doesn't that sound important) my inner child gets to play a lot. It is who draws the designs and puts colours together and is always trying new things at the bench. My adult self gets shelved for a few productive hours until it is time to do paperwork and dole out rewards for good behavior. It's just that those rewards had better be cheap and $48.00/seat tickets aren't it this month, not with business cards and graphics for the booth on order and hotel fees for the show coming up on the 21st.

Now try explaining that to a disappointed child who has been hoping since April that just maybe, this time, they can go see their favorite band.

Now imagine trying to take this same child and trying to get it to co-operate and go colour in it's colouring book.

Now you know who an artist is when they are not happy with what is going on around them.

And since the child is already whining, I might just as well deal with it and let it whine and go do some responsible mundane adult stuff until it calms down.

In the hopes that you are better at soothing your inner child than I am, have a great day,
Cynthia

The creative adult is the child who has survived. - Ursula K. LeGuin

P.S. Husbands are a funny thing. They call and ask your advice and then still go and do the total opposite. He bought the tickets today.