- There is no quick way to life as an artist. You have to work at it. All the time.
- Get the education you can afford. Learn from everyone. Learn from everything.
- Teach what you know.
- Be willing to take chances.
- Show only your BEST work.
- Enter your best work in juried exhibits. Find out if you're really as good as you think you are.
- Don't be afraid of competition. There's always somebody who's better than you. Learn from them.
- Achieve the excellence you admire.
- You might not be able to have everything right now. There are decisions to make: cable or art supplies?
- Don't copy somebody's else's work or style. Find your own vision. Find your own voice.
- Come to grips with the fact that you might have to support yourself with other work while your art evolves.
- Don't assume the world owes you any recognition. There are LOTS of talented people out there.
- Be responsible for your own success.
- Be grateful to people who help you.
- Be generous to people who need your help.
- It's ok to complain and gripe about how hard this is. My friends hear it from me all the time. But stop it there-- with friends. That's what they're for! To the rest of the world, show your confidence, and your willingness to work hard and take risks.
- Failure looks like failure. Success looks like success.
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
On Shortcutting Your Way Into the Art World
Jeane Vogel had some interesting things to say after her recent experience at the mall. She offered the following advice to those seeking success, and I agree with much of it.
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4 comments:
Thanks for the link, Jennifer. At the heart of this is art education and career education. And the end to grade inflation. Students can't be expected to work hard as adults if they've been passed along as students.
I don't think grade inflation is the biggest issue at play. Art is by nature subjective and thus difficult to grade. Many art classes focus so much on technique and concept that there is not enough business practice introduced.
Those professors who were not taught how to promote themselves as career artists cannot pass this information on to their students, if for no other reason than they do not know how to do it themselves. Such cycles of ineptitude can feed into themselves as bad habits and ignorance either are not addressed or are further encouraged and/or fostered among more artists.
Well put. While I've been roundly ignored by most all the galleries in town as well as the press, it matters little- I have made and sold a lot of art in this town the last 11 yrs. If someone doesn't wanna know, forget 'em & press on. I have a full-time job AND a rock band that has made 5 albums with little or no help. While a lot of other folks are running out to make "the scene", I'm at home working on art and finding ways to promote it online or anywhere else.
Additionally, I understand the idea of showing only your best work, but with my stuff, I show most all of it. I can't tell you how many times someone has called or e-mailed wanting a piece that I would consider "minor" among my works- Different folks seem to like vary in their opinion of what is my "best work", and they aren't shy about it.
Thanks for responding. These were Jeane's sentiments after her experience at the mall, and I found them to be good. I do agree with you in that I just want to get as much of my work out there as possible and let people judge for themselves. Opinions differ so much on what is and isn't good, and often the work that I don't think is my best is what sells. Presentation can be so much more important in this regard than it is given credit for anyway; a good frame job or well-lit pedestal can make what I've considered to be sub-par work really shine...
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