Have you thought much about where you're going in your art life? What's important to you or why you create? I've heard those questions before but I've actually begun to answer them now. This came about because of an Artists Self Promotion Workshop I attended led by Alyson Stanfield. She brought up many things to think about and act on. One of the early issues that continued to come up through the weekend was deciding on your goals - prioritizing what's important in today's reality. The answer had to pertain to this political world and these economic times. I'm guessing the answer for me may change as the times change.
The four things that lead my list are:
- selling enough that my art pays for itself
- extra money for a little travel
- showing my work in museums
- doing work that leads to peace, for myself and others
That list may sound pretty general and hey, who wouldn't want that but it actually does eliminate some avenues. For instance, I can't do fast, commercial output if I want to end up on the wall of a museum. I will avoid the pollitical art that promotes hatred and polarization. I need to spend time on my self promotion.
And for that I'm back to Alyson. She sends a free, weekly newsletter that is helpful and she has written a book - I'd rather be in the studio - I love the title. I read it and thought she meant this book would tell me how I could quickly do my self promotion so I would have more time to be in the studio. But no, she is listing "I'd rather be in the studio" as one of the excuses artists use to avoid self promotion. So now I say to myself, "What are you going to do to promote your artwork today?"
Thursday, March 20, 2008
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3 comments:
Thanks for the mention, Lynda. It was so nice meeting you in Ann Arbor. So, what will you do to promote your art today??
(BTW, you might ought to change your settings to allow non-Google comments. This is one of those barriers you don't want since non-Google account holders have no place to leave a comment or their URL.)
as an artist it is so overwhelming to sell yourself and your work. I am definitely going to check out that book. wouldn't it be wonderful to make a good enough living as an artist?
Kristin, it would be nice and some people do it. I think it takes awhile to build up a number of collectors of your work. It also definitely takes a lot of work outside of the studio - not the fun part.
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