A summer thunderstorm just blew in, and out, leaving my grey deck shiny-slick with rain.
The air smells fresh with the charged ions that only a wild rain can summon.
And I feel as if those invisible particles are beckoning me to take any small action of my choosing.
Which is exactly what I did, a few moments ago.
I roused myself from an intense focus on this desktop screen and decided to sink into my old rose-pink, rocking armchair and think of nothing.
In short, I gave myself permission to simply be.
I let go of all thoughts about art careers. The business of art. Artist statements. How to get and keep collectors. My smARTist Telesummits, which I’m busy turning into podcasts so more artists can have access.
I turned away any, and all, work thoughts and let myself slide into the rain.
Delicious. Giving into flow—the unspooling of infinity.
Giving myself permission to be intentionally surrounded by all of life.
Because, even though this is the core truth of every day (being surrounded by all of life), it’s a rare moment when I actually experience this reality.
I had no agenda. No idea or thoughts about what next?
Then, once the rain had washed the dust of summer off the air, and my being had washed the dust of work off my allegorical shoulders, I returned to this screen.
And immediately wrote to you.
And wondered…when was the last time you gave yourself permission to go off your script-of-life?
To dabble in nothingness?
I’ve love to know…
As always, revealing the true spirit of your work…is the work, because artists change the world.
Truth. Power. Art.
P.S. Please, scroll down and tell me if you’ve recently dabbled in nothingness and what that was like for you.
Because nothing makes me happier than having a conversation with you!
What on earth do I mean by “you are so much more than your art”?
There’s a family story that my mother, a watercolor artist hanging with her Big Sur, bohemian crowd (think Man Ray, and the insolent Henry Miller), declared to the gaggle of male artists in her circle, after my birth, that no art could compare to the creation of a child.
Besides the emotional burden of having to carry her creative outlet, which I’ve long ago released, I re-tell this story here to say: this is not what I mean.
For my mother, being an artist (which she was in so many respects it’s dizzying) was a zero-sum game, which she stacked up against being a parent.
And her art lost. (In many ways, her parenting also lost…but that’s another story…)
Your art and you: the optimal relationship
When you immerse yourself in making art, nothing is more fulfilling.
If you experience “flow” (an expanded state of being where your proprioceptive sense of “I” disappears and the art making becomes everything), that’s likely to increase the internal experience that you are your art.
And if, on top of that, people tell you how beautiful, amazing, and awesome (three shop-worn adjectives I’d like to toss in the trash) your work is, then being equated with your art becomes too yummy to pull away from.
And yet, that is exactly what I’m going to ask you to consider doing.
Extract yourself from your art.
Just for a moment, right now.
Take a breath, and write an answer to my following two questions.
(On what? A Digital note? Some paper beside you? You decide, only, please hang in with me here and do it right now before distraction—or duties—step in!)
Why write?
Because writing engages your brain, and your subconscious, in ways that can reveal new information to you, about you.
And, as odd as it may seem, you and I are heading straight into your art career.
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1. Who are you without your art?
2. If you couldn’t do the specific art you do, what might take its place?
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You can scroll down and give me your answers below here on this page.
Or hang onto your answers for a few days because…
I’ll be back on Friday to consider what an optimal relationship with your art might look like. Or feel like. Or dance like…
Remember, revealing the true spirit of your work…is the work,
Your Truth. Your Power. Your Word. Claim it!
P.S. When you respond to my two questions here, I’ll take that as permission to share your response with the other artists in my circle—unless you directly ask me not to.
This week has been challenging for my why, so I got to thinking about your why.
Why do we do what we do?
Why do you?
Why do I?
I sat at my kitchen table playing solitaire (clears my mind!) and thought about how I used to think our why was baked into our personality,like brown eyes. Once you understood your why (itself a daunting task), it wouldn’t change.
Now I’m questioning that premise because I’m questioning my why, which has stood the test of several decades.
Why, oh, why am I questioning my why?
Because, as I’m questioning everything I do professionally, my why I’ve done what I’ve done, and what I’ll do next, is sliding under an intense, internal microscope.
Maybe this happens to you if you shift from one medium to another. Or from one project to another. Perhaps why you are an artist at all has nuances when it comes to why you select one project over another, one tool over another, one idea over another.
Maybe our whys shift during times of major life transitions; maybe some parts of our why stay the same, while other parts try on new outfits.
For me, right now, that I find artists to be essential, humanity shape-shifters, has not changed. Because you live the creative life for yourself, it affirms for others the substance of creative expression. And so, who knows, maybe they too can have access to their Creative Self.
I find this outcome of being an artist irresistible. And every cell in my body wants to help you learn to articulate your why so the people who love your work grow even more connected to it.
This brings me back to my why.
Which I can’t articulate just yet because I haven’t figured out what’s happening next in my online, artist-focused life.
I think I’ll start with asking myself why I’m needing to change at all?
Maybe that’ll open the gates.
I’ll let you know once I do.
Meanwhile, don’t hold back. Come tell me why you do what you do.
As always, revealing the true spirit of your work…is the work, especially in challenging times,
Your Truth. Your Power. Your Word. Claim it!
P.S. If you want the best crash course in writing (or updating!) your artist statement, I wroteWriting the Artist Statement: Revealing the True Spirit of Your Workspecifically for anyone who finds writing about themselves a chore. Revealing the true spirit of your work helps you deeply honor what you do, and in that sense is a joy.
Your book was a lifesaver! The writing exercises took away my fear and made a difference not just in my writing, but also in my work. I would have been lost and frustrated without it.
I know, your artist-career palette is brimming over.
There are sales to consider. How to be, and stay, connected to collectors. Where to show your work. The website updates that haven’t been dealt with. The studio that needs an overhaul.
And goodness only knows, that’s just the career side of your life.
So here I come and yammer on about that small grain of sand in your artist’s shoe: artist statements.
I can only imagine that taking five minutes out of your day feels like five years.
But let me tell how much I’ve learned from those of you who took 5 minutes and completed myeasy-peasy survey.
I’ve learned that some of you want to:
Know more about what collectors need from you
Feel more confident writing about your work
Understand why you do what you do! (Seems as if you have the what you do, and how you do it, under wraps.)
Identify the true spirit of your work
The irony here is that one of the mainstays of any artist’s careers are the collectors. And when you know what to write for them to become, and stay, engaged with you, that grain of sand in your shoe becomes a sun-warmed beach with aqua waters.
What do you want at this point in your art career? Now’s the time.
Come tell mewhat will help you get where you want to go!
Remember, revealing the true spirit of your work…is the work,
Your Truth. Your Power. Your Word. Claim it!
P.S. I even give you a space in thesurveyto tell me anything you’d like me to know about you, your art, and your art career.
P.S.S. You have no idea about all the areas of an art career I can weave into an artist statement workshop. All I need to know is what do you need. So,come tell me!
It was a roaring success and I want to thank everyone who jumped in!
Now, my inner headlights are scanning the art career horizon for how I can best support your art career right now.
I have a couple of ideas, but what I really need is to hear from you about what youreally, really need.
So, I’m crafting a short survey with questions aimed at just this: how to best support you and your art career.
If you have one or more questions you would like me to ask in this survey, please either 1) send me an email or 2) post a comment here on my Reflections Blog.
Remember, revealing the true spirit of your work…is the work,
even in challenging times,
Your Truth. Your Power. Your Word. Claim it!
P.S. One area I’m thinking about is mindset/stumbling blocks to either your creativity, your production ability, or the business side of your career.
Another is a hands-on workshop to write your Artist Statement, and/or Art Statements for individual collections/installations/or a series.
