It’s funny. Or maybe not so funny. Often when we begin to pursue a passion as a source of income we lose the wonder and drive for that passion. It seems that in the “making a living” from our art form we feel like we’re drowning in the details of being in business for ourselves. And sometimes in our commitment to become successful financially from our creativity, we forget why we love to do it.

Reminding ourselves of what art means to us personally is the key to building success in art as a business pursuit. That vision of yourself as artist, and the contribution you bring to the world through your art, is critical to your well being. And in my opinion, it is the one thing you need to be clear about when pursuing a career in your chosen art form or creativity-based profession.

In the Guerilla Exhibitor (GX) course this is exactly the initial topic we tackle - first reminding ourselves why we love our art form, and then crafting a Vision Statement that is inspiring and meaningful to us. This statement will call us back to ourselves and our passion-even in our darkest moments. (The bonus is that we get to this point by using art -and we end up with a treasure that helps remind us of that inspiration!)

The process of getting to the Vision Statement is simple in structure-but sometimes a bear in getting through the emotional and mental tangles generated by the opinions, attitudes and judgments about the arts people seem to hold (this means you dear artist).

Before I outline the steps for you to take to create a Vision Statement, I ask that you adopt a fundamental, necessary practice when exploring your inspiration and love for being artist - be gentle with yourself.

This is not an exercise to beat yourself (or others) up - rather you are looking, clinically and respectfully, at all that is there for you about your identification as artist, so you may get to the real heart of what drives you, and inspires you, as an artist.

Okay. Here we go.

SUPPLIES YOU’LL NEED

• scratch paper (or a journal or notebook)
• an empty box - small (say 4×4x4″ - can be paper, wood, tin - with a lid or a flap - it can be a jewelry box form like you can pick up at Michael’s)
• collage glue
• paint brush (for the glue)
• magazines or other source of images
• scissors and/or an exacto knife
• markers (optional)
• acrylic paint (optional)
• glitter glue (optional - and one of my favorites)
• nik nacky things (optional - ribbons, buttons, wrist watch parts, etc.

Set-up an area where you will be uninterrupted. Give yourself a few hours for the entire exercise-get the kids to a babysitter, send your spouse out with their friends to go for a 4-hour hike or bike ride, let your roommates know you need quiet time to work on this personal project. And then…

The first step is to unload from your mind everything you know about the attitudes, opinions and judgments you, your community, the world has about the arts, your art, yourself as artist. Look at it from as many angles as you can imagine. Do this on paper. (In the course this is a conversation lead by the course leader on paper, in group discussion, in partnership with other participants in the course). Write down the negatives on one page and the positives on another. Notice which category has the most information. Which one has the most powerful “feeling” attached to it?

Here are some common statements to prime the pump: mosts artists are “starving artists”, or only when you are dead will you become famous, or it’s HARD to make a living as an artist, or art isn’t a REAL profession, or artists are gods and goddesses.

Then after you’ve unloaded all that onto paper, pick up the negative portion, and ask yourself - where do all those stories come from? Who’s sitting on your shoulder, or standing next to you talking into your ear saying these things? Like for real? And who’s choosing to listen to those
opinions?

Then evaluate all that information, all that storytelling, in terms of the impact it has on you-where is it zapping your energy, your willingness to try something new, your enthusiasm, your quality of life? Are you measuring up to your ideals and how does that feel?

Follow that same process this time with the positive portion. Write out a list of words and phrases that describe what you love about your art-creating it, hanging or performing it, having someone buy a ticket or purchase a work. How do you feel? Write all that down.

And when you’ve written everything you can, look at it all and pull from it keywords that really nail the feeling “being artist” has for you. This may include both positive and negative words, and that’s okay. Think of this part of the exercise as one of balance, and acceptance.

[Consider this - even though we may call these elements "negative" and "positive", think of them in the sense of taking pictures. When you snap the picture, you cature the "negative" of the image on the film - and then in the darkroom you use the negative to get the "positive" image on paper. You cannot get the positive image in that process, without having captured the negative. It's the ying and yang of life! Balance.]

Now, grab your art supplies, and the empty box, and leaving the inside of the box empty (the emptiness inside the box represents infinite possibilities), collage the 6 sides of the box with images that relate to the keywords you’ve drawn from the exercise, as well as feelings and experiences that cannot be described by words.

When you’ve completed your box-use it to help you craft a Vision Statement. Take time to look at what you’ve created before beginning to write, and when you’re ready, use this statement form to guide you:

“I am an artist who _____________________________________.” Or

“I am an artist whose work
_____________________________________.”

Here are some examples of Vision Statements created by others in the GX course:

“I am an artist whose evocative work explores the beauty, joy and wonder of the world.”
~Sherrie (digital artist)

“I am an artist whose spirited work connects people to freedom and healing.”
~Marilyn (visual artists and arts showroom consultant)

“I am an artist using my voice, in singing, writing and poetry, to illuminate the tragicomic nature of life.”
~Bob (poet, performance artist)

Print out your statement and put it in a couple of hard-to-miss places to remind you of what you’re up to as an artist. Maybe add it to your box, and put the box someplace in the open to remind you as well. (I have my statement as my screensaver on lmy laptop).

If you do this exercise, let me know how it turns out. And, of course, you are welcome to write to me with any questions you have about this exercise, the Guerilla Exhibitor course, or Working Artists in general.

NEXT Issue: A Stake in the Ground | Exhibition as a Tool to Get Organized

To Art and the Power it Brings to Our Lives!

A.

a@workingartistsonline.com

“I love the way this workshop stimulates, clarifies and motivates. It isn’t a ‘how-to’ workshop that spoon feeds information to the participants. It creates a framework that enables an artist to find the information they need, find within themselves the confidence to move forward, and a support system that creates accountability. “

Leslie Peterson , Artist
graduate of The Guerilla Exhibitor