View From My Studio
’The View From the Studio Door, How Artist Find Their Way In An Uncertain World’ by Ted Orland
I am reading this book and in it the author states artists face 3 big problems:
1. Art plays no role in our culture.
2. Artists have little direct contact with their audience.
3. Artmaking is indulged, but rarely rewarded.
Wow. As an artist I read this and think, why should I even bother creating art ?
To be honest I have to paint. I don’t mean to be dramatic but I think now, since I’ve discovered painting, I would wither and die without it. Its like I don’t even have a choice. Its what I can do and I think, maybe not all the time, but sometimes, I do quite well.
I’ll have to continue reading the book. These 3 statements kind of floored me so I stopped reading to write this blog. What do you think? Do you think art has no role in our culture?
Do artists have litttle direct contact with their audience?
I know positively that is not the case with me. I sell my work thru my studio and online. Most of the people who buy from me either met me online or at my studio. I love this aspect of having an art studio at Second April Art Galerie. I love it so much in fact I moved my working studio from my home to my ‘White Horse Studio’ on the second floor of 2nd April. My studio overlooks Cleveland Ave. and I love it. I can gaze out the window… I am even pretty certain people can see me from the street working at my easel. I feel like I am tapped into the art community. I feel a part of things and I feel people have an interest in what goes on in the gallery. Maybe thats just me projecting my feelings of the place because I love it but I don’t think so. I hear and see the people who come in. I am not alone in feeling this is a special, invigorating place.
I suppose in the day of gallery representation the artist did not meet their audience. My hunch is that the way in which artists sell has changed with the accessibility we now have to our ‘audience’ by way of the Internet. Every artist has a web site, a blog, a twitter account, facebook pages and the likes. Everyone is the star of their own show. Everyone has the chance to build their ‘audience’ by social networking. Its an interesting juxtaposition I struggle with. How do I get exposure for my art AND have the time and mental space to create my art? Everyone and his brother now blogs… we are all blabbing so much about ourselves that no one can hear above the racket. I get tired of it but I can’t stop either because now I have an audience!!! I force myself to take computer breaks or else it will drive me nuts but I also am a computer fanatic. I am addicted to facebook. I’ve got more blogs than anyone should have and just today I was advising a talented but computer illiterate artist the benefits of blogging. I even offered to write up a blog for him. I couldn’t stand that someone talented and interesting would not have a blog. I want him to have an audience because I know it would make him happy and people would love him.
I do kind of miss the days of being squirrelled away all by myself just painting what I want when I want. I’d spend the whole day completely absorbed in my painting. If I had that again I’d be hungry for the interaction with other artists and my ‘public’. The complete absorbtion on good days felt focused and wonderful but is isolating and solitary too. In fact thats when I began my blog– so I did not feel so isolated. I shared my daily paintings to the vast sea of the internet and thought someone somewhere saw what I did that day. Look world, what I did today!
Am I rewarded for my work? Well depends on what he means by rewarded. I get paid. I haven’t had the time to submit work to shows this year so I’ve not won many awards this year. Did get first place recently though in one I did enter. My rewards are tangible and intangible. Yes, its nice to get paid. My art career started later in life. I am self taught and feel quite protective of my art and have decided my motivation at this point in my life is not money driven. Being motivated by money isn’t a bad thing– thats why most people work. But my art feels like it was something plucked from the sky and dropped on me when I was 40-ish years old. So I still feel like I am in the exploratory stage of my art. I am my own apprentice, learning on the job. I don’t mean technique– although I am always interested in learning technique. I mean exploring what it is to me. My art is really the only thing thats been all about me (except when its a commission). What do I see? What do I want to convey? What emotions does that evoke in me? So so selfish!!! Me, me me!!! No wonder we artists all want to blog and blab all over about ourselves! Look at what I did!! the Internet has become the worldwide refrigerator door of the world for all of us to hang our art on.
I am veering, which I am prone to do. Sorry, I got caught up in myself.
Since I blabbed about myself, now its your turn. How do you feel about those statements above? Has art no place in our culture? Have we lost touch with our audience? Are we merely indulged, rather than rewarded? I want to know your thoughts. Passing the microphone and spotlight to you ……… I’ll share this on facebook and twitter if you will.
