Still thinking about my life as an artist. And also thinking about a friend’s words that 24/7 art would send him to the madhouse. I think I’d like to give it a go, take that risk. It won’t happen anytime very soon, but I’ve started to think about the possibility seriously. A flexible path to income is the key, so opportunities that crop up can be grasped!
With regard to this end…
A phenomena I have encountered recently, is the Artist’s Lie. When it comes to talking among ourselves, we shouldn’t do this, it is misleading. The Artist’s Lie is that thing where you are led to believe a person is supporting themselves SOLELY through their art. The Arts Council et al, and successful sales are paying their mortgage. BUT when you get down to the nitty gritty, they drop into the conversation they are lecturing, working in galleries, doing admin work for the local authority, or shelf stacking under cover of darkness at the weekends. Be honest folks please, don’t perpetuate the myth. We need to have an “income stream” and yes, it would be amazing if it was all totally related to our art. But it more often than not isn’t the case. Yes, I agree, as discussion evolved from the a-n consultation thingy this week, that we should go out and make our own opportunities, and most of us do, in whatever way we can. But these efforts eat into the time when we could be making. Most of us don’t want to spend our time chasing paper, landlords, plumbers, reading the small print, filling in the forms, and many of us don’t personally have the skills to do so. So we band together in little groups, for support, protection and “Front” that gives us confidence.
The downside of this is The Clique. Isolated little bundles of artists, scared to let other people in on it. Establishing an excluding identity, codifying speech so that only those in the know understand.
What is required is the opposite… the Anti-Clique, or perhaps more pertinently Ante-Clique. Be open, include, welcome, smile, don’t take yourself so seriously, speak plain English.
The Ante-Clique is growing… #anteclique
Join up now.
