Pearls from artists* # 719
With “Magisterial,” soft pastel on sandpaper, 70” x 50” framed
*an ongoing series of quotations – mostly from artists, to artists – that offers wisdom, inspiration, and advice for the sometimes lonely road we are on
The secret of success is to find out what your talent is for and then seek to develop the technical abilities you will need to assist you in acquiring the necessary skills. It is here that the secret of success or the forming of great achievements lies for every noble artist, no matter what their medium is. Passion and inspiration will come automatically to assist your noble vision when you broaden your experience and knowledge to become an expert in your particular field, thus helping to improve the lives of mankind. Believing that what you are creating will bring advancement to man’s life will also follow as will hopefulness for the future. Those who benefit from your service, directly or indirectly, will reward you for that which your rare talent has produced and for improving their lives while contributing to the advancement of mankind.
Samuel Adoquei in Origin of Inspiration: Seven Short Essays for Creative People
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Travel photo of the month*
Salar de Uyuni, Bolivia
*favorite travel photos that have not yet appeared in this blog
My travel companions had the brilliant idea to blindfold me so my first sight of the spectacular Uyuni salt flats could be caught on film. The second photo is what I saw!
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Pearls from artists* # 718
Barbara’s Studio
*an ongoing series of quotations – mostly from artists, to artists – that offers wisdom, inspiration, and advice for the sometimes lonely road we are on
Do the work of your earnest heart, with all your body and soul, for as long as you breathe and with as much craft as you can wring from your every filament, and you will have made art. Your art.
Sally Man in Art Work: On the Creative Life
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Q: What’s on the easel today?
Pastel painting in progress
A: I’m slowly working on an untitled, large, 58” x 38,” “Bolivianos” pastel painting based on a reference photo taken in La Paz in February. This one is number thirty-six in the series.
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Pearls from artists* # 717
In the studio
*an ongoing series of quotations – mostly from artists, to artists – that offers wisdom, inspiration, and advice for the sometimes lonely road we are on
Go slowly. Success is a kind of energy field. You vibrate in it like a charged particle. There are new demands on your tine and talents, new interview requests and business questions, new possibilities and opportunities. In this context, when you have a free half-hour you may continue spinning like a top. Walk, breathe, stretch, meditate. Do the mundane: scrape a carrot, sweep the patio. Calm down.
Manage your money. You may or may not have paydays like this again. Study a book on money management. Learn your options. Think before you have a full-time personal trainer or buy Adar that corners too tightly at 100 miles an hour. Think before you find yourself in the position of needing to earn half a million a year in order to cover expenses and feed your vast retinue.
Protect your privacy. Begin to calculate how public and accessible you want to be. Learn how not to give yourself away. Be able to say “Thank you” and “I don’t have an answer for that question.” Have an interview persona and a public persona. At the same time be able to access your humanity.
Manage your anxiety. New stresses exist in your life. More is expected of you. The ante on each project rises. Success is not a magic pill that allays anxieties.
Expect setbacks. The next book you write after your bestseller may disappoint you, your publisher, or your readers. The movie you directed after your blockbuster May bomb. But even if your stock is lowered in the eyes of the world, it need not sink in your own eyes. Virtually no artist experiences one success after another. Determine to come back. If doors have closed to you, consult your business adviser. Plan and analyze ways to reopen them. Demonstrate your courage all over again.
Remain human. Guard your privacy and your person; decline to become a stereotype or a frozen icon. Be more than the bad-boy rock singer, the sex goddess, the reclusive dancer, the brilliant violin virtuoso. Remember that you have a heart and mind as well as a reputation.
Eric Maisel in A Life in the Arts: An Expanded Workbook Edition of Staying Sane in the Arts
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Q: You once faced a major creative block. How did you break through it? (Question from “Pastel, Passion, and Perseverance: An Interview with Barbara Rachko” in .ART Odyssey: Healing)
A: That was in 2007, after I finished my Domestic Threats series. The last painting in that series hardly interested me. I was wringing my hands, thinking, “I’m a full-time artist not making art —what do I do NOW?” It was frightening. At the time, I was also taking a jazz history class at Lincoln Center. One day the instructor spoke about Miles Davis.
He explained how Davis moved away from bebop —where musicians packed in as many notes as possible to show off—to cool jazz, where every note carried weight.
And something clicked. I realized I’d been working like bebop: showing off meticulous detail, every stitch of fabric, every grain in a wooden floor.
That revelation was my way forward. I stripped everything back. No more domestic backdrops. Just the figures, placed against solid black. Only what mattered. That was the beginning of my Black Paintings.
The block that had haunted me for months lifted in an instant, because I’d found a new way to speak. I realized the black background represented the dark place I had emerged from; the vibrant figures symbolized resilience and life.
It was like a lightbulb going off.
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Pearls from artists* # 716
*an ongoing series of quotations – mostly from artists, to artists – that offers wisdom, inspiration, and advice for the sometimes lonely road we are on
… We are in the early stages of what I hope will be a revolution surrounding the way we view creative labor. I optimistically dream of a new model, crafted by the next generation of artists. Hopefully, they will not have to spend too many years chasing the old, late-stage capitalist one, as we did. We must cultivate a sense of our own value. As audiences, we willingly spend money for the experiences of books, plays, and other performances. It is not unusual to drop forty dollars on a mediocre movie and bad popcorn, or hundreds for a concert. Yet, we have tolerated a system where artists are not paid for putting their time, money, and very souls into the creation of inspiring, thought-provoking works. It is time to collectively channel creativity towards new paradigms, to provide us with a living wage, ensure that art history reflects all of us, and change the very status of art in our culture. Armed with the truth, technology, and ingenuity, we can forge a powerful future.
Kate Kretz in Art From Your Core: A Holistic Guide to Visual Voice
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Q: Your work has been described as “beautiful but unsettling.” How do you respond to that? (Question from “Pastel, Passion, and Perseverance: An Interview with Barbara Rachko” in .ART Odyssey: Healing)
Barbara’s Studio
A: For me, every painting I make is beautiful. Beauty is vital. I see the figures in my pastel paintings as misunderstood, colorful misfits—archetypes—certainly not terrifying or unsettling. In the studio, what I’m often doing is solving technical challenges: figuring out how to depict feathers in pastel, how to lead the viewer’s eye around the painting in complex ways using detail, contrast, and color. Meanings emerge later, when others look and bring their own perspectives. I never want to dictate interpretation. People should be free to see what speaks to them.
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Pearls from artists* # 715
*an ongoing series of quotations – mostly from artists, to artists – that offers wisdom, inspiration, and advice for the sometimes lonely road we are on
Whenever we must solve a big problem, such as the art/money challenge, it is worthwhile to look inward, to see where we may be complicit in perpetuating the problem. While artists are not always valued in our society, we also get what we settle for. Although we must eat and pay rent or mortgages like everyone else, non-artists often try to persuade us that we do not deserve to earn a living wage, because we enjoy our job. In the United States, we are often asked to work for free in a way that other professionals are not.
Consider trying to get an accountant to work ‘for the exposure.’ In many cases, artists go to college, even graduate school, to learn our profession. Many of us are still paying off student loans. We put in thousands of hours to develop our skills. We may win awards or grants that distinguish us from other artists. It is up to us to put a stop to the devaluation of our profession. Artists who agree to work for free, or for a pittance, are essentially strikebreakers on a picket line. As a group, we should be fighting in solidarity to raise standards of living and respect for our collective profession by refusing to work for less. When we agree to bad conditions, we devalue ourselves, and enable a dysfunctional system that perpetuates the exploitation of artists.
Kate Kretz in Art From Your Core: A Holistic Guide to Visual Voice
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Travel photo of the month*
*favorite travel photos that have not yet appeared in this blog
A shallow beach like the ones in Brittany. The sea is out there somewhere!
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barbararachkoscoloreddust.com 