Category Archives: An Artist’s Life
Pearls from artists* # 223
“Epiphany,” soft pastel on sandpaper, 38″ x 58″
* an ongoing series of quotations – mostly from artists, to artists – that offers wisdom, inspiration, and advice for the sometimes lonely road we are on.
This is precisely the time when artists get to work. There is no time for despair, no place for self-pity, no need for silence, no room for fear. We speak, we write, we do language. That is how civilizations heal.
I know the world is bruised and bleeding, and though it is important not to ignore its pain, it is also critical to refuse to succumb to its malevolence. Like failure, chaos contains information that can lead to knowledge – even wisdom. Like art.
Toni Morrison quoted in Brainpickings, Nov. 20, 2016
Comments are welcome!
Q: What art marketing activities do you put into practice regularly that work most successfully for you?
“White Star,” 38″ x58″, ready to go to the framer
A: This blog continues to be a crucial part of my overall art practice. Blogging twice a week forces me to think deeply about my work and to explain it clearly to others. The process has helped develop a better understanding about why I make art and has encouraged me to become a better writer.
As far as art marketing, one crucial activity is to take my blog posts and repurpose them for posting on social media sites. Several years ago I realized it’s necessary to put as much time and energy into getting my work seen online as it is to create it.
With the help of my assistant I stay active on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest. I have sold paintings, in the 5-figure price range, through Facebook connections. Recently an art critic reconnected with me via LinkedIn and went on to write a scholarly essay about my “Black Paintings.” In December she’s presenting a paper at Oxford University and will speak about my work.
I find online marketing to be a constant challenge, but it does yield rewards. You never know what might happen.
Comments are welcome!
Pearls from artists* # 222
Washington, DC
* an ongoing series of quotations – mostly from artists, to artists – that offers wisdom, inspiration, and advice for the sometimes lonely road we are on.
I always had a sense of being in this for keeps. If your health lasts you. And you’re fortunate enough to have the days at your disposal so you can keep doing this. I never had the sense that there was an end. That there was a retirement or that there was a jackpot.
Leinard Cohen in Brain Pickings Weekly, Nov. 13, 2016
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Pearls from artists* # 221
Walking on Spiral Jetty in September 2011
* an ongoing series of quotations – mostly from artists, to artists – that offers wisdom, inspiration, and advice for the sometimes lonely road we are on.
Andre Malraux famously cherished the idea of a museum without walls. In a way, places like Spiral Jetty are jails without walls. They are always about time, about how long they can detain or hold you. I remember the governor of a US prison saying, of a particularly violent inmate, that he already had way more time than he would ever be able to do. That’s exactly how the Jetty looked – like it had more time than it could ever do – even though, relatively speaking, it had hardly begun to put in any serious time.
Geoff Dyer in White Sands: Experiences from the Outside World
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Q: What invaluable art business lesson did you learn in the past year?
Barbara’s studio
A: I have decided that it IS necessary to work with art galleries. During my thirty years as an artist, I have been represented by two dozen galleries and found most to be disappointing. For the past few years I have focused extensively on social media and other sorts of creative marketing. My efforts have built significant name recognition – many more people around the world know about me and my work – but my collector base has not expanded as much as I would have liked. So I have revised my marketing strategy to include gallery representation.
Comments are welcome!
Q: What advice to you have for younger artists who are just beginning their careers?
Barbara’s studio
A: I have two pieces of advice:
- Build a support network among your fellow artists, teachers, and friends. It is tough to be an artist starting out. Also, be sure to read plenty of books by and about artists. All have experienced similar challenges.
- Do whatever you must to keep working – no matter what! Being an artist never really gets easier. There are always new obstacles and you’ll discover solutions over time.
Comments are welcome!
Pearls from artists* # 218
Untouched sandpaper
* an ongoing series of quotations – mostly from artists, to artists – that offers wisdom, inspiration, and advice for the sometimes lonely road we are on.
Let go of every should or shouldn’t running through your mind when you start. Be willing to stand at the base of a new mountain, and with humility and grace, bow to it. Allow yourself to understand that it’s bigger than you, or anything you can possibly imagine. You’re not sure of your path. You’re not even sure where the next step will take you. When you begin, whisper to yourself: I don’t know.
Dani Shapiro in Still Writing: The Perils and Pleasures of a Creative Life
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Pearls from artists* # 216
Working on “Charade”
* an ongoing series of quotations – mostly from artists, to artists – that offers wisdom, inspiration, and advice for the sometimes lonely road we are on.
This is true for all artists, not only writers.
The writing life requires courage, patience, persistence, empathy, openness, and the ability to deal with rejection. It requires the willingness to be alone with oneself. To be gentle with oneself. To look at the world without blinders on. To observe and withstand what one sees. To be disciplined, and at the same time, take risks. To be willing to fail – not just once, but again and again, over the course of a lifetime. “Ever tried, ever failed,” Samuel Beckett once wrote. “No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better.” It requires what the great editor Ted Solotoroff once called endurability. It is this quality, most of all, that I think of when I look around a classroom at a group of aspiring writers. Some of them will be more gifted than others. Some of them will be driven, ambitious for success or fame, rather than by the determination to do their best possible work. But of the students I have taught, it is not necessarily the most gifted, or the ones most focused on imminent literary fame (I think of these as short sprinters), but the ones who endure, who are still writing, decades later.
Dani Shapiro in Still Writing: The Perils and Pleasures of a Creative Life
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Q: Do you have a personal definition of art career success?
Barbara at work, Photo: Marianne Barcellona
A: One definition of art career success that I have enjoyed for many years is the ability to devote all of my time and energy to art-making. I am an anomaly among the many New York artists of my acquaintance because I do not have a day job. Also, I am free of family and other responsibilities so I can devote significant time to exploring what it means to be a visual artist in New York in 2016.
Comments are welcome!
Start/Finish of “Incognito,” soft pastel on sandpaper, 38″ x 58″ image, 50″ x 70″ framed
C-print and preliminary charcoal sketch
Finished
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