Continuing on our "secret diet" for success.... If you get tired of it, you know what to do!
Thin people live in Colorado.
Of course, what this "secret" really means, says James O. Hill, Ph.D (whose credentials include director of the Center for Human Nutrition at the University of Colorado Health Services Center in Denver, the guy who is also responsible for Thin Secret No. 2) is that many people who value an outdoor lifestyle and health and wellness choose to live in Colorado--where the climate and terrain allow them to ski, hike and snowboard 300 days a year.
They have chosen an environment that supports their lifestyle.
Artists can do this, too--physically, professionally, emotionally, spiritually.
There is the eternal debate about whether it's best to have a studio space in your home or outside your home. The answer is, whatever works best for you, whereever you are in your life right now. If you need to walk away from ringing telephones, demanding family and drop-in friends, then a studio outside the home may work best for you. If that's REALLY important and money is an issue, find what you are willing to give up for now that will get you that studio. Nothing is written in stone--you can always change things if they don't work out.
On the other hand, if being at home gives you more flexibility, and availability to others is very important to you right now, go for the home studio. Dedicate a space in your home that is YOURS--not the dining room table or counter, but a real space where you can spread out your work and leave it there if necessary. I'm always astounded by artists who say they have a hard time setting aside time to make their art who then say they have NO STUDIO SPACE at all. Could you become an accomplished piano player if you didn't have a piano at your disposal? A speed skater without a skating rink? Make a space for your work, and guard it zealously.
Another way to think about physically selecting for success is thinking outside your local retail market. Let's take my art, for example. It has a certain following in the New England states--but it also has a strong contemporary-Western-Soutwestern aesthetic. Am I doomed to poor sales because I live in an area that tends to value traditional American handcraft? Nah. I'm not limited to the northeast for an audience. There are magazines, shows and stores in other areas of the country (and maybe international) that could be interested in my work.
It may take a little more time and effort (and money), and it might have been easier/quicker/cheaper to find those markets if I lived elsewhere. But just knowing I don't HAVE to make a living in a market under 100 miles from my home is a powerful insight I've had from the earliest days of my art biz.
Another way artists can self-select for success is to try professional strategies that work for THEM that might not work for other artists--and vice versa.
We tend to see most craftspeople focusing on smallish local or regional retail shows. Or again, seeing everyone else's work for sale in that one local store. We then think should carry OUR work, too.
But our work might be a great product to sell to a bigger, national--or even international--market.
We might try a fine contemporary wholesale craft show like the Buyers Market of American Craft. If it has a "gift" appeal, it might do well at a gift show like the Boston Gift Show or others by George Little Management. Or it might do well in an on-line "show" venue like Wholesalecrafts.com--or we might decide we can market it ourselves on-line.
If it's really cutting edge stuff, the American Craft Council shows might be a better venue, or other very high-end shows.
If our work has strong appeal for animal lovers, then advertising or publicity in pet magazines might be a more efficient strategy, reaching an extremely targeted niche market nationwide.
Our work might be of interest to interior design or architectural firms. It could appeal to gift shops at aquariums, or museum stores, or historical centers.
If it's strongly regional in flavor, then the tourist/travel industry might be a good venue. On my way back from North Carolina, I visited the tiny gift store at the Asheville airport. I didn't expect much, but I was delightfully surprised. The owners had carefully selected music, jewelry and craft by local and regional artists to feature in their gift store. I bought a piece of local pottery for my budding potter son, a sock monkey for my daughter, bluegrass music for my husband, and I splurged on a beautiful bear carving for myself. And I'd simply gone in looking for a few trinkets to take home to my kids....
Artists should also self-select an environment for success by choosing their emotional network carefully. I know we covered this in Thin Secret No. 2, but it bears repeating.
If your family secretly thinks you're crazy to pursue your art, then don't go looking to them for support. They can't give it to you. Quit wasting energy trying to MAKE them.
If you hang around other artists who are always negative or constantly putting you down, don't hang with them. There's constructive criticism (Are your sewing skills up to snuff? Are your finishing techniques nailed?) and then there is personal opinion--which is not worth your while to change. I thought one artist was a friend and would ask her for advice. Until I realized that every single comment from her was a veiled criticism of EVERYTHING I did. I don't care what her issues are--I'm an artist, not a shrink. She got dropped from the list, fast. We can all use a reality check from time to time. But nobody needs a nattering nabob of negativism. (Yes, I know that phrase dates me badly....)
If you continually approach store owners who don't like your work, take your work elsewhere. We all get caught up in getting our work into that "one perfect gallery" or that "one great store". I've done it. I still do it. But I'm gradually learning that, while I'm wasting time trying to convince them they really should take my work, there may be a better store for me down the street.
You can create your own spiritual environment, too.
We all have different reasons for making the stuff we do. When I taught the self-promotion for artists session recently at the Arts Business Intitute conference at Haywood College in NC, this was the most powerful part of my workshop--everyone had to dig deep and think about the WHY of their art. WHY they felt compelled to make THAT work, THAT way.
This is at the heart of what we do. It's why it drives me crazy when people are inspired by my artwork and then want to make horses, too. Or use the Lascaux cave for inspiration, too. They can. It's a free country (although my designs are not up for grabs.)
But it's frustrating because they think the "magic" in what I do is in the horses, or in the caves. It's not. It's in my STORY. My sharing my personal connection with these themes, and my putting that connection, that interpretation in my art, out into the world.
People have copied my ideas, my designs, my story. But it's a cheap shot at best. It will never have the same impact or power, because it hasn't come from THEIR heart, from THEIR jouney.
The world is a big place, and there is a place for you in it somewhere. Find the emotional, spiritual, professional and physical environment that works for YOU--and create it.
Your art will thank you for it. And so will the world.
