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Shape the Day, Every Day

In my last blog post I suggested that the arrival of a new year gave artists the opportunity to find new ways of working. This often means building structure into your art practice.

This is a challenge because most systems of organization feel alien to artists. It is difficult to fit a creative life into a spreadsheet. If linear processes tend to paralyze you, try to find another way to get organized.

Instead of making a list, choose a mantra. This is a word or phrase, and sometimes an image, that guides your behavior through the ups and downs of a day or a week.

My own mantra right now is: “Shape the Day, Every Day”

These five words are on post-its all over my house and on my screens. Every morning my mantra asks me to think about the overall shape of my day. When I am stuck, I return to this advice.

Sometimes “shape the day” means doing all the hard work first. On other days it means finding inspiration before I begin. The phrase reminds me that I am in charge of how my day unfolds, no matter what is going on in the world or in my own life.

How you shape your day depends on your commitments, of course. You have responsibilities to others, as well as regular work time. But when you put yourself in charge of shaping the day, you acknowledge your own needs. You may need comfort, stimulation, or connection, or simply time for yourself.

Borrow my mantra or find a phrase that inspires you. Keep it visible in your studio or other workspace. After a few weeks, look back to discover what has changed in the rhythm of your days.

Welcome to the New Year!

~ Mary

Mary Edwards, Ph.D
Career & Life Coach for Artists
“Left Brain Skills for Right Brained People”
Instagram: coachingforartists.maryedwards

Planning for 2021

Always a planner, I’m looking ahead to the New Year now and helping artists set goals for 2021. After such a chaotic year, it makes sense to build some structure and planning into your creative life.

A good goal stretches you because it helps you figure out what you really want. For example, if you have a strong resume and a coherent body of work, your goal might be to have a solo show at a museum.

Articulating that goal clarifies your intentions and makes you think: “how will I do that?” By outlining the steps that will help you reach your goal, you put yourself in motion. You might start to research local and regional museums to find those whose mission and purpose align with your work. You’ll see whether they have submission guidelines on their websites. If not, you’ll go to their staff listing and find the name of an exhibitions coordinator or curator whom you could write or call with questions.

But maybe you’re not far along in your career. Your primary goal for 2021 might be to develop a coherent body of work. Again the challenge is to figure out the steps you need to take in order to make that happen. You might decide to identify and remove obstacles that prevent you from spending more time on your art. You might need to say NO to less important commitments that drain your energy. You might want to get objective feedback on your work from people you trust. Try to understand what has to change in your daily life in order for your art to grow.

Most important, don’t hide your goals in a folder on your desktop. Write them down and keep them visible in your creative space.

Happy New Year!

~ Mary

Mary Edwards, Ph.D
Career & Life Coach for Artists
“Left Brain Skills for Right Brained People”
Instagram: coachingforartists.maryedwards

Visit a Hybrid Art Fair

If you haven’t visited an art fair lately, you have another opportunity this week. UNTITLED, ART Miami Beach will be held from December 2 through December 6, 2020. Since it happens both live and online, it’s called a hybrid art fair.

UNTITLED, ART includes not just galleries but also artist-run exhibition spaces and nonprofit art organizations. Their list is fully international, including galleries in Cape Town, Buenos Aires, London, and Johannesburg, plus U.S. venues in Los Angeles, New York, and Dallas.

Use your visit to learn about what’s going on in the Big Art World. There are live-streamed panels where collectors, curators, museum directors and art advisors discuss trends. You can visit gallery viewing rooms and ask questions of the exhibitors. Since the primary purpose of the fair is to sell art, you will be able to see prices for a wide range of art.

For an emerging artist, the fair provides an introduction to how the top tier of the art world operates. Pick several galleries and nonprofit spaces that appeal to you and get to know them. Go to their websites to see the artists they represent, and then focus on the artists they feature at the fair. For artists who inspire you, look at their resumes to see how they got where they are today. What can you learn about your own career path?

Use this opportunity to expand your world. You can attend special events, such as those featuring contemporary Caribbean artists or learn about opportunities such as the Artists in Residence program in the Everglades.

You don’t have to wait for the art world to “open up.” Get used to the hybrid model, where art events happen both online and in person, as this seems to be our future.

~ Mary

Mary Edwards, Ph.D
Career & Life Coach for Artists
“Left Brain Skills for Right Brained People”
Instagram: coachingforartists.maryedwards

Circle of Gratitude

As the Thanksgiving holiday approaches, it is time to consider our lives and ask ourselves: “what am I grateful for?”

It has been a very difficult year for everyone, but artists have been challenged in unique ways. The art world has gone virtual, many opportunities have been put on hold, and the uncertain economy has put creative organizations at risk.

It may be hard to feel grateful right now. You have to find a way to let go of frustrations and acknowledge what is still positive or at least hopeful in your world.

Believe it or not, there is a field of study called the Science of Gratitude. Researchers say that expressing your gratitude can make you happier. When you express gratitude you pass on positive thoughts and feelings to create what I call a circle of gratitude.

You might be grateful for the people who have helped you get through difficult times. You might be grateful for groups or organizations that offered resources to keep you going. You might be grateful for your own strengths and talents.

Think of what you are genuinely grateful for, and then put those feelings into words. Say it out loud or write it down. Give specific examples. First make it clear to yourself what you are grateful for, and then see what your examples have in common.

For example, I’m grateful for:

A friend who listened without giving advice
New artists I discovered through a virtual art fair
My own flexibility in adapting to new conditions

After you discover what you are grateful for, find a way to tell the person or organization or even yourself. Pay it forward to inspire others to do the same. You are creating a circle of gratitude that nurtures and sustains itself.

~ Mary

Mary Edwards, Ph.D
Career & Life Coach for Artists
“Left Brain Skills for Right Brained People”
Instagram: coachingforartists.maryedwards

Your Art Matters

For most of us these last months of 2020 will be full of challenges. We struggle to stay creative as we face a difficult and uncertain election process, feel the weather becoming colder or wetter as we’re trapped inside, and wonder whether art-making really makes a difference in the world.

In my last blog post I described how the artist Constance Hockaday managed to create art that speaks directly to this political moment. She created a platform where 50 diverse artists spoke as president of the U.S. in their own voices. Hockaday’s process was just as transformative as her content. When the pandemic closed down her original site, she reimagined the project to work even better in the virtual art world.

This is the core of what artists do. In your art practice you give form to an idea or a feeling. You capture an impression in clay or on canvas or in a photograph. You take a hard look at the world as it is and decide to make something new.

Choosing to create art during these turbulent times is a hopeful thing to do. Even when your art is not about social issues, it takes freedom of thought and positive energy and courage to make it. Don’t shut yourself down by wondering whether your art matters, whether your voice will make a difference. Your ability to create is a powerful resource that helps all of us fight back against uncertainty and fear.

Nurture your creative self. Keep it alive by making art, by teaching art, by encouraging other artists, by building community. What you do every day matters. Fill your mind and heart and spirit with your own creativity. Cherish your ability to see the world as it is while imagining something new.

~ Mary

Mary Edwards, Ph.D
Career & Life Coach for Artists
“Left Brain Skills for Right Brained People”
Instagram: coachingforartists.maryedwards

Political Art Now

Constance Hockaday’s “Artists-in-Presidents: Fireside Chats for 2020” is a remarkable example of transformative art. While the project looks like it was designed for this moment, it was originally supposed to happen on the USS Potomac, FDR’s retired Presidential Yacht, docked in Oakland.

Hockaday envisioned an immersive site-specific performance space that would feel “both like a press conference for the working class and a raucous wedding reception.” The voices of fifty artists would be piped through loud speakers as they responded to the question: “what would it be like for you to take on the voice of a leader you’d like to hear?”

When the pandemic hit, Hockaday took the fundamental ideas and values of the project and created a virtual art exhibition. The artists were invited to write and record a five-minute presidential address, along with their own presidential portrait. The title, “Artists-in-Presidents,”is Hockaday’s sly smile at the traditional notion of artists-in-residence. Her own portrait is hilarious, as she sits in the oval office morphing into various versions of herself.

Hockaday’s process embodies the democratic values that inspired the project. Instead of inviting 50 artists herself, she invited a few and asked each of them to invite other artists, “sort of like a chain letter,” so that the group would represent widely divergent points of view.

Their addresses to the nation are being released during the final weeks of the 2020 presidential campaign. Originally intended to be heard by visitors to the USS Potomac, their voices are now reaching a much wider audience. You can see and hear them over the radio, in weekly podcasts, through social media, and in a virtual gallery on her website.

Hockaday says that “nobody knows what an equitable world looks like.” Artists-in-Presidents gives us multiple glimpses of that picture.

~ Mary

Mary Edwards, Ph.D
Career & Life Coach for Artists
“Left Brain Skills for Right Brained People”
Instagram: coachingforartists.maryedwards