Ep. 6 Your Greatest Resource Welcome to Mind Your Practice. I’m Beth Pickens and in this episode, I will talk about your greatest resource as an artist: your creative community.
Ep. 6 Your Greatest Resource
Welcome to Mind Your Practice. I’m Beth Pickens and in this episode, I will talk about your greatest resource as an artist: your creative community.
*****
Thanks for listening to Mind Your Practice and be sure to subscribe so you get all the bonus episodes coming your way. Want more homework and support for your creative practice? Join Homework Club where you’ll get monthly homework, workshops, live QnA's, and an accountability pod, hand chosen by me. Go to bethpickens.com to learn more. You can find me on Instagram at @bethpickensconsulting. Thanks for listening and keep making art.
Mind Your Practice is created by Beth Pickens and Carolyn Pennypacker Riggs.
Ep. 6 Your Greatest Resource
Welcome to Mind Your Practice. I’m Beth Pickens and in this episode, I will talk about your greatest resource as an artist: your creative community.
*****
Hello artists. It is my firm belief that one of the three things every artist needs - along with making your art and taking in other art - is creative community. Specifically, I want you to have a robust community of other artists who want good things for themselves and one another. That last part is important but I’ll get back there.
Artists, you must be part of and invest in community. Even if that sounds terrible, I promise you will benefit from building these relationships! Maybe you’re a bit isolated. Perhaps you’ve been burned by other artists in the past, in your MFA program, a former collaborator, someone on the internet borrowing heavily from your ideas. It’s ok, you don’t have to build community with those specific assholes. You get to invest in and grow relationships with other artists, the ones who know that when we all do better, we all do better.
Listen, you can’t do it all alone and you don’t have to. Your community has all the answers and resources inside of it that you will need throughout your career: ideas, help, introductions, money, equipment, strength both physical and emotional, troubleshooting, editing, feedback, validation, art world intel, time and celebration.
These relationships, this community, it’s beyond friendship. These are the people who know exactly what you're talking about when you want to give up and stop making work. They know what it feels like to get rejected and how to recover from it. Whatever you are nervous or in avoidance, they’ve been there, too. A small group of willing artists can make anything happen with one another: raise money, finish a project, pull off a wild stunt, get each other’s work into institutions, stage a show on your own instead of waiting for permission. I’ve always thought it just takes three people to make big things happen.
Your creative community is like a big ball of fiery energy and it’s very important that you both contribute to and receive from it. Not one or the other. You must give and you must take in order to be in harmonious balance with others.
Now back to choosing the artists to invest in. Remember how I described people who want good things for themselves and one another? That’s really important. I want you to seek out artists who celebrate one another’s successes and do that for themselves, too. Competition, envy, and jealousy are natural human experiences but I want you to find community that doesn’t center or dwell there. And if you yourself often get sideswiped by competition, envy, and jealousy, it’s ok. You’re just a human person and these are things you can absolutely work through; they don’t have to rule your life and relationships.
It’s ok if you’re an introvert, a parent, work full time, you’re a curmudgeon, shy and afraid. It’s ok if you don’t know where to begin. We always start with the simplest, most available first step.
Naturally, I have homework for you on the topic. Assess your current creative community. Who are your artist friends? Do they know each other? Do you want to introduce them? Who do you already know and - hopefully - admire, whether they’re an old friend or a recent acquaintance. Maybe there are a few artists you really want to know better. Actually make a list. Seriously. You need to see the names, even one is enough to begin. Every artist in your life has more artists you can meet and befriend.
Then, think about how you might be of service to a group of artists. Host a salon, a dinner to introduce people or deepen relationships. Offer your time to help a larger project happen. Contribute your services to an arts organization, project or collective in your area to invite more creative people into your life. Ask people on art dates. Find some work you want to see out in the world and invite another artist to go with you. I know it feels weird but making friends is a strange, sometimes stilted practice as adults. It’s ok! People will be grateful that you invite them. The point is to circulate a bunch of new artists into your life so you can see where there is good energy, where it’s warm, who you want to invest in.
Now, keep doing all of this. Relationships need energy and tending. What you feed will grow. It’s ok if it’s just once a month, that can be plenty. Instead of doom scrolling or hate following celebrities’ children, text these people instead and ask them what’s going on in their projects and tell something about your own. It is that simple, really!
Finally, let me know how it goes. I’d love to hear from you.
*****
Thanks for listening to Mind Your Practice and be sure to subscribe so you get all the bonus episodes coming your way. Want more homework and support for your creative practice? Join Homework Club where you’ll get monthly homework, workshops, and an accountability pod, hand chosen by me. Go to bethpickens.com to learn more. You can find me on Instagram at @bethpickensconsulting. Thanks for listening and keep making art.
Mind Your Practice is created by Beth Pickens and Carolyn Pennypacker Riggs.