You don’t need my permission or approval to call yourself an artist. No gallery owner or museum curator is ever going to give you an ID card that makes you an official artist. You don’t have to be famous, talented, or prolific to call yourself an artist. Anyone who makes art is an artist. End of story.

You can still be an artist if you’re not on the internet, but you can’t have a Professional Practice these days without having an online presence, especially a portfolio. I prefer to throw people into the deep end with technology (I assume you can Google or YouTube instructions) but I’m ALWAYS standing here with floaties if you start to drown. Just tell me you’re having trouble and I will always help.  

If you’re hoping to get by as an artist and stay off the grid, you a different kind of mentor and a different kind of course!

Just because you have a day job doesn’t mean you’re not a “real” artist. The VAST majority of artists have day jobs, but they often go through great pains to hide it since there’s a persistent myth in the art world that you haven’t made it as an artist unless you can quit your day job. You can have a job and still be an artist. That said: you can make money as an artist, no matter what your mother says.  

Inspiration makes you curious; sweat makes you an artist. It’s great to be inspired, but being a professional means showing up even when you don’t feel like it. If you can only set aside 10 minutes a day to make art, then set aside 10 minutes and protect that 10 minutes like it’s a newborn baby. If you only have 1 square foot of dining room table for your art, then guard that one square foot with your life. You don’t have to sacrifice everything for your art (I still have a family and a job) but you DO have to sacrifice something. Making art and having a life are not mutually exclusive propositions.  

I kicked my car out of my 1-car garage, and no one, not my husband, not my kids, not the condo association can take it from me. It’s mine. It’s a mess. It smells weird and there are no windows. But it’s mine, and it’s a sacred space.

Objectifying your art will get you into trouble. Objects can be judged, mocked, sold, and destroyed. However, if you think of art as a practice, it becomes a habit that makes you better each time you do it. You can have a lousy day or week of practice, but it’s no big deal because you’re just practicing. Sure, I have to pull off a performance (solo exhibit) every so often, but the real joy is found in my practice. If I focus too much on the object, all the fun disappears.

Galleries take 50% of whatever you sell. Most of the time, all they’re doing is giving you wall space and maybe a blurb on their website. They do very little to tell your story, promote your brand, or convince buyers that you are a worthwhile investment. If they are awesome enough to do those things, most likely they won’t do it enough. If you’ve bought into the myth that “great artists are discovered by big galleries and then they make it” … sell it back to whomever sold it to you.

Galleries have bills to pay and you make the products they sell. They’re still important to artists and you should create and maintain a relationship with them, but most likely on-the-ground galleries will be a very small part of your life as an artist. They’re great for exhibits. They’re great for meeting other artists. They’re great for establishing local notoriety. Some gallery owners may end up being great advisers and may even sell some of your work, but in the end, “making it” will be up to you.

I ask my students to abide by Community before Critique. As university students, you’re likely being indoctrinated into what I call the “cult of critique” and as part of this cult, artists can often find themselves in a place where everyone is competition, and it’s hard to remember why you wanted to make art in the first place. Feedback is different than criticism. Don’t offer feedback in community spaces like Instagram unless someone directly asks for it. When in doubt, let your fellow artists know what you like about their work or where you see growth.

Even though the work should always come first, once you’ve built a solid studio practice, you’ll find that there are times when you have to deprioritize your work. If you have a strong foundation, then you can walk away from your work to care for family, mind a day job, or even take vacations. Don’t think you’re suddenly not a serious artist anymore just because you need to put other things first for a time. The whole point of establishing your daily art practice is so that your life as an artist can withstand the interruptions that will inevitably occur.