It's really amazing how, when you have no nine-to-five job, no friends [geographically nearby], nowhere to go, you can still have no time to work! One thing I have learned about myself is that I will always be busy. It won't matter how many hours I work away from home (or don't), how many committee meetings I have (or don't), how many commitments or responsibilities I have (or don't), I always fill my time. Recently, my husband and I have had several out-of-town guests nearly back-to-back, so I've kept busy cleaning, doing laundry, cooking, and touring around the area. I've also decided to take the Master Gardener Program through the Virginia Cooperative Extension--something I've wanted to do for a while and finally have the "time" to do it. Not to mention this is the time of year to get a few new shrubs in the ground and dig some compost in around a few straggly azaleas. Who has time to work?
Of course, I'm exaggerating a bit. I can set my own schedule and am enjoying the luxury of being able to take a class six hours a week. The real issue is making working in my studio the priority. I have always been very self-motivated and get a lot of work done in a compact amount of time, but making studio time the priority was a struggle for me during the academic year just as it is now. I love to garden, to cook, to read, to learn, to spend time with family and friends--I want time for it all!
I also struggle with is the enormity of everything I feel I need to do--develop a marketable line of work, market it, market myself, take time to make art art in addition to production work (jewelry), write a new artist statement, find exhibitions, apply for exhibitions. This whole thing is not as simple as making things I think people should want to buy. #1 You've got to make something you're truly excited about that you can get others excited about. #2 You've got to get that something at the right price point to the right audience. And in reality, this takes time.
So, I need to give myself a little grace and recognize this transition isn't going to happen overnight, or even over a few months. The good news is I've got three different series of work going on down on my workbench, a long list of places I'd like to show artwork, and more time than I can shake a stick at. I'll get there.
Monday, September 19, 2011
Sunday, September 4, 2011
What I Want
Not since I was an undergraduate student have I been keen on running my own business. At the time, I thought making jewelry and selling it at art fairs would be pretty cool.
As a graduate student challenging the boundaries of the jewelry/metals field, I realized that I was much more interested in making work that I found conceptually difficult and deeply satisfying, with no regard for the need to sell the work. As I also loved teaching and thought I would do it well, finding a tenure-track job in my field was an awesome blessing. I reveled in the privilege of having a job that required me to pursue my profession as an artist but didn't require me to conform to market pressures. It seemed perfect for me!
But six years later I have made the decision to do exactly what I didn't want to do--the same thing in which I swore I had no interest. I am trying to transition into making salable work in order to contribute to our household income. After spending close to ten years focused on developing highly conceptual work, redirecting my focus to wearable, salable jewelry is a challenge.
I have friends and colleagues in the field--metalsmithing, art jewelry, whatever you choose to call it--who make beautiful, wearable work and whom I truly respect. This certainly encouraged me to think that there was another life beyond academia.
But running your own business is difficult, to say the least--the paperwork, the legal requirements and tax forms, the need to market your work, and to work with clients. As an undergrad, I worked for a jeweler with her own store and watched all the things she had to juggle. No thank you! Just trying to get my "business" up and running, I have been overwhelmed by the number and type of forms I need to file, the taxes required, and the detailed records I need to keep to correctly file said taxes. I have been nearly in tears, primarily from pulling out my hair, trying to do all the right things in the right way.
I mention all this in order to say I find myself wondering aloud, "what am I doing?" How on earth did I end up in Virginia, leaving my teaching job behind, trying to make a go as an independent artist? I had what I thought I wanted, but I gave that up, and am now doing what I don't think I want to do.
I have a dim view of most jewelry out there. Honest moment: in some sense, I have viewed making jewelry as a "lesser" form as compared to making "art." So I resist making jewelry that I think of as cliched, tired, or boring. But again, having not invested time and energy into making jewelry for quite some time, it's not as though I'm making jewelry I find fresh and exciting. I am making the same types of things I have treated with such disdain.
You can see why I'm having a problem!
But this is just a step in a larger process. I know that it is possible to make jewelry that is eminently satisfying and also marketable--there are many wonderful makers out there who truly do it well. It is a different way of thinking for me and learning to do both things simultaneously will take time, effort, and energy.
As a graduate student challenging the boundaries of the jewelry/metals field, I realized that I was much more interested in making work that I found conceptually difficult and deeply satisfying, with no regard for the need to sell the work. As I also loved teaching and thought I would do it well, finding a tenure-track job in my field was an awesome blessing. I reveled in the privilege of having a job that required me to pursue my profession as an artist but didn't require me to conform to market pressures. It seemed perfect for me!
But six years later I have made the decision to do exactly what I didn't want to do--the same thing in which I swore I had no interest. I am trying to transition into making salable work in order to contribute to our household income. After spending close to ten years focused on developing highly conceptual work, redirecting my focus to wearable, salable jewelry is a challenge.
I have friends and colleagues in the field--metalsmithing, art jewelry, whatever you choose to call it--who make beautiful, wearable work and whom I truly respect. This certainly encouraged me to think that there was another life beyond academia.
But running your own business is difficult, to say the least--the paperwork, the legal requirements and tax forms, the need to market your work, and to work with clients. As an undergrad, I worked for a jeweler with her own store and watched all the things she had to juggle. No thank you! Just trying to get my "business" up and running, I have been overwhelmed by the number and type of forms I need to file, the taxes required, and the detailed records I need to keep to correctly file said taxes. I have been nearly in tears, primarily from pulling out my hair, trying to do all the right things in the right way.
I mention all this in order to say I find myself wondering aloud, "what am I doing?" How on earth did I end up in Virginia, leaving my teaching job behind, trying to make a go as an independent artist? I had what I thought I wanted, but I gave that up, and am now doing what I don't think I want to do.
I have a dim view of most jewelry out there. Honest moment: in some sense, I have viewed making jewelry as a "lesser" form as compared to making "art." So I resist making jewelry that I think of as cliched, tired, or boring. But again, having not invested time and energy into making jewelry for quite some time, it's not as though I'm making jewelry I find fresh and exciting. I am making the same types of things I have treated with such disdain.
You can see why I'm having a problem!
But this is just a step in a larger process. I know that it is possible to make jewelry that is eminently satisfying and also marketable--there are many wonderful makers out there who truly do it well. It is a different way of thinking for me and learning to do both things simultaneously will take time, effort, and energy.
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