SO YOU WANT TO BE AN ARTIST, EH!

I'm impatiently awaiting spring. It's not that I don't have a lot to do, and, if I wished, could add to my long list of things that need being done. It's just that I recently decided to put a number of projects on the back burner, and gamble that I'm still in good health next winter when I might have the time and energy to possibly complete these projects. You see, I've decided to get back to doing some sketching, and painting, resume the artist thing so to speak. These past couple of years I set aside actually making art to do some writing. Now, after writing and publishing 10 books, I think that it's time to get back to my passion for making art, after all this is what I left a fairly successful profession to do some years back. About this, I had hoped to become a respected person in the art community, but had to settle for just being a run of the mill artist. You see, this thing about becoming a recognized artist, especially in Canada, is a highly political thing. You've no doubt heard the saying, "it's not what you know, but who you know" that leads to success. Well, it's very true. It's as I explained to a talented young photographer recently who is searching for a means of recognition.....

There are three approaches to making art:-

ONE

Have fun, treat the making of art as a social hobby. Join a club of like minded individuals, and exhibit periodically creating an outlet for your ego. Realize, however, that association with amateurs destroys all possibility of academic recognition. 

TWO

Make art commercially. Carve out a niche market and create product. Academic recognition is overshadowed by the commercial aspect of your art. Expect to receive no support from friends and family, and to struggle to make a living throughout your entire career as an artist.

THREE

Study art. Become an academic. Pursue acceptance by making art for “art’s sake” having a bent towards historical significance.  Associate with local academics, but only to create contacts as most local academics associated with local endeavours, are for the most part failed artists, and or art teachers. Also, enter national competitions,  pursue project grants through the various Art Councils, and most of all expect to never be recognized in your lifetime.

I also thought it necessary to point out that there is nothing romantic about making art. The romance of art only exists in the minds of history teachers, and in historical publications written by failed artists, and academics. Art is all about frustration, disappointment, and an insane need to express one’s self. 

Now, some might take exception to what I'm about to say, but during my 35 years spent working at becoming an artist I personally knew a lot of artists, really good artists. With but a very few exceptions, however, none made a decent living, and most were dependant upon support from a relative, patron, or worked part-time at something other than art.

There's a lot of art being made in Canada, mostly by amateurs influenced by romantic notion spewed by academics writing endless books dealing with the life and times of the Group of Seven, Tom Thomson, and their contemporaries. Somehow, if one wishes to be an artist here in Canada, one must turn a blind eye/ear to the romance and just get on with it, believing that there is relevance to what you're doing, and that perhaps, just perhaps, long after you've departed someone might understand and appreciate your efforts.

The Artist  

What if

one day

having grown old with not much left 

you discover that  your life had been,

ill spent,

wasted,

on an impossible dream?

How would you feel?

How would you respond?

Would you be upset?

Would you be sad?

Would you waste time feeling bad?

Would you be ashamed,

embarrassed,

realizing that others knew,

but didn’t share

what everyone knew?

Or,

Would you continue the impossible dream, and

and continue to live the life of a fool,

believing

fullfillment

after your death?

(Does it matter?)

EAS