Make Space : Make Art : Make a Vehicle

My entire art/life framework in a few GIFs

I thought when I made the decision to be an artist, all I would have to do was this.

Well, I do have to make art.

But I found my life was turning into this

So to be an artist, making space from the things turned out to be as important as making the art.

Instead of calling the things a ‘horrible list of annoying to-dos’, I renamed it…

Make Space For Art

That changed my mission from getting through the horrible list into eliminating and simplifying all the things on the list so I had space for art.

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Make Space

Making Space in Myself

I need to make space in myself so I believe making art is something I can and should be doing.

Of course, the brain provides all the thoughts about how useless and deluded I am to believe that.

Getting past these thoughts and into the studio, used to mean just rushing in, pushing past them and slam into the studio as quickly as I could so their cruel hooks couldn’t sink in before the joy of making took over.

Now I take a lot more time, working through all the thoughts with attention, uncovering and releasing the underlying fears more thoroughly, and slowly building better thoughts.

Making Space in my Energy

I need to try and step away from overwhelm and exhaustion. It sucks to come into the studio already worn out and frazzled. Making art takes lots of decision-making, and they should be really good decisions you are making in the studio. (Because thats how you make really good art)

Paying attention to simplifying everything else in life helps. Simplifying the clothes you wear, the food choices you make. That eliminates so many trivial decisions and allows for lots of art in your life.

Using a good efficient way of corralling, collecting (and winnowing down) all the tasks is a divine necessity too.¹

(footnote) Cal’s systems work for the more linear thinkers - for the jumpy live-wire ADHD thinker, Andy J.Pizza’s podcast here is perhaps a good one.

Make Physical Space

Honouring the time I have carved out and finding the physical space that I need to make art in -both of these are huge, continuous struggles!

Make Art

I think you’ve got this bit, you’ve probably figured out your own amazing way of making art. Or at least you are enjoying the journey to get there.

Make a Vehicle to Take your Art out into the World where it can create an exchange of value

Because I always felt bad and scared about taking my art out into into the world to show other people, my art would just pile up. It became dispiriting to make art that would just go into a cupboard.

I have slowly and painfully come to this thought: When you create art, you are creating energetic beings in the world.

You can sense this energy in cave drawings, in the precious religious icons from the Byzantium, in the powerful wooden totems and masks created in Africa (which had their spiritual meaning stripped away by the Cubists).

♡ the heart that goes into a creation must be given its worth & measure for the exchange and earth to be balanced

dee kawai tang in issue 28 of Dear Doris

These energetic beings you are creating need a place in the world - they need some pathway to go out and find their way into other human’s hearts, and create value to the world there. (footnote - some just have little bit of energy, like an ant, some much bigger).

Unless you have had a great deal of luck sometime in your life, you are the one who has to create this vehicle so your art can travel on this path.

And if this pathway of exchange is in place, the humans who have received value from your art can give you back the value you need in your life.

The value they return to you might be money. Or it might be respect. Or it might be this acknowledgement, that they have been moved by, and felt the same feelings you are expressing in your art. A kind of communion. Or all of these.

You know that feeling you get when you’re listening to a podcast or reading a book and there’s an idea that makes your brain explode because you’ve had the same exact thought but haven’t ever put it into words — so not even a thought more like a feeling a tingle a jolt — and now there is someone else out there in the world articulating that idea so perfectly that you’re no longer alone?

Alex Dobrenko`in is it ok to hate stuff for no reason?

I think of creating this business of taking your art out into the world to exchange value as creating a kind of boat, or sea vessel for your art

There are so many types of ship that one of them is sure to fit with your way of being in the world. And the strength of the visual metaphors works so well for me, and makes it easier for me to think through what its right for me:

A friendly inter-island ferry for transporting plenty of smaller, frequently made bits of art back and forth in a warm fug.

A luxurious super yacht for incredibly exclusive things.

A tough, knocked-up small fishing vessel that is 100% for locals, to provide nourishment for the few close to you.

A yacht for soloists to explore new territories, to go beyond the horizon. Not always coming back to shore, the adventure can be so strong. But finding places no-one has been to before.²

The platforms, the body of the boat, are the venues to place your work in and offer them for an exchange of value.

These platforms are galleries, shops, art markets, websites and os on. Some art connects well with one of these platforms but not others. And different platforms bring back different types of value. Some platforms are more exclusive, and can bring you back offerings of respect. Some platforms are better for the exchange of money, but do not bring you any status.

The next part of constructing this vehicle is finding ways to propel it through the choppy waves and currents of the world’s attention. Because your work has to be seen by some people in order ofr it to create value in their hearts. Maybe it has to be seen by a lot of people before it finds the right attention (which is a scarce resource).

Figuring out what will best propel the particular art you have made, and what best matches your own particular energy and way of being in the world yourself, is very important work.

The energies of propulsion are things like advertising, or meeting and talking to people in real life, or social media-ing, or being written up in the art world. All of these provide extra energy for your art’s journey out there.

These are the sails, the motors, or the oars that give your vessel motion.

Advertising is a like using a motor - it gives you fast propulsion but drains your reserves quickly (reserves of cash, in this case).

A sail takes energy upfront to create, but gives you gentle propulsion for years afterwards with only nudging and upkeep from you. These are the things that are evergreen on the web, like articles that keep turning up when people search, or pins on Pinterest, or being featured in art books.

And the oars, the rowing? You don’t need much in the way of reserves to get started with oars (they are just some big sticks) but you need LOTS of continuous energy to keep moving with your oars. These are those social media sites that make you keep posting and posting and posting, always creating new material, always constantly responding. Wearing you out. And as soon as you stop all this high energy activity energy, your boat stops moving. (And you need to watch out that you are not some kind of serf, just moving Mr Zuckerberg’s boat forward rather than your own)

But you can get started and go places that way with only your own personal energy and not much cash.

So many artists don’t like - or struggle with - the thought of mixing business and art. for so many, it seems so be two things that aren’t right together.

It can feel so hard, or wrong, that artists maybe just have a rough raft as a vehicle for their art.

Maybe we can love our art a little bit extra, and build something beautiful for it to travel on.

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1. Cal Newport’s systems work for the linear thinkers - for the jumpy live-wire ADHD thinker, Andy J.Pizza’s podcast here is perhaps a good one.

2. I did not invent the boat analogy - and my understanding of the propulsion analogy was deepened by this book: Content chemistry : the illustrated handbook for content marketing by Andy Crestodina

These are all the layers of So Many Things shown together