There are only two ways to get on in life really and I have tried both. You
can either ‘Buy your way in’, or work
your way in" I prefer the latter, working for something is not only a
source of great satisfaction it is also, more importantly, that it is only
through doing something from start to finish that lessons will be learned along
the journey, you cannot simply ‘buy’ experience.
Once learned, these
lessons in life will become your foundations for the future, a future which not
only is of benefit to your own creative skills but also in the obligation which
comes from progress, that of the sharing of constructive information for
others, you are not reading my BLOG simply because you like my grammar, that I
am woefully inadequate to teach; you are reading in the hope of learning
something of benefit to you.
I am not one for giving
workshops or any formal teaching role, instead I use Social Media as my form of
communication, I am a member of several arts group in Social Media and though I
am not a regular contributor occasionally a post will appear and
below it a thread of thoughts, resolutions, personal experiences all aimed at
providing an answer to whichever dilemma started the thread.
In a recent post, the question came
up, ‘’How do I become a Success’’ which prompts this BLOG post.
In all of the arts, The Philosophy of embodiment
is quite simple, ‘’get up and go to work, work all day, stay focussed at your
work and to show younger or less experienced artists what it is to be a working
artist’’, to make a career out of it, you cannot teach this, if artists want to
progress they have to see it in practice and then go away and do the job. Slow down and be comfortable with what you
make and what you do in your practice and be prepared to make what it is you
like to make rather than to be distracted into making what it is that other
people might want.
Particularly with sculpture and other
hand-made craft type disciplines rather than time based practices, Working in the studio with a
quality of commitment and focus takes time and practice to master, that needs
to work, for you, for a sustained period of very many years.
So often I see individuals trying to fit being an artist into their life
but it does need to be the other way around and that is to try and juggle your
life around being an artist, how can you become 