A kind of blue

Behind the scenes of this blog there are a fair amount of ongoing conversations happening. I’ve had people walk up to me in public and pick up a conversation based on my last post, and while this was initially sort of odd I have come to enjoy it. I’m getting to know people all over, and that’s been a wonderful aspect to this pursuit that I did not foresee.

There’s one conversation that I wanted to respond to publicly. It has to do with LINC, the somewhat shadow organization who hosted a big meeting here in SC last summer with the South Carolina Arts Commission. There were around 200 artists assembled at the meeting, all curious, some jaded, some idealistic. I’m not sure what others took away from that meeting, but for my part, a single sentence spoken by one of the mascot artists LINC brought in really resonated with me.

“No one is coming.”

I didn’t take this to be fatalistic or bitter. Rather, it sparked a fire inside me and I went out and did something about my career and took matters into my own hands. One element offered through this initiative is the FastTrac course. This is a 10-week course geared toward starting a small business that is offered through Clemson University’s Small Business Development Center and the Kaufman Foundation. I took this class in the Fall of last year and highly recommend it to other artists. It got me thinking about the business of art, and make no mistake, it is a business.

I’m no “trust fund baby”. I work a full-time job, my daughters were around 18 months at the time, I’m the primary cook at home and the class was at night 45 minutes away at a time when gas prices where steadily climbing. Some insinuate that this program is only for the privileged or those with little or no demands on their time, but I obviously fell into neither category. In fact, I would often go to the studio after my class. It’s really about deciding how far one wants to take their career in the arts, figuring out what has to give, and then making it happen.

It’s not hard to become bitter in the arts. Quite the contrary, actually. I know a lot of bitter artists, critics, academics and gallery owners who have allowed themselves to become completely jaded and negative. I’m not suggesting one puts on rose colored glasses, or clings to empty idealism. There has to be action. The people that run this game play rough. I’m simply saying that discovering that one is an artist doesn’t entitle them anything, nor does it make them special in the eyes of our society, nor does it offer an easy life free from the concerns of other career pursuits. There are far easier ways to live one’s life. Art as a career is very different from art as a hobby or as therapy. Notice I didn’t say better or worse.

The moment one decides to sell their work, they have entered into a commercial realm and have consented to play by those rules. We may not like it as artists, but if we want to pay our studio rent, buy materials and have time to make our art we need cash flow. The challenge comes in many areas, most importantly in trying to maintain integrity in the work. This must be preserved at all costs. When I speak with other painters, we always tell one another to keep up the fight. There’s nothing else you can do.

I’m not defending the large organizations involved in this project, nor am I condemning them. I’ve learned that most artists here have a very clear opinion towards the SCAC and seemingly one has to choose a side. I’m not interested choosing a side. This initiative will play out and we’ll all be watching. Hopefully blogging about it to, so that people around the country and the world can see how this all goes down. As artists we need to help ourselves, but that doesn’t mean that predatory organizations should be allowed to exploit people’s hopes and goals, good intentions or not. SC is unique in that there isn’t a centralized cultural infrastructure. Of course, this depends on where you are. Residents of Charleston, for example, might contend that their city is such. Similarly those in Greenville or Columbia. As an outsider, I don’t see anything akin to an Atlanta or NYC or LA or Houston. The medium-sized cities of this state are fiercely regionalist, and from what I’ve been able to discern not super keen on a collective, state-wide cultural identity. Maybe this has to do with population, maybe with the revolutionary history of this state in particular, I’m not sure. From what I’ve seen, the SCAC tries to herd cats as best it can while also being a bureaucratic organization run, -like arts councils most everywhere, by the wealthy. I believe we’ve always relied on the Court as artists, so I guess I am less uncomfortable with this state of affairs than some.

In the end, we are what we do and not what we say we do. If you’re an artist, then make art. Figure out a way. Make time, make space. It’s never ideal, far from it. But the struggle can be rewarding and the rest can be play.

I really strive to keep this blog positive. It isn’t always easy, I get down, I get frustrated and I get pissed off. I’ve had my share of hard knocks and disappointments and outright snubs, but overall I don’t let it stop me. I keep trying to dance to the inner music, and to allow my dance to be best it can be. I wish I had written about the painting at the to of this post. Maybe I have.