Why does it help for me to be a visual artist, who sells their work, and filmmaker?
There are a lot of films and docu-series about visual artists.
Being a visual artist is hard. I’m not going to sugar coat it. It’s even harder with disabilities or financial restrictions of any kind. That’s not good TV and its something not a lot of people want to watch. TV tends to show the artist just going out and completing their work or contracts successfully. There might be a few small bumps along the way, but it usually doesn’t capture how difficult and discouraging this path can really be.
The struggle of being an artist and trying to sell your work is huge. Sharing something you created and convincing people it has the same value as something they can buy in a store, is something only an artist truly understands. Not to mention how it feels like when someone laughs or mocks at your work.
Buying from artists is harder too. While shopping for a couch or night table someone can walk out with enough generic artwork to fill a house. Going to art fairs, craft shows or galleries can become an expedition where the effort put into finding something may not yield anything that goes with the colour of a set of curtains. This series shows that there are real people behind the booths people pass. Thousands of people walk by. That’s the part they don’t show on TV.
That’s why I included community resources when I did the first season of Crafting a Professional Career. When I first started selling my work, I didn’t even know most of these existed. I started from the bottom and stayed there for years. Struggling to find another way to sell my work other than going to a farmer’s markets. Those are ok, but they don’t run all year and I was competing with a bag of carrots.
A lot of artists don’t initially think of what they do as a business, so they might not look into places like Alberta Women’s Entrepreneurs, which is a not-for-profit that helps women build and grow their businesses. That’s why I included it. Years ago, I saw they were offering a free business planning workshop and signed up. Unfortunately, it ended up being one of those days where I had no energy left, so Tanner went in my place. He had to explain more than once, why he was there if he didn’t identify as being a woman.
What they shared ended up changing how I think about selling my art and how I structure everything I do. I know now it’s not wrong to help people out at the booth. Every single person. My booth needs to be treated like I work at Best Buy or The Brick.
Because I’m both a visual artist trying to make a living and a filmmaker sharing artists’ stories, I feel like I understand the daily challenges pretty well. How hard it is. What I need to focus on sharing.
It also puts me in a position to ask organizations the questions I had when I was starting out but didn’t know where to go for answers. So I included those answers in my series so newer artists, or anyone feeling a bit lost, have something to refer to. In the series, I also ask each featured artist for their advice so I can pass it along. A lot of newer artists don’t have access to more experienced ones, or they might feel uncomfortable walking up and asking for advice. This way, they still get to hear it. This series has the advice, and the possibilities I didn’t know existed, I needed when I started out.