Why does it help for me to be a visual artist, who sells their work, and filmmaker?

There are a lot of films and docuseries about artists. My husband has seen many, and I’ve probably seen even more.

One thing I’ve noticed is that filmmakers who aren’t artists themselves often miss the empathy side of it. They tend 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.

I tried to show some of those realities in the first season of Crafting a Professional Career, and that’s also why I included community resources. When I first started selling my work, I didn’t even know most of these existed.

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. 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.

What they shared ended up changing how I think about selling my art and how I structure everything I do.

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. That helps me know what questions to ask and what kinds of support actually matter.

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. Then I can include those answers in my films 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.