WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE?

A few years ago I found an article titled “I wanted to become an artist, so I quit my job and became one” by Christopher Fife on the New York City Foundation for the Arts site. I was a recent graduate when I found this article and I thought that this article offered a good perspective on maintaining balance between practice, work and life. I feel that many of us go through this tough debate in our head and struggle to come to a working balance.

After leaving Queen’s and heading off into the world I was faced with a choice- Do I get a “real” job and paint from time to time OR do I devote myself fully to being an artist?

Unfortunately due to crippling OSAP debt it wasn’t a hard choice … I needed a full time job and art would just have to come second. So I got a full time job at Oeno Gallery and although my job at the gallery was great and gave me many opportunities to stay connected with the art world I was not content because I was hardly making any work.

So last December I quit my job at the gallery and committed myself fully to Spark Box- the business Kyle and I opened together with the hopes we could make our own work and support others who wanted to do the same.

Over the past year Kyle and I have talked with many artist (friends, residents and open studio members) about the life of the artist and the trials and tribulations associated to our careers. Most of these conversations centered around the same theme- money vs. passion.

One resident Susan Gardiner Bourlier went to school for architecture. After she finished school she took on a good job at a good firm and was making decent money. The only problem was she wasn’t really happy. She knew that her heart wasn’t in the business and that she really wanted to be a painter. Much like myself she seemed to have what every post grad wanted …  a good job in the field they went to school in. But, also like myself, her heart wasn’t in it. So she quit her job and has now devoted her life to being a painter. She said “I guess I had to pick happiness over money”.

Although her statement seemed harsh it raised a good point that many new artists don’t like to think about, which is that being an artists requires you to reassess your priorities in life. These priorities can be different for everyone, for some it is being ok with loosing a bi-weekly pay cheque, for others it is losing social time in order to paint after work and for some it is knowing that you aren’t going to have a multi-million dollar life style. I do believe artists can make money at their work, you have work really hard for it to be lucrative but it is an actual possibility.

I suppose all I am trying to say is that when you pick art as your career your life will change and even though those changes will be hard it is worth it!

For more information on getting started as a professional artist check out our Emerging Artist Guide.

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