| To which I replied, "Amen, sister, and stay tuned!" (Thank you, Nancy Allmand!)
My intention was to share my next column, "Call in the Experts!", including all these 'team members' Nancy mentioned. But I realized there's a step in-between, including many NON-experts:
We do not create art in a vacuum. Many, many people have helped us along the way.
Some are obvious, and some may be 'hidden' until we look back at our own 'creation story' and see those crucial influencers.
Obvious: That art class we took, and its inspiring instructor. The art degree we attained, with many, many more classes and instructors. That online workshop we took that expanded our horizons. FASO web-hosting for artists, and their AMP (Art Marketing Playbook), available even to non-subscribers.
The books, magazines, newspapers, websites, etc. that featured us and our work, and helped us grow our audience. And of course, as Nancy mentioned, our customers, who support us by actually buying our work.
The gallery owners/managers who took on our work and market it to their audience. Even the calls-for-entry/exhibition proposals that give us opportunities to share our work with a new audience.
A little less obvious: That person who always saw the artist in us, and who gently encouraged us, even as we constantly heard family members exhorting us to "get a real job".
Our audience, who many not have the money nor the room to collect our work, but who truly appreciate it-and constantly let us know!
The people who taught us how to make, market, and sell our art. The people who share our work, our words, and help us grow our audience.
The art supplies store that struggles to still serve artists during the shut-down orders, and the on-line retailers that fill in where they can't.
The hidden: The people whose hearts have been lifted by our work, our painting/jewelry/music/teaching/creative work, who we may never hear from. (But when we do, what a gift!)
Our partners, who may graciously lift the burden of making tons of money from our work (or at least allow us the time and space to get there!) The challenging instructor who doesn't pull their punches, who tells us exactly what we're doing wrong, and shows us how to fix it.
In her comment, Nancy even mentioned the companies who ship our work. So true! In one of those oddly-synchronistic moments, I met a new artist in our complex last week. She was packing a huge wood crate in our shared parking lot, and I asked her about it. She said, "Yeah, it's a huge order of glasswork.
But I didn't make the crate, my partner did!" What a great team member her partner is! And whatever shipper will deliver it, yes, that's part of her team, too.
The more deeply-hidden: The people who told us we weren't good enough, who pissed us off enough for us to finally see them for what they are: Unappreciative, simply unkind, or who were envious of what we have. I've had many incidents of people, some with good intentions, some not so much, who caused me pain in my art career. But when I look back, I can even see their gift, in a positive way.
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