Revise & Review - a new look site and lessons learned for 2019
Oof, website revamp is finished. It was quite a slog but I think it’s an improvement.
Should’ve titled this ‘Progress and Procrastination’. Hold on cos it’s a bit long this week.
Progress:
I’ve dreamed of having a live/work space and in May found a much bigger room. The move was fast once I decided it was absolutely time to leave my previous place.
Actually found the nerve to talk to the owner of a cooperative run gallery where I can show/sell my work, though it’s closed for refurb at the moment.
Defined and refined my style and sourced new bases which look much better.
Now know costs and process for producing more substantial pieces from moulds.
Found a couple of new artist venues via a colleague which are possibilities for next year.
I’m much more proficient in handling paper pulp and so can work faster. I’ve wrestled with ways to do hands which helped me recognise that very small pieces are a lot of trouble so I won’t do them in future!
Procrastination:
Logged lots of info on spread sheets and notebooks but data collection is only purposeful if you act on it…
Wasn’t prepared mentally, financially or logistically to apply to art fairs. Entry fees, quality images and the practicalities of getting work to a venue (with no car) needed planning I hadn’t done.
Working out a pricing strategy took much too long - there are no rules on this and for comparison, sculpture prices can be crazy cheap or crazy expensive regardless of medium.
I haven’t worked out how to talk about what I do with clarity or confidence. Haven’t determined what my idea of success actually is. If you don’t know where you’re heading, how are you going to get there?
So now what?
I’m a better sculptor but I have key practical and creative questions to tackle. I'm close to having answers which is good as without clear goals I can’t build momentum towards them.
Also, I think it’s not what you know that matters; it’s what you do with what you know that makes things happen. Like many people I held back from real commitment cos I tripped over on the ‘what if’ details. When I was a child there was always someone moaning ‘oh, you can’t do that’ but y’know, I’m tired of carrying that mindset. I don’t think it’s naïve to dream about having a really amazing life – it beats the alternative.
I’ve shifted my thinking after reading up on a billionaire, brilliantly smart, serially successful entrepreneur. Everything he’s done was meant to be impossible. Elon Musk doesn’t care what others think is possible. He makes a decision then does whatever it takes to make it happen. He’s a big thinker and dreamer and that’s why talented, passionate people come to join him.
Easy for him? No, contrary to the usual rah-rah of successful people, he’s honest enough to admit to hubris, to making huge mistakes and to feeling fear ‘quite strongly’ at times. For me, with my small dreams, I found it a relief to know that fear and doubt and failure are present even in someone so accomplished. So I quit thinking I could avoid them and decided I’d better get on with it. And if you want to see what uncompromising focus achieves, watch the National Geographic documentary ‘Inside Space X’ – it’s a fantastic mood booster as well!
