Structures #34
Lisa Call

This blog has always been about incorporating the beautiful into the everyday and finding the work of talented artists and making it part of our lives and homes. This week I thought it would be interesting to turn the tables and hear from one of those talented artists about the other side of the process. Artful Home fiber artist Lisa Call recently wrote on her own blog about what success as an artist means to her. With her permission, I am excerpting just a small portion of her post below. You can read the full post at http://blog.lisacall.com.
~Toni

What Does Success Mean to Me?

Adding Value

Some of the change in direction I’m now planning came about when I was willing to realize and accept that:

1. 1. It’s okay to sell art.
2. 2. I can work to be the best artist I can and market my work at the same time. This involved learning to ignore all the voices that speak to the contrary.
3. 3. Getting money for something I love doing is pretty darn cool.

I love Steve Pavlina’s comments on twitter the other day that read:

Becoming a millionaire (through honest means) requires delivering $1 million worth of value to other people. That’s generous, not greedy!

It’s a good reminder that as an artist I am providing value to the world and as such it’s okay to be reimbursed for that value.

Cynthia Guajardo had some interesting thoughts the other day as she was pondering what value she might be adding as a ceramic artist in her blog post about living simply. I was very happy to read that she came to the conclusion that she was adding value and will continue to make her pottery.

I suspect it’s fairly common for artists to question what value they might be adding to the universe with their art and craft. I know I have. And I’m happy I also came to the conclusion that we add a lot and it is essential we keep creating. And expecting to be compensated fairly for that value.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, October 1st, 2008 at 4:25 pm and is filed under General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can also leave a response.