The new year has come, and the parties are over. As we turn our gaze to those end-of-the-year duties: catching up with paperwork; closing out annual processes; and looking forward to taxes, reporting, and the goals and objectives that should guide us through the months to come.
Every year we make some sort of trip, away from home and the studio, to give ourselves uninterrupted time to spend on the task. The hope was always to highlight the importance of what we were doing, and to remove the normal distractions from our day to day lives. This year, we stared at the list as though for the first time. I get it, something’s broken.
I get the impression that we’re using the wrong tool somehow. In my career in libraries, some of which were large organizations, we relied on strategic planning, goal setting, and work plans to keep the ship moving in a direction that was effective, reportable, and motivational to the many, many people involved. Is there a chance that we’re just over-managing the process?
I sincerely believe this is where we have been missing the mark. There is a distinction between my goals as an artist, and those of my art business. Those two realms are not mutually exclusive, but they must be approached differently. While someone may become a doctor to fight disease, or a lawyer to fight injustice, one opens a law firm or a medical clinic to earn enough money to make those things possible. If we are trying to earn a living from our creativity, we must distinguish between the business of art, and the art itself. Both can be important.
I need to make a distinction between my artistic life, and my business goals. As I see it, my business breaks down into three main categories; quality; celebrity; and income. If I imagine my goals being built on these three pillars, then I can understand how to formulate meaningful and measurable objectives around quality control, publicity/marketing, and financials. Certainly my “brand” as an artist is intimately tied to me. I am the business. But that branding can be separated from my personal life and reserved for my professional, creative product.
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Season 4, Episode 2
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“Art Life with John & Bogdan” is a weekly blog/vlog/podcast that creates a community, a conversation, between creatives in all sorts of fields at all sorts of levels. We want to discuss what we’re learning, what we’ve experienced, and whom we’ve met in our journey of running a freelance creative business. John Bishop is a abstract visual artist living in Houston, Texas. Bogdan is a videographer and fine art photographer. Both artists’ work can be seen online, or at their studios at Silver Street Studios, 2000 Edwards Street, in Houston.
John Bishop: http://www.johnbishopfineart.com
Bogdan Mihai: http://www.bogdanfotoart.com
Bogdan’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bogdanoninstagram/
John’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/johnbishopfineart/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/JohnBishopart
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/johnbishopfineart
Buburuza Productions: http://www.Buburuzaproductions.com
Aripa Arte Nonprofit: httos://www.aripaarte.org
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