I've been keeping an article ("What's the most common mistake artists make?" by Corbett Barklie) open in the innumerable tabs of my browser for a few weeks...and before I lose it I want to pin it here.
Barklie suggests that the most common mistake artists make is that they, "frequently forget to acknowledge the people who help them"... and I have to agree. A bizarrely large number of my professional colleagues conduct themselves as if they expect the world to stop for them and their work. This attitude is one that students pick up on and adopt as part of their professional mannerisms...to horrible effect.
'Help' here needs to be broadly defined, too. It's not just the galleries that hang your work or the critics who notice it,; not just the community of friends that comes out to see it or the foundations that may support it. It's the people who make your life as an artist possible on a day-to-day basis.
For me, that's my family. Especially my wife, Carmina, who gives me wide latitude to follow my work in the studio as a writer and as a teacher. It's also my two sons, who endure openings and afternoons in the studio and patiently tote sketchbooks through the museum when they would rather be home watching TV or at the playground with a foursquare ball.
I'm also grateful for my job, where I am expected to do my work and from which I have been the fortunate recipient of a great deal of support and protected experimentation. I have the great privilege of sharing ideas with students, and of working with a number of talented and creative people whoa re generous enough to share their ideas with me.
The list goes on and there are too many people to name in this post, but I want share Barklie's article with other artists who see that they are part of overlapping worlds, not only citizens of some remote world world or (heaven forbid) 'creative community'...Artlandia or something. In fact, if you're reading this, I should be thanking you...
So, thank you.
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