Part One
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These two practices will help you to feel authentic and align yourself with your prospective audience. The first activity is easy, the second requires that you know yourself. If you are not there yet, tune into Plato. He can help.
These two exercises are to create your strong foundation in your artistic practice. the heart of you who are and who you are for.
What Do You Want To Be Known For?
When I began painting as a daily practice and knew it was my work, I struggled with even labeling myself as an artist. It felt pretentious to say, I am an artist, out loud. In my heart I knew it was true but my head kept telling me, I was something else, something I’d spent seven years in school earning documents and skills to become. Something, anything other than what I was.
Do you stuggle with imposter syndrome?
Exercise One:
Do this exercise to courageously strengthen your identity.
Repeat after me, I am an artist. Say it out loud three times. Practice saying it to nobody but yourself every morning and every night while you brush your hair or do your pushups. Attach it to an exisiting routine so it happening. Let it make your body smile.
My Art Is For These People
Now consider your artistic style. What is unique about it?
My Most Current Art Manifesto:
My art is bold, bright and non-traditional. Its joyful, often amusing, sometimes beautiful, sometimes sad. My art relays information about society, nature, beauty, and ugliness.
I don’t make my art for those who prefer traditional art I make it for those who like a touch of whimsy, or magic; those who still allow their inner child to play and refuse to take this earthly experience too seriously.
I make my art for those who walk to their own beat and don’t want to compete with the Jone’s next door or anyone else.
I want my art to be owned by people who dance outside of any box; people who know how to feel free inside, even if they must be attached to systems.
My art is for the freaks, the children of freaks who embrace freakishness, and all of their freakish friends.
My art is preferably for socially responsible people who stand against mysogny, even in the smallest of ways.
My art comes from a place of curiousity and wonder and awe, that lies deep inside of me. I want my art to be collected by those who appreciate that owning a piece of my soul is more valuable that owning my flesh and bones.
Who is your art for? Have you thought about it?
It is not enought to say that you paint for yourself because you are of this world and here to learn and contribute to the cacophony. This is a party and you need to know who you want to hang out with, literally and figuratively.
Exercise Two:
Do this exercise to bring clarity to your practice and to your audience.
Create a list of what is unique about your art. Ask creative friends what they think is unique. Think about where your art muse lies. List it. Think about how you are seen by others. If you don’t know, ask a friend to be frank with you and bless them for their honesty knowing that they are probably lighting you up a little because they are your friend. List it. Imagine the rooms or places you’d love to see your art hanging and imagine the people who would live with it. What are they like? Look for the connections on your list. Construct your own manifesto. Let it be known to yourself and others that it is dynamic and revisit and refine it from time to time. We are creatives.
We grow, we change, we evolve and writing down our manifesto brings our awareness and the awareness of others to what you want to be known for.
When you have you maniifesto completed, feel free to share it in the comments below!
Without art, without that trained eye, there is much less beauty available to you in the world. And, you are surrounded by it!
Sherri Jean McCulloch 