When did you first suspect you might be creative? Do you remember the delight you took in colors when you held your first crayons? Or the thrill of building sand castles on the beach? Maybe you had an art teacher who lit a spark inside of you? Or perhaps it happened when you saw your …
When Did You First Suspect You Might Be Creative? Read More »
My favorite college professor taught art history. He’d started out life as a photographer, a lifelong dream since he’d mixed his own chemicals in a homemade darkroom under his parents’ stairway. As a young man he’d had an opportunity to show his portfolio to a big shot, an established and highly celebrated photographer whom he …
As this extraordinary year draws to a close, every artist I know is looking forward in hopes that 2021 will bring happier surprises than 2020. But I want to take this moment to cast my gaze back, and I invite you to do the same. Because no artist stands alone. Instead, we stand on the …
We all know artists who do incredible work, but fail to achieve their professional goals. It’s tragic and feels unfair. At the same time, I’ll bet you can also name several artists who enjoy great commercial success, they’re achieving professional goals – yet their work leaves you scratching your head and wondering why? Why them? …
“But Crista,” the artist asked, “How can I make a living from my art?” “I wanna be wealthy! I wanna live on a beach! I wanna be dripping in jewels! And I want my art to pay for all of it!” Then I reply with something that artist Kiki Smith once told me: “Your art doesn’t exist to support …
“I used to have a band,” he told me. He’d played lead guitar and sang. It was the 80’s and he worked hard, toured the country, and started to gain a small following. But he never broke through.When he turned 30, he got a chance to play one of the biggest music festivals in Britain. …
I recently suffered a crisis. My relationships weren’t connecting, my creativity wasn’t flowing. I was overwhelmed and overwrought. It felt like the work was stagnant and it became a battle to get through all the stuff that needed to be done. Have you ever felt like this? In times of crisis, I look for those …
What do you want to do when you grow up? Do you think we ever stop asking ourselves that question? It seems to be one of life’s great mysteries. When I was young I yearned to be a child prodigy. It seemed an easy way out. Let fate and genetics take the wheel, it was …
Do You Hear That? It’s Life Asking You A Question. Read More »
So you’ve taken the jump and chosen to be an artist. Now what? Where’s the fabulous gallery opening in New York City? Where are the international collectors to lavish praise and money on you? Where’s the gallery to take care of all those pesky marketing tasks and details? Instead, you battle rejection. You wonder where …
It’s been nearly 20 years since I first spent time in France. Nearly 20 years since I met a beautifully talented artist from Hawaii named Maria Lee. Maria was teaching at a small art school for American students in a tiny Provençal village. I was there for the summer too. We both had a profound …
