Not so long ago I posted above picture of one of my sculptures to my Facebook page.
Many people shared this post, one of which was my wonderful sister-in-law Jaime. With her share she commented,
“My brother in law is a very hard-working artist. (I refuse to say talented because it’s a loaded word for him 😉.) Here is one of his latest.”
And she is right. Talented is a loaded word for me. It’s not that I mind people saying that I am talented. I know that when people say this they really are trying to give me a sincere compliment. It is just that my definition of talented is very different than many peoples. So this got me thinking and then it got me writing and now it has become the blog post you are reading. If you have never thought much about talent or what the word really means then this might be an eye opening post for you. If you disagree with the things I write, I’d like to hear about it in the comments below. Likewise, if you agree with what I say or have something to add, I‘d also like to hear about it in the comments.
So why is “Talented” a loaded word? Well, first let me tell you that I probably have more conversations about his word then your average human being. Probably because I am an artist and art teacher and people often use “talented” to describe someone who is good at any of the arts. It can apply to any other skill but for some reason people just don’t use the word as much in other fields. I doubt many people who are good at math get told how talented they are but that is what it is isn’t it? I have known some very talented mathematicians, much more talented at math than I am. Anyway, the point is, this word comes up a lot in my conversations, pretty much on a daily basis. So although I can’t read minds and I don’t always know exactly what people mean when they say it, I think I can draw some pretty accurate conclusions.
Now before I write to much, this post needs a disclaimer. I consider myself a hard working and talented individual. I just don’t often talk about myself as talented. For the sake of this post I am talented person and I feel prideful every time I say it but the truth of it is I have worked very hard to develop my talents and I am still working hard. So… If I talk about being talented I am not being cocky, I am just writing a post. Now with that out of the way I can talk about me being talented without feeling too strange.
There are three main beliefs people have about talent, and you probably belong to one of these camps. First there are the people who believe that you have it or you don’t. You were either born with talent or you weren’t. Second there are the people who believe that talent comes and goes and one must wait around to be inspired or just get lucky before they can do something truly talented. And Third, there are those who believe that all talents can be developed with hard work and determination and that developing your talents is what makes you talented. If you know me at all or have read any of my other blog posts its not hard to tell which of these camps I spend most of my time in. Although I think there is some truth to all three of these beliefs there is one that will always trump the others.
You Either Have it or you Don’t
The Havedon’ts (as I will call them) will often fiercely defend their belief. They are certain that some people are just born better at some things. When I tell them that I couldn’t even hold a pencil when I was born they just look at me like I am stupid. They often point out people like Mozart, or Michelangelo. People who were very talented at a young age. What they fail to recognize is the hard work that these individuals put in before they were ever recognized for their talent. Sure they were recognized young but they also worked their butts off young.
Havedon’ts will also say things like “no matter how much I practice basket ball I will never be in the NBA because I just don’t have the physical body for it, I’m not tall enough.” Really? Muggsy Bogues was only 5-3 and he was in the NBA. Most men in America are taller then that. Then they say “well… What about people with other physical limitations? Like what about someone who can’t walk?” Yes, I understand… Some people could be more physically inclined to do some things, but the Havedon’ts are missing the point. Their focus is in the wrong place. Rather then focusing on the things that they can do and work hard to get better at they make up excuses why they shouldn’t try. Havedon’ts tell themselves that they aren’t talented at something so there is no hope for them. Or that they physically can’t do it so what’s the point. With the wonderful internet it is not hard to find people who have overcome their physical limitations to develop their talents. here’s just one example:
Now wasn’t that amazing!?! Don’t you think it would have been easy for that boy to say to himself “I don’t have any hands, I will never be able to play the piano.” Yet he did it anyway! I would even go as far to say that he is talented!
Sometimes the Havedon’ts will even use God as their excuse. They say that God gave everyone different gifts. Is this true?… I believe it is! But, I’m not going to use it as an excuses to not try something, or put forth the effort to develop my talents. The Havedon’ts think that because they can’t currently play piano well, then God must have not blessed them with that talent. How can we really know what those God given Talents are if we give up before we ever try? And trust me… trying once isn’t enough.
I always know when I am talking to a die hard believer in this because after they tell me how talented I am they always follow it up with “ I could never be as talented as you”. or they might say, “I would love to learn to do that but I just don’t have the talent.”See what I mean!?! Another excuse! What does this belief really help? Nothing that I can see. It is an excuse people tell themselves to make them feel justified in their lack of trying to develop their own talents. When you are confident in your own talents and have worked hard to develop them you wont be putting yourself down because of other peoples talents. You will recognize their talent and respect them for it, because you know how much effort I took to develop that talent. If you see something you think looks enjoyable you will try your hardest to get good at it.
Interestingly people who are truly talented at something rarely belong to this group. Why do you think that might be?
It comes and goes with inspiration and Luck
Honestly this isn’t one that I hear when people are talking about talent, However it is a very common belief had amongst amateur artists. These Luckies think they need to wait around for some divine inspiration before they can do something worthy of calling talent. These are people who feel like they have talent but hold it in reserve until the moment is right and some stroke of inspiration hits them and they are suddenly talented again. These are also people who don’t ever really develop their talents because they never work on them until they feel inspired to do so. Don’t get me wrong. I am not saying that inspiration doesn’t exist. I have moments of inspiration when everything falls in place. I also know that I have much more inspiration when I am actively working on developing my talents.
You may not know this about me but I am a song writer. In my teens I used to come home from school and write a new song every day. Most of them were rubbish but every so often I would get inspired and write a fairly decent song. Now that I am older I rarely take the time to write songs. How much song writing inspiration do you think that I get now? Like… none. It’s because I am not actively writing songs any more. Do you see what I mean. The times when I am developing my talents are the times I am inspired. If you want to read more about this topic I have other blog posts about it here:
If you haven’t figured it out already this is the line of thinking that should hold the most weight. It’s nice to believe that you were given unique talents from birth, It’s also nice to believe that you can be inspired to do great things, but the truth is those things mean nothing without hard work and determination. Ask anybody who is truly talented at anything and I am positive they worked very hard to get that way and if they tell you otherwise they are lying.
Honestly I am slightly offended when someone tells me that I was just born this way. Was the last 30 years of hard work for nothing then?
Yes! I was doing some fantastic artwork in my youth. I also spent many hours working on those skills and talents. There were plenty of times I would set aside doing things like hanging out with friends so I could work on my art projects. It was that exciting to me! I was that passionate about it. I am still working hard to develop my talents. I work so hard it consumes my life! Nearly every waking moment I am either working on sculpture or thinking about sculpting. At random moments during the day my wife can ask “What sculpture are you thinking about now?” and I can always tell her.
Some might say “What about God then? Don’t you believe God gave you your talents?” Yes! I do. From a very early age I have had a passion to create. I firmly believe that this passion was a God given passion. At first my “talent” looked just like any other child. I would scribble on a piece of paper much like every other child in the world. However… maybe there was something different about me. It wasn’t in the actual artwork but the way I felt when I did it. I enjoyed doing it more then most other children. Because I enjoyed it so much I would do it more often then other kids.Now guess what happens when you practice doing something more than others do? Thats right… you get better at it! Because God gave me this passion he also gave me the desire to work at my passion and develop my talents. Sure enough, God has helped me along the way, as I have worked hard to get better.
When you see someone who paints a beautiful picture, does a fantastic dance, writes a thought provoking poem, can solve complex math equations, or can consistently make 3 pointers, all you are seeing is the end result. You don’t see the hours spent on that painting. You don’t see the years of practice. You don’t see the thousands of mistakes and fixes. You don’t see the mental and emotional turmoil. You don’t see the nights lying awake thinking about it. You don’t see the time they sacrificed.
So I guess that is why the word “talented” is such a loaded word for me. It takes a lot of hard work and determination to become talented and that is something many people fail to recognize.
So next time you want to tell someone how talented they are maybe you should think about saying it a different way. Maybe you should say, “Wow! You must have worked so hard to get that good! You have really developed your talents!”
I guarantee this will be a much better compliment then simply saying they are talented.
I will leave you with the famous words of my very hard working and therefore talented high school pottery teacher Jerry Hendershot.
“Hard work and determination will trump natural talent every time.”
Just the other day, as I was helping a student she said, “I just suck at this.” Believe it or not but this kind of talk is very common for young artists. Maybe you have even said something like it yourself. My response to this was “You don’t suck. You’re just learning!” I don’t know if that got through to her or not but it made me think. And sometimes when I get thinking, it turns into a blog post. So here it is.
Not too long ago I had a frustrated student say “Some people just have a lot of natural…” At this point I thought he was going to finish by saying “Natural talent and, I’m not one of them” (The myth of natural talent coming in a future blog post) But that is not what he said. He said, “Natural suckage, and I am one of them”. I was shocked! Did this student actually believe that there was such a thing as “Natural Suckage”? To my surprise there were some other students in the room who started agreeing with him. Natural Suckage! Really? I knew that there was a problem with negative talk among some of my students but this is when I realized how big the problem really was. These students were not just saying this out of frustration but deep down they really believed it. Because what I do is very skill based I hear these kinds of things a lot. I am sure that it is not just in my art class either. I am sure people are saying these types of things no matter what skill they are learning whether it is Art, Music, Math, Cooking, Soccer, or anything else that requires you to work hard to learn a specific skill. Not being very skilled at something isn’t the problem. The problem comes when you believe that you can’t learn a skill simply because you suck.
This goes beyond just thinking that you aren’t any good at something. It is the belief that you can’t get better. I recently had a student who was taking his turn on the pottery wheel. Because of my class size, the amount of classes in the semester and the limited number of pottery wheels we have in the classroom each student only gets two days on the wheel. Because it is so short of a time and not nearly enough time to really learn how to throw on the wheel I expect my students to make the most of those two days and spend the entire class working. After about 30 minutes into the first day this student stormed off in frustration. He threw his hands in the air and said “I can’t do this, It’s too hard” my immediate response was “Well… you have to try” still frustrated he snaps back “I did try. I tried three times and I couldn’t get the clay centered.” I will admit, I may not have handled the situation the best because all I could do was laugh and say “Three times! Try 300!” he didn’t think it was very funny but the point still stands. Anything worth doing is going to require work and trying something three times is hardly trying at all. Needless to say this student never got back on the wheel.
These students have what I will call “Imagined Natural Suckage” As I explained before, there is no such thing as natural suckage.
So now that we have identified the problem, how do we go about changing a long ingrained belief system in my students, or in myself, or you for that matter? It is something that I have spent many hours pondering and trying to help my students overcome.
Here are a few ways that I have found to overcome the feeling of “Imaginary Natural Suckage”. These point’s don’t only apply to learning art but they can apply to anything you are trying to get better at, whether it is artistic, sports, parenting, music, math, writing, etc. #1 Stop comparing yourself to others
There will always be someone better then you at something. You will never be the best at everything. The point is to be the best that you can be and eventually, if you work really hard, you might get to the point where you actually are the best at something. Of course when you are to that point you most likely won’t even think you are because you will see how much better you want to be. I see students all the time who will take their first art class and immediately start comparing themselves to the students who have been drawing there whole life. If you have ever done this you are being unfair to yourself. Stop now. You be you, and try your hardest, and that will always be good enough. #2 Commit to practicing
Getting good at something takes time. When I told my student “try 300” I wasn’t exaggerating. In fact go further… try 3,000. I can guarantee your 3,000th pot will be better than your 300th. If you are learning a new instrument give yourselves 5 years. Then see how well you can play. Anybody who has dedicated a significant amount of time to an instrument will tell you that the first year of playing is barely scratching the surface of your potential. How many of us quite after the first month? Apathy is a killer. Some people will say they just don’t care about anything enough to commit that much time and effort to it. Well… you need to start somewhere. Find something you enjoy doing and in the process of practicing and years of working at your skill you will become passionate about it. #3 Stop the negative self talk
Your words influence your beliefs and your beliefs influence your words. If you are not careful it is a never ending spiral downward till you are drowning in negativity. You need to make a conscious effort to stop negative self talk. And if you ever find yourself saying that you stink at something you need to counteract it with saying something positive. Turn what you said negative around and say something positive. This might seem silly but it is important. Some people who aren’t experienced with positive affirmations will think it is silly because they don’t do it right. They will turn the negative “I suck at drawing” into “I am the best drawer ever!” Do they believe this? Of course not! And as they are saying it they know they are lying to themselves. The goal is not to lie to yourself but to positively build yourself up with something that you can actually believe. Turn “I suck at drawing” into “I can work hard to get better at drawing.” See… much more believable. Don’t turn “This is hard” into “this is easy” because it’s not. Instead turn “This is hard” into “I can do hard things”
My wife likes to ask herself questions instead of statements. If she ever finds herself being negative about something like getting our kids to help around the house, she won’t say “I’m so frustrated! These kids never help with anything!” Instead she asks “How do I get these kids to clean up so well?” When you ask yourself questions your mind will work overtime, even subconsciously to help you come up with a solution. This can be a very powerful kind of positive affirmation. #4 Meditate
A big part of the problem is anxiety. I see people get anxious about all sorts of things. In my classroom I see students get nervous and frustrated after they have made one line on a piece of paper. That line might have taken them 10 minutes to finally build up the courage to draw and now they feel like their line doesn’t look good enough and when I walk around near them they immediately cover up their paper so I can’t see their “Imaginary Suckage”. These students have Anxiety.
If we think in terms of energy, Anxiety is when our energy is dispersed and we have many problems going on in our minds and hearts that our energy is trying to fix and worry about. Often times those problems are also imaginary but to an anxious person imagined or not, the problems still feel the same. When we are anxious we are worried about multiple things while trying to concentrate on another and then wondering what might happen when, or if, something else happens, none of which you seem to have any control over which makes you more anxious. Our energy is not being productive because it is trying to do too many things at once. And, in the end whatever you were trying to do ends up failing. Then our “Imaginary Natural Suckage” has been confirmed and our belief becomes even more ingrained.
Meditation is a great way to overcome anxiety. There are many purposes and benefits to meditation but in this case what we are trying to do is focus our energy and apply it to the task at hand. This is not a blog post about various methods of mediation, so I will not go into detail on ways to meditate but I encourage you to research methods yourself. Maybe that would be a good topic for another blog post. I will often teach my students a few meditation techniques to help with anxiety. There are always some who think it’s silly but a good amount of my students love it. Every once in a while I will catch one of my students sitting there in the position I taught them with their eyes closed and breathing slowly. These students are tuning everything out around them and focusing their energy to their artwork. Once they are finished they get to work. And guess what. When they aren’t anxious they do great work that they are proud of.
So I repeat… You don’t suck. You are just learning!
I hope these point’s are able to help you in some aspect of your life. Do you have any other things that have helped you overcome the feelings of “Natural Suckage”? If you do, let me know in the comments below. If you think this post could help someone else please share it with them.
This being my first post in 2016 I would usually make it a post all about my Goals as an artist so you can help me follow through and give encouragement with what I plan to do this year. However I have some exciting news that needs to be announced. Don’t worry I will get to my goals at the end of my post and you can still give me encouragement.
Months ago I announced that I did not receive a commission to create my sculpture for Meridian Idaho titled “Out on the Town”. You can read more about that HERE. It was a sad thing because Meridian is my home town and I really really wanted to do this sculpture.
Today I am pleased to announce that I will be doing the sculpture after all! And in many ways it is even better then what I thought I would be. Today I would like to tell you the story of this sculpture and my story of how I received this commission and hopefully it will inspire you to be persistent in your efforts.
Really it started back when I was a small child. I grew up in the wonderful town of Meridian, Idaho. Honestly this is a great place to live and grow up. My house was a couple miles away from down town Meridian. My older siblings and I would often walk or ride bikes the two miles to town so we could go to Albertsons Grocery store and buy some candy. Head over to the Burger den for lunch and Ice cream. Walk across the street to Payless drug store and look at toys. I loved these times and It made me feel so responsible and grown up.
Right in the middle of all these stores was an intersection where there was a large triangular shaped concrete area. I remember walking and driving by this area and always thinking to myself, “They should put a sculpture there.” I had no aspirations at that time to become a sculpture although I was very interested in art.
Years later I find out that the city of Meridian had plans to expand the road and restructure the intersection. They would be removing the triangle but with the new construction they also had plans to install a sculpture at the same corner. Not only that but I just happened to be a sculptor! Woo-Hoo! This project was meant for me!
I applied for the RFQ (Request for qualifications) but I didn’t make it past the first round. It was a bummer but I soon got over it realizing it was still very early in my career and I was up against many other much more experienced sculptors. About a year later they opened up the RFQ again! I wasn’t sure whybut apparently they didn’t end up commissioning any artists earlier on and now they were trying again. So I applied once again, sure that they re opened it because this project was really meant for me.
Just like the first time I didn’t make it past the first round. Yet again I was sad because I really thought this project was meant for me. I got over it and for a couple years I spent time studying sculpture and developing my passion for sculpture. In this time I had been a finalist for some public sculpture projects as well as did a few other smaller public art pieces. Just this past summer I received an email from the Meridian Arts council telling me that they Opened up the project but this time it was an RFP (Request for Proposals). However the entry deadline was just a couple days away.
If you have ever applied for a public art project before you will know that an RFP takes much more time and effort then an RFQ. I quickly came up with a concept for my sculpture, found some models to take pictures of and drew up some sketches. I sent in my application and hoped for the best. A little bit later I was notified that I was a finalist for the project. I was very excited! Looking at the other finalists I figured I had a pretty good shot at it this time. In fact I was confident I would get this commission. The time came and they notified me once again that I was not Chosen! This was the third time I had been rejected for this same project!
A few days wen’t by and I still wasn’t feeling any better about it. So on a whim I wrote a letter to the Meridian Arts Council. I said that I was really hoping to get the commission and that I am still interested in creating this sculpture for Meridian. If there is ever an opportunity to do a sculpture such as this I asked that they would let me know. to my surprise they emailed me back and let me know that everyone loved my sculpture and they already had on the next meetings agenda to talk about raising money to commission my sculpture for a different location. They said they wanted to put my sculpture in an area where people could get close to it and touch it and really interact with it. The street corner was not a place they wanted that to be happening.
After months of figuring things out, raising money, and working out the details I am pleased to tell you that the contract was signed on Tuesday and I will be installing the finished bronze sculpture in September.
The sculpture will be installed just outside of Meridian City Hall. Although it is not the same place I envisioned when I was a kid, It is a much more prominent location where people will be able to get up close and interact with my sculpture.
I am excited to document the process so you can see the work that goes into making a sculpture for a public area. And let me tell you… it’s a whole lot more than just making a sculpture.
So that brings me to this years goals…
Now every year I look at my goals in a different way. I have read all sorts of things about goal setting and how to set good achievable goals. And, although there are many good hints on how to do that I still feel like sometime you just need to do what feels right. Last year I only had one goal and that was to do a blog post every week. Did it happen? No. However, I did write many posts over the course of the year and it helped me and my art career in many ways. So here is my list for 2016
Win at least 2 public art commissions (I already have one)
Apply to 4 art shows
And hopefully do 3 of them, because two of them are on the same weekend. The shows I plan to apply to are the Jackson Hole Art Fair, Sun Valley Art Festival, Utah Arts Festival in Salt Lake, and the Park City Art Festival.
Teach some sculpture workshops.
I already have one scheduled in Jackson Hole. If you are interested in attending that workshop click HERE. If you would like me to be a visiting artist and teach a workshop near you please notify me, and I can see what I can do.
Publish at least 2 Online sculpture courses.
Continue Blogging
I hope you have been inspired by my story and I hope you will continue to follow along with me this year. We can help each other with inspiration an encouragement. Thanks!
Well… here it is. The last blog post of the year. Well at least I am starting it before the year is over. I hope to get it posted before next year starts. If you are joining the blog for the first time this will be a good post to catch you up on everything that has happened this year. If you have been following the blog for a while then you will hear some new stuff seeing as how I haven’t posted in a few months now. Now… I am pleased to share with you
Daniel Borup’s Magnificent Year in Review Blog Post 2015!
Let me start by saying, this is the first post of this kind I have written seeing as how I only really started blogging at the beginning of this year. In fact getting this blog up and going was my new years resolution. I will talk more about that next week.
Although there is tons to write about this post is to give you a quick overview of the highlights of 2015, so hear it goes.
The year started off good with this sculpture of a lion I did…
Then I finished my Good Samaritan Sculpture. I entered it into the International LDS Art Competition and didn’t get in. That’s okay though because it has turned out to be one of my better selling sculptures. In fact you can purchase a casting of this sculpture here: http://www.danielborup.com/product/the-good-samaritan-2/
Then I did my second artist residency at the Idaho Art Lab. This was a fantastically productive and inspiring time. During that residency I sculpted this…
And This…
Which is a small maquette of this…
I cleaned and organized my studio
Man I wish is looked this clean now!
I also had a booth at the Jackson Hole Art Fair which was pretty sweet.
I won best of show at the Eastern Idaho State Fair
I sculpted a bust of John F. Shelley for the City of Shelley Idaho.
I sculpted some giant busts of Adam and Eve…
I made some sweet videos like this one:
You can see other videos right here: www.danielborup.com/videos/
Then to end the year off I had a solo exhibition open in the Carr Gallery in Idaho Falls. The show features 32 of my works and is still open until January 10th. So if you haven’t seen it yet please go. http://www.idahofallsarts.org/daniel-borup
Last but not least is my gift to you. I am holding a sculpture giveaway contest which is ending tomorrow. If you haven’t entered yet please do so now. It’s free to enter and you could start off your year winning a sculpture from me! Here is a link to the contest: http://www.danielborup.com/contest/
It has been a crazy amazing year. I just scratched the surface of all the great things that happened this year. I made tons of sculpture and worked to inspire lives. Thank you for being a part of it and I hope you will continue to be a part of my life next year. Stick around and I will do everything I can to inspire you with art in 2016, making it the best year ever!
Comments are welcome.
It’s an exciting week where I live! The Eastern Idaho Fair is going on and everyone is either involved in the fair or excited to go and have some fun there.. A major part of the fair for me has always been the Fine Art Competition. Even when I was a child I would enter my artwork into the fair, Back then I was entering into the Western Idaho Fair because I lived in Meridian Idaho.
This year I entered into the professional Division and was surprised to see that I won Best of Show! There was a lot of great work there so this was obviously a confidence booster for me. Sometimes it’s nice to get that little bit of validation that your work is worth something.
I also encouraged my high school students to enter the fair but with all of my trying only one of them entered. And her work looked great! I was proud to see it hanging on the wall with all the other artwork. Another former student entered her painting as well. I was a proud teacher!
Although my pride in my students was great that night I was still sad that not more of them entered. It was hard for me to understand why they wouldn’t enter their artwork into the fair, its fun and who knows… They might win something.
It occurred to me that the word might was what was getting in the way. To many of them were afraid of what would happen if they entered the fair and they didn’t win anything. Their hopes and dreams could be crushed!
It might sound a little silly but those are the kinds of things that my students would say. “My dreams could be crushed” or even “I won’t win anything” or “I’m not good enough”… Wow! what self damaging language comes out of some of my students mouths. Many of them feel like they couldn’t stand the rejection of not winning. This thought had never crossed my mind. I was lucky enough in my younger years to have parents who encouraged me to enter my artwork in the fair and other art shows. Till this day I think is is a great thing for anyone to do. So here it goes… My list of reasons more artists (including armature artists) should enter art shows.
1) Confidence building
It feels great being in art shows and especially wining art shows. My 8 year old daughter also entered the fair. She won a third place ribbon for one of her coil pot bowls she made. You should have seen the look on her face when she saw the ribbon. She was so excited. Yes, I know that this is not always the case.There have been other shows where she hasn’t won and it always is a little sad to see the disappointment on her face. However we continue to encourage her to enter and now that she has won all of those other disappointments have been washed away.
Sometimes you don’t win, but often times other confidence builders will happen like someone might compliment you on a piece or even offer to buy it. This has happened to me at times. There have been shows where I didn’t win any awards but I did sell some of my work which was a better award anyway.
2) Teaches you to deal with rejection
Art shows are a great way to teach you to deal with rejection, especially a show like the fair. I mean this in the best way possible. Some shows have a pretty hefty entry fee and even after you pay the entry fee you may or may not get into the show. The state fair isn’t like that. The entry fees for state fairs are usually small and if you pay the fee you get to be in the show. If you don’t win something then you can learn to deal with that at a relatively small price.
I learned this lesson when I was in high school. There was one year I entered work into my high school art show. I was an underclassman and thought I was pretty hot stuff. The judge loved my work and I received numerous awards for the things that I had entered. The next year I entered work which I thought was better then the previous year and I didn’t win anything. It hurt a bit but I learned that you can’t win them all and that not every judge is the same. Sometimes there are judges that just don’t like your style of work, and that’s okay. If the judge doesn’t like figurative work but has a thing for abstract then you can bet that I wont do very well at that art show. That is just the way it is.
Over the years I have dealt with many rejections. I have also had many wins. More recently I have felt a surge of energy after every rejection making me try harder for something else. The rejections also have made the wins feel even better.
3) It gives you something to work towards.
There are some shows that I create work specifically for that show. Its fun to have a show date coming up to encourage you to create more and better work. It gives you a target to shoot for. My daughter who I previously mentioned will now be making sure that she creates something really awesome so she can enter it into the fair next year.
I met an 11 year old girl at the fair and I could see the disappointment in her face at not winning anything. She had entered three things that were really quite well done. I don’t know if what I told her helped her feel any better but I tried to encourage her as much as I could. I told her good job for being so brave to enter her work into the fair. I told her that most of my high school students were too scared to enter and that she is awesome for even entering. I told her to keep up the good work and keep entering. Her work will get better and better and she will win some years and loose others but that it is fun and exciting to be in a show weather you win or loose. The important thing is that you tried.
I hope that if you are reading this then you will be encouraged to go out on a limb and try something you have been to scared to do. It might be an Art Show like I have talked about here or it might be something else completely unrelated. Either way I hope my words have helped.
I would like to know what you think. Do you have any stories about entering shows that you would like to share? Have you had a confidence boost or a crushed dream? let me know in the comments below.
This week I went to the Shelley High School Graduation. I have been teaching some of these students every year for the past 4 years. Some of them I have become very close too and despite what I usually tell them, I will miss them a little.
There are many things that I have learned over the years working with teenagers. Usually by their example are these lessons taught. Sometimes I learn things by their good example and sometimes their not-so-good example. I’m happy to say that the lesson I am going to talk about today is from a good example.
This year Shelley High School picked two valedictorians and asked both to give a speech. The picture above is me with these students. Apparently this is the first time this has happened in the history of Shelley High School. It is interesting to note that these two valedictorians were also best friends. I have had the privilege of having both of these young ladies in my classes a number of times over the years. Needless to say they were both very hard workers and as such excelled in my classes. In fact they excelled in just about everything they did. Of course they both had different strengths they were also very much alike.
Is it any wonder that they chose to give their speech together? And the topic of their speech was the importance of friendship? They stood on the stand together and alternated who was speaking. The speech was smart, thoughtful, funny, and inspiring. My favorite quote was:
“There is beauty in imperfections.”
Not taking credit for anything but that does sound and awful lot like something I often say to my perfectionist students.
These two girls make me wonder how things would have been different if they weren’t friends. Would they have excelled the way they did if they didn’t have each other? I like to think that we become what we surround ourselves with. These girls chose to be around each other and as such they both benefited and became better people. In my years teaching I have also seen the reverse. Students who always complain about all the drama in their lives while simultaneously spending time with dramatic people. I could go on and on giving good and bad examples of different groups of students and people who have turned into the people they surround themselves with.
I know it isn’t always that easy. But I believe that we need to not only surround ourselves with people but also things that will help us become the person we want to be. There are many ways we can do this but I am going to talk about some of the ways more specific to artists. Art
This should be a given for artists and art lovers but we need to surround ourselves with great art, as well as strive to make great art! People are affected by they art they view. Find artwork that is well done and beautiful and display it in places where you will see it regularly. Let this great art, work its magic in your life. If you want to be more relaxed find art that is relaxing and it will wear off on you. I was once contacted by someone who wanted to commission me to make a sculpture for him. He was wanting me to recreate The Thinker sculpture by Rodin but instead of the sculpture resting his head on his fist he wanted the man to be holding a gun to his head. I rejected the commission for many reasons. One major reason was because I strive to make my artwork have inspirational and positive messages. This was the opposite. Another reason came from my communications with this man. I got the feeling that he may in fact be suicidal. I was not willing to create something that could influence anyone to have those types of thoughts. It surprises me that anyone would want to surround themselves with Art that gives them negative feelings. Other Artists
It is important as an artist to make friends with and spend time around other artists. Hopefully you can find artists who will inspire you and help you in your skills. You also need to make sure you are spending time with artists who are encouraging and not discouraging. The starving artist myth is strong and even artists will try to discourage you from following your dreams. I have met these types of artists and that is not a relationship I perused. I know a number of artists who are wonderful and encouraging who I know want me to succeed. These are the relationships I try to cultivate. The question now might be “where do I find these kinds of artists”. The answer is simple. You go where those kinds of artists are. In general the artists that are involved in your local art organizations will be a good fit. In Eastern Idaho where I live there are four great organizations to be involved in. In no particular order we have the Idaho Art Lab, The Idaho Falls Arts Council, The Eagle Rock Art Guild, and the Art Museum of Eastern Idaho. I have yet to become fully involved with all of these organizations but have been very involved with the Idaho Art Lab and the Idaho Falls Arts Council. I have never regretted my relationship with any of these organizations and I have met many great artists through my participation.
Another great way to become friends with other artists is simply to ask. This past year I have become friends with a few artists who I have looked up to for some time just because I asked to meet them. On a business trip to Utah I contacted a few artists who I love and said that I would like to meet them and see their studio. All of them said yes and I have kept in touch with some of them since. One of my best friends locally is an artist who came to my classroom and invited me and my family over for dinner. We have been friends and helped encourage each other ever since.
It is easy to stay in touch with people through means of social media. I have also met a few artists who I now consider friends through social media. Although I have never met these artists in person they still encourage me to be a better artist and inspire me with their work. Teachers
If you have ever been to school you know as well as I do, not all teachers are equal. I know very few teachers who are intentionally horrible. But I know there are some teachers out there that are above par. As often as possible choose the best teachers. It is getting easier and easier to do this with the internet. There are tons of online resources to help you with your artwork. In my experience the best resources are rarely free. If you really want to learn a new skill, find a teacher who can teach that skill very well. Look up reviews or read testimonials. Make sure their work reflects the skill level you desire. Make sure they are good at teaching also. Not every great artist is a great teacher. I myself will be releasing online sculpture classes in the near future. If you are interested in taking an online sculpture course from me or an in person workshop please sign up for my newsletter. The sign up form can be found in the right sidebar on this page. Music and Movies
While I sculpt I often listen to beautiful instrumental music, sometimes classical, sometimes contemporary acoustic guitar. Listening to beautiful music helps me sculpture more beautifully. When I am not sculpting I will often listen to music that is thought provoking with lyrics that utilize strong metaphors. I am naturally drawn to movies that deal more with character development and story line than special effects. Is it any wonder that my artwork themes often deal with personal growth, strength and the human spirit? If my goal was to be a comic book artist or a whimsical artist my choice in music and movies might be different.
This by no means is an extensive list of everything you can do to surround yourself with worth while people and things. I’d like to know what you think. What are some things you do to surround yourself with things that help you become the person you want to become?
