Commerce and Creativity
If you create just for your own pleasure and mental health, that is fine – but if you want to get your creative work seen and acknowledged, and have it financially support your life, you need to see yourself as a creative entrepreneur.
“Making money is art and working is art and good business is the best art.” – Andy Warhol
Warhol was able to develop art-making into a very successful business, but we’ve heard of many great artists who sold hardly anything in their lifetimes.
Stories of starving artists seem to have more currency in literature and the media than the many examples of artists who prosper, and can fuel distorted and limiting ideas about being a creative person, even if you aren’t yet an “artist” (however you define that).
The photo is from the info page about an online workshop by Lisa Sonora Beam: Dreaming on Paper: The Creative Sketchbook – “how to create without fear of the blank page, learning how to play and make a happy mess without fear of doing it wrong or not doing it perfectly.”
Also see article: Lisa Sonora Beam On Success As A Creative Entrepreneur.
One of the ideas about artists that I list in my post “Artists are Crazy; Mothers Can’t Be Artists, and Other Myths” is that “Artists must be poor and sacrifice their well-being for their art.”
That is one of the myths mentioned by Alyson Stanfield of Art Biz Coach (“Helping Artists Sell More Art”).
Read much more about being a creative entrepreneur in my Creative Mind article
Creativity and Commerce.
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“It’s so true that now if you want to be an artist you have to be an entrepreneur too.” Brit Marling
See more in article: Brit Marling: “A pull between art and commerce”.
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* Note – Links to programs and products may be affiliate links, which means a company or publisher provides a small commission to me (paid by them, at no cost to you) if you decide to purchase. This helps support my efforts in creating the free content you read here and on my other sites, plus helps pay for costs such as website hosting. As an Amazon Associate, and an affiliate representing some other companies such as Sounds True, as well as a few coaches and psychologists, I provide links to products and programs that may be helpful to creative people. Thanks for visiting.
