A Message to a Starving Artist about the Quest for a Sustainable Lifestyle
Posted: Tuesday, December 14, 2010
by Bruce Horst
WryteStuff
I've been thinking about you a lot lately. I wonder what you're working on today, and I wonder how you're doing in your quest to find a sustainable lifestyle as an artist.
A long time ago you became familiar with the phrase 'starving artist.' The phrase isn't meant for ridicule or to discourage you, but I think rather it's more of a badge of honor..
You know I've told a lot of people that I'm your number 1 fan. Every artist needs fans and people who believe in them. I know you have a lot more fans than just me, but I want to make sure that you know you have me, at the very least, as your fan. I spend my days surrounded by walls adorned with your artwork. This certainly makes my walls much less confining, and my world a better place.
I do consider myself somewhat of an artist, too. Though I'm more of a mechanical artist, which means my skills can be outsourced or performed better by a team rather than an individual. Your art is uniquely you, and I'm envious of you for that.
It's a shame that most art gets broken down into it's commercial value, and that commercial value is the sum total of what you can usually get paid for it. Believe me, I'm often overwhelmed with the desire to just say, "forget about your bills. I'll pay your bills, you just go work on your craft." If only I could afford to do that. But I don't think that would be what's best for you. Most artists, even the rich and famous ones, spend years and years struggling to find a sustainable lifestyle, compatible with their passions. It's what connects them to real life, and that connection is vital in the life of an artist.
I know it offends you when I talk about how you could use your talents to earn money. Please understand I'm not trying to get you to compromise your values, I'm simply trying to help you pay your bills. You know I've struggled for years trying to figure out how to pay my bills with my own talent. I'm just trying to help you do the same.
My advice to you is keep your expenses as low as possible, find side jobs to pay the bills between paying gigs, and stay out of debt.
I know it's a real drag to work side jobs in unrelated fields, but there's honor in doing menial jobs to support your passion. I think about Nathan working at Radio Shack, handing out Battery of the Month Club cards so that he can afford to play his guitar with the band on the weekends. Or about that family that lives a normal life here in the suburbs of Houston, with normal jobs 11 months out of the year, and then in late November they start spending their weekends and vacation days downtown performing A Christmas Carol down at the Alley Theatre for the next month. How cools is that? I know our family is fortunate because of their commitment to their passion. I also think about those who wait tables at that restaurant in South Austin, the one with the art on the walls and the patio deck out back, and the Christmas lights on all year. They wait tables so that they can work on their dreams during off hours. To me, these are the real heroes in the art world. They've found a sustainable lifestyle, and they're living their passion.
I also encourage you to find a group of others who are like you, to hang out with. There's no one who understands what you're going through like others who have gone through the same thing. I'm sure they can help you figure out how to manage a sustainable lifestyle as an artist, too.
That's enough for now. I hope your week is going well. Can't wait to see you this weekend.
Love,
Dad
(or 'Bruce', to the rest of you starving artists that I feel responsible for.)
This Article has been viewed 2,328 times. (Not updated in real-time.)
More commentsThanks, Bruce, for your support and for sustaining this website, which gives us all a chance to exercise our talents and learn about the amazing talents of others, whom we also can support. I am forever indebted to you.Thanks George, those are very gracious words. We appreciate your contributions as well!
It's wonderful that you acknowledge your support for your son at a public level Bruce. It sounds like he gets his creativity from his dad who stepped out and took some chances on life too. The hard part for me with my daughter was letting her make her own mistakes and trying to stay out of God's way, but in God's time she came around.
I too appreciate your willingness to share with us all the things you do about writing and how to be successful. I never thought about writing, but my daughter and her husband encouraged me. Now I write because I find it very cathartic, not because I'll ever be a great writer and you allow me to do that, for that I thank you.
God bless you and your family,
Linda D
Yes, letting your children figure things out on their own can be hard, that's for sure! We've certainly enjoyed your writing over the years, and I'm glad you've found it useful for yourself.
Thanks for your comments.
Dear Bruce, I was near tears while reading this (emotionally) because I felt what you felt for the struggling artist in this cruel world . Because the internet is an intangible system (to most) and if one wants to earn from it but without enough skills/knowledge, how can that be done ?
We are blessed to have you to learn something from. You are a wonderful person I have ever met in the "net"
Thank you for writing this and a merry Christmas to you and yours.
Thanks Hilda, I'm glad you found it moving. It really is the culmination of a week where I've really been thinking about how I wish I could do more for my son and the writers on SearchWarp. We really enjoy having you as part of this little 'community.' Merry Christmas!
It's amazing that you have written a personal letter to me. That's how I felt for a moment. It was directly hinting at me and my lifestyle. I can so much connect with it as I refuse to compromise my values with money. I have done exactly the same. I have tried to find side jobs to pay off my bills and continue to save up whatever little I can and have fun travelling a little bit once in a while and experience freedom. Thank you for this article. Was great!It was certainly meant for you, DM (and some others as well.) We're glad that you've chosen to be a part of this thing... and I sincerely hope we can help you with your bills. Thanks for your comment.
By the end of the second sentence I knew what it was, who it was for and I knew I had to read the whole thing. Amazing letter to your young adult, Bruce, and probably therapeutic as well. It is hard, but good to see our kids as "grown ups". I know both of you will cherish this letter.Yeah, Zach says he still hasn't forgiven Jean for telling him at a young age, "You know, there's a reason they call them STARVING artists!"
It's like stepping into a cold river, watching our kids leave. It's invigorating, but I sure don't like the transition. Brrrrrr!
What an encouragement to the artist, and what a good DAD.Thanks, Elle. I'm now with my son, and I can see that he's doing well.
I, too, am a dad; I have three creative, lively kids, one of each.
The SW God has been extra good to have given us you, a paternal, caring and loving philanderer, who claims us all as his tax deductions.
I am proud to be your child.
I shall lend my crooked back to your wheel.....
Affection,
Paul......You know, Paul, you're not my child. You're my brother. I don't always see what you see, but I'm glad to have your vantage point represented here as I am anyone else's vantage point. You often have a perspective that I haven't considered, and that is a valuable thing.
With great affection,
Bruce
Bruce, this is probably all really good advice.
Someone called Walt Disney the last ‘benevolent dictator’. I don’t know, I have known many who continue such benevolent notions. I think you and Jean do your fair share-the quality of creating something that is driven by a passion has a way of oozing a kind of inner quality-even truth.
I learned early and often that some passions are stronger if they are defined by obstacles too big to overcome easily. If you can endure, you are thankful for each day you can create something new-and find ways to make it better (although you never quite close the gap enough to satisfy)
It ain’t supposed to be easy, it is supposes to be very, very hard. So hard, that you can’t do it w/o a faith. If it was easy everyone would do it and we would be overwhelmed w/ mediocrity. Perhaps we can too easily see that in our country today?
But, you can’t do it alone. Somewhere along every path there is someone who believed in you before you believed in yourself.
I don’t know, maybe that is one big lesson of Christmas!
Hi Bruce.
I can see why this has been the Reader's Choice #1 for so long.
I am very lucky to have you in my life.
Also luckily for me, I have a husband who is willing to work long hours at a paying job so that I can be free to write, make jewelry and play with horses. Make no mistake, I know how fortunate I am to have both him and you and SW in my life.
Big hugs,
Dianne
Wow Bruce! It is one of the best articles i have read, the perspective, imagination, heart-sharing and emotions, magnificent!
The world would not be a world, without the rainbow like roles of each humans, and the artists are a very important part of it.
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