I can’t give a simple answer to this because my creativity has gone through different phases and my relationship to it changes all the time. When I was making textile products to sell I hated how I’d become a production line, making the same thing over and over again—it was unfulfilling. When I shifted into the art world I loved being able to express myself fully but hated the drop in income! Maybe there’s no clear answer to this conundrum within a capitalist system that demands we ‘produce’ something to sell or sell our labour. Right now I try and balance making money from other activities with making the art I want to make, but that may change again in the future.
I know a lot of people who switched from making crochet items (same again and again) to creating their own crochet patterns to sell. Similar compromise. Thanks for being here on the journey of continuing to figure it all out.
I make art but don’t currently pursue selling it for a variety of reasons. Number one, I have a job that pays the bills and so I don’t have to rely on art making for money. The job is in a creative skillset but isn’t art and doesn’t connect on many levels to the kind of art I make. The second touches on some of what you are saying, to begin to sell my art (which I have done to some extent in the past) I have to engage with kinds of thinking, planning, and tasks that actively remove the limited time I have to dedicate to making art.
Also, when I have sold my art, I never had enough of a sustained audience to have broader purchasing trends that would cause me to make different work. But I did notice that some types and price levels of work sold better than others and that did affect how I thought about the work that didn’t sell as well.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts ... that last part really resonated with me. When there is a specific buying audience for our work, however small, it can affect how we ourselves see the work ... this is not necessaryil bad or good but it's important to be aware of.
This is something I’ve thought about quite a bit over the years. At one point, I actively wanted to turn my art into a business, but the sheer amount of work that entailed meant I had hardly any time to actually make art, since I was also holding down a 9-5. And though I quickly realized that I wasn’t enjoying it at all, I stuck to that path for a while because I couldn’t decide if I was giving up or didn’t actually enjoy it. (Crazy that we believe the messaging around these things more than our lived experience sometimes!)
Now I’m at a happy medium — I don’t rely on my art for money, though I do make the occasional course and teach online. The focus now is on things I enjoy making and teaching, and I do it more for fun than for it to be how I make my living.
Thanks so much for sharing. I really admire your creativity so it's great to hear your viewpoint on this.
You touch on something key here - many people need to earn a steady 9-5 and trying to sell art is also a full-time business, and that's rarely a sustainable equation for most of us. I think the idea of multiple income streams, some creative and some not focused on art, works better for many.
I can’t give a simple answer to this because my creativity has gone through different phases and my relationship to it changes all the time. When I was making textile products to sell I hated how I’d become a production line, making the same thing over and over again—it was unfulfilling. When I shifted into the art world I loved being able to express myself fully but hated the drop in income! Maybe there’s no clear answer to this conundrum within a capitalist system that demands we ‘produce’ something to sell or sell our labour. Right now I try and balance making money from other activities with making the art I want to make, but that may change again in the future.
I know a lot of people who switched from making crochet items (same again and again) to creating their own crochet patterns to sell. Similar compromise. Thanks for being here on the journey of continuing to figure it all out.
I make art but don’t currently pursue selling it for a variety of reasons. Number one, I have a job that pays the bills and so I don’t have to rely on art making for money. The job is in a creative skillset but isn’t art and doesn’t connect on many levels to the kind of art I make. The second touches on some of what you are saying, to begin to sell my art (which I have done to some extent in the past) I have to engage with kinds of thinking, planning, and tasks that actively remove the limited time I have to dedicate to making art.
Also, when I have sold my art, I never had enough of a sustained audience to have broader purchasing trends that would cause me to make different work. But I did notice that some types and price levels of work sold better than others and that did affect how I thought about the work that didn’t sell as well.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts ... that last part really resonated with me. When there is a specific buying audience for our work, however small, it can affect how we ourselves see the work ... this is not necessaryil bad or good but it's important to be aware of.
This is something I’ve thought about quite a bit over the years. At one point, I actively wanted to turn my art into a business, but the sheer amount of work that entailed meant I had hardly any time to actually make art, since I was also holding down a 9-5. And though I quickly realized that I wasn’t enjoying it at all, I stuck to that path for a while because I couldn’t decide if I was giving up or didn’t actually enjoy it. (Crazy that we believe the messaging around these things more than our lived experience sometimes!)
Now I’m at a happy medium — I don’t rely on my art for money, though I do make the occasional course and teach online. The focus now is on things I enjoy making and teaching, and I do it more for fun than for it to be how I make my living.
Thanks so much for sharing. I really admire your creativity so it's great to hear your viewpoint on this.
You touch on something key here - many people need to earn a steady 9-5 and trying to sell art is also a full-time business, and that's rarely a sustainable equation for most of us. I think the idea of multiple income streams, some creative and some not focused on art, works better for many.