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A Change in Thinking
Jun. 24th, 2010 08:51 amI talked yesterday about artists and commissions and, by e-mail, someone I know asked me if I always had been an artist. This got me to thinking because the answer is Yes and No which I know is sort of a wishy-washy answer.
For years I though myself as a crafty person but not an artist, I had a set of skills that allowed me to produce a practical puppet that would hold up to daily use with some maintenance. It wasn’t until a friend and fellow artist encouraged me to enter my puppets in an art show at the Atlanta Fantasy Fair that my thinking changed. I began to see what I do as art not just a craft.
The strange thing was that I saw puppets as art before I thought of myself as an artist. I worked in the museum at the Center for Puppetry Arts (If you are ever in Atlanta and you like puppets it is so worth a visit). We had the main museum and the special exhibits that I helped put together. I learned a lot about how puppets go together by setting them up for the exhibits.
Now I see what I do as an art form and I have added doll making to my repertory. I did a lot of mask making as part of my theater work. I learned from a number of costumers and artists how to make different kinds of masks. I now have a collection of masks that others have made and I have made.
I have had to change my thinking about how I see myself on other things as well. I have gone from fanfic to professional writer, which I am quite proud of. I have gone from single white female to married mother of one and stepmother of three. I have gone from student to teacher. Now some other stuff has happened recently and I have to, yet again, change my thinking about myself and others.
Oh, sort of an edition to what I was talking about yesterday. Don’t sell yourself short. It can be hard to value your work because to you it is easy but consider what your time is worth and factor that into any price you offer. Your work is worth at least minimum wage if not more because you have a skill. Keep that in mind.
I am grateful for anything that will help with the current situation.
For years I though myself as a crafty person but not an artist, I had a set of skills that allowed me to produce a practical puppet that would hold up to daily use with some maintenance. It wasn’t until a friend and fellow artist encouraged me to enter my puppets in an art show at the Atlanta Fantasy Fair that my thinking changed. I began to see what I do as art not just a craft.
The strange thing was that I saw puppets as art before I thought of myself as an artist. I worked in the museum at the Center for Puppetry Arts (If you are ever in Atlanta and you like puppets it is so worth a visit). We had the main museum and the special exhibits that I helped put together. I learned a lot about how puppets go together by setting them up for the exhibits.
Now I see what I do as an art form and I have added doll making to my repertory. I did a lot of mask making as part of my theater work. I learned from a number of costumers and artists how to make different kinds of masks. I now have a collection of masks that others have made and I have made.
I have had to change my thinking about how I see myself on other things as well. I have gone from fanfic to professional writer, which I am quite proud of. I have gone from single white female to married mother of one and stepmother of three. I have gone from student to teacher. Now some other stuff has happened recently and I have to, yet again, change my thinking about myself and others.
Oh, sort of an edition to what I was talking about yesterday. Don’t sell yourself short. It can be hard to value your work because to you it is easy but consider what your time is worth and factor that into any price you offer. Your work is worth at least minimum wage if not more because you have a skill. Keep that in mind.
I am grateful for anything that will help with the current situation.
