I would love to go on some kind of massive research expedition to explore this very question. I want to know details about how other artists are making ends meet and making things work. I don’t know if it’s for commiseration or inspiration, or purely because no one ever talks about it. It was an unmentionable even in my grad school program, this “how to survive” issue. Is it because you don’t? Or at least not by doing art? I’ve heard “There’s always teaching,” but really there isn’t. Teaching art at the college level is extremely competitive, and in order to get a stable teaching job, MFA graduates must first be willing to (typically) move anywhere in the country to adjunct part-time at near-poverty wages.
{Jennifer Dalton, How Do Artists Live? 20-image slide show, detail, 2006}
Unless they are independently wealthy, artists have “day jobs,” right? As I’ve waded through several career crises in the past ten years, I’ve gathered that some day jobs seem to be more valuable than others, regardless of the income they yield. They have a higher romance factor, thereby enhancing the perception of the art career. Like: Zookeeper, Baker, Fireman, Roofer, Hair Stylist. Then, other jobs seem like they would actually hinder an artist’s standing: Therapist, Nurse, Accountant, High School History Teacher. Is manual labor somehow better for the artist’s reputation? Is it the same for men as for women? Would it be cool to be a mailman delivering mail, but uncool to work in the post office proper? Does anyone know what I’m talking about?
How do you pay your bills?
Has having a child helped or hurt your art career?
Do your parents give you money?
Is there a day job you’d like to have, but haven’t pursued because it wouldn’t “look good?”
Do you like your day job? How did you get it?
{Jennifer Dalton, How Do Artists Live? 20-image slide show, installed at Winkleman Gallery, 2006}
i’ve been wondering that myself. i tried “making it as an artist” after grad school but ended up having to rely on my computer/web design skills – which i initially learned FOR my art work. now i feel like i’m stuck. i have a baby, which is of course wonderful, but with her came all kinds of financial and health insurance worries – i feel like there is no way i can risk trying to “make it as an artist”. i am left with the question, am i now a web designer instead of an artist?
That slide show looks so right on. When can I sit in on the lecture?!
Gala and I shuffle adjunct teaching , commercial freelance art work (graphic design, video, photo, illustration), our art practices, and the kids all day. Honestly it can be rather hectic or maybe frenetic is a better description…but if one of us took a full time job it would shipwreck both our art careers and force one of us to watch 3 kids all day.
Oh it’s so funny that you are linking Jennifer Dalton. This morning I had the same trail of thought, I think – I jumped from Winkleman to Dalton to you in a full circle from yesterday when I first read your post, forgetting completely that you pointed to Dalton first. I saw her pie charts and just died. (I was obsessed with art pie charts earlier this summer)
I used to have a full time manual labour job, for fifteen years. I was a chef, I started young. I completed a year and a half of college somewhere in there around 20 years old because I had always wanted an art degree and to be an artist. But I guess I wanted to pay my rent more, and I didn’t feel like I was a very good artist but according to my promotion I was a very good chef. So I did that until I couldn’t any more and went back to school. Being in NY at the time, I didn’t feel I had any other choice, and I wouldn’t get as good a chance again. My life had changed.
Afterwards, I knew I couldn’t get sucked into a “career” because that was the problem the first time. I worked at something which was a passion, which left nothing in terms of time or passion for art. So here I am, I’ve graduated with massive debt and I teach art to kids and basically run the business which frankly, is a little more than I signed on for but see, I have this massive debt and that means if this job takes 45-50 hours of my week (which it regularly does) then so be it because I can’t not pay my school loans off.
So every available minute outside of work is not spent with friends or family, it’s spent in the studio because I have to work, or all the sweat I’ve spent and the career I’ve left is for naught. I’m fairly driven because of it. I would love nothing more than to go to grad school but how do I accomplish that on top of all this responsibility and desire and rent to pay?
I daydream of the perfect combination of a 35 hour a week job, or a four-ten-hour-day-a-week job that pays my school loans and my rent, but allows me the time to work in the studio as I should. Meanwhile, I try to not complain about what I have.
Screw romance. We do what we have to, because we must.
Geez. I’m just a runt trying to make it too. I feel like I may be the youngest to respond to your post but at 25 just out of school I’m looking at student loans and no job. I guess my idea of making it would be some kind of job in the art-sector, to somehow validate the years I spent paying money to be good at something.
To answer your questions:
How do you pay your bills?
That’s a broad one. I cook my own meals and never go to bars. I repair my own truck and execute other money-saving ideas.
Is there a day job you’d like to have, but haven’t pursued because it wouldn’t “look good?”
Glad you asked that one. I have taken so many pitiful non-profit jobs to “pad my resume”, while turning down great paying jobs like window cleaning.
Do your parents give you money?
No.
I think there are a lot of varying answers to your questions because many people from many areas call themselves artists. A great question would be, “why do you do it?” or more to the point “why be artistic when you could make (more) money?”
I make art because it’s one of the happiest things I can think of. Whether times are hard or easy I make work because it is a joy, after a long day I like to play again. Someday I hope to add kids to the mix and again some people will ask, “why make kids when you could make money?”
It’s not always a question of money to me. It’s a question of “what makes me happy?”
This is a *great* response on Lucas’ part.
On the making art/play/must do because I must part– last night our neighbours were throwing a birthday party and we were invited but I haltingly declined (expressing desire to go “but…”) explaining I have a lot of work to do this weekend. You know, because of the Monday through Friday problem. I could see the baffled but polite expression in their eyes, of understanding I needed to work but god, why tonight? They were very polite about it, but this comes up often. “why don’t you just take a break and come out to play?”
Because. I’m staying in to play, through working hard, through doing what makes me happy in the end (even as I’m cursing each stitch).
My god!!!
I couldn’t believe my eyes when I typed my question from the universe in google ,and I got to know you all!!!
I was wondering why he created me along with this strong passion that nothing and no one has ever been able to suppress it (even myself at the young age!), and still he puts a lot of obstycles on my way to live free and undependant,as an artist.
I got a B.A in physical therapy hoping that it will support my art from being pulluted from being materialistic!
but it ripped me off of my mind and body energy.
I married a man who loved me and loved to support my art,so it would not be pulluted and I still have mental and phisical energy,!
But he lied.
I created a lot of art work along with becoming a mother of two, but he ripped me off of my power .He was so abusive .
I had to start a new composition in my life.
I left with my children and now I am a bone head I just want to live on my art ,just that,and nothing else.It’s a journey ,it is so confusing which way to go,teach,sell, All i know is that I have not only passion for art, but I have a lot to hand out to our next generation that I can not give up even though I am having too much daily and financial problems .I just focus on my children and my goal.though somtimes the depression monster comes to me,I fight it. I make food at home, I save on a lot of single dollars, and count how many more months I can pay for my rent with the money I have now.
but something in me doesn’t let me surrender to a nother day job like I had two years ago.They use up my phisical energy and time to creatwhen kids are not around.
Keep in touch with me.
Azta
Personally, I have found that a stable day job that doesn’t require me to use up my creative energy works the best. I work as a project manager in industries like design, advertising, printing, etc. Currently I am in the process of changing jobs, but generally my job description has stayed the same—I oversee production of graphics, giving creative direction, and working with clients. I like it because it has some creativity but doesn’t burn me out. I also like that it is more social and doesn’t require physical labor so when I get home I have the pent up energy to work with my hands alone in my studio. It makes a nice balance. I gave up flexibility in hours, but I have a livable income, health benefits, comfort & security, low anxiety. I actually feel like I have more free time because I don’t spend it stressed about money or work. I have enough vacation/personal/sick days for when I need time for personal projects. However I have sacrificed having a social life and I don’t know how a family would fit into this picture.
Ultimately I don’t care about whether my day job is romantic to other people, I have to do what I can to pay the bills and make art. But there are some art world people I have met who don’t seem impressed by my day job. Those moments I wish was working at a college teaching art—for my resume and for the prestige. But one thing I’ve learned along the way is that there is a way to “sell” the day job as part of my story. For example, I was working desk job in advertising which on the surface is boring. But when I talk about how advertising concepts, big business, and materialism have influenced my work it becomes relevant and interesting.
I find a good artistic harmony in keeping a regular day job in house painting and living alone. The dayjob gets me into all kinds of people’s houses, being helpful and beautifying their spaces, while chatting with them about anything because it’s their space and I’m “only” the painter, so they’re not threatened and I see what they hang on their walls. All kinds of people get their places painted so there’s a good variety of cultures and class levels to wade in. Also, house painting is so brain dead, I put on the headphones and my body does the work and my mind is grooving to whatever music I’ve got. Having a bunch of painting equipment on hand anyway, not to mention left over paint, cuts down on the art store budget. I’m never in the same place for too long and usually wear the same crappy paint covered clothes all the time anyway…so no uniform, no claustrophobia, no company politics, nobody to compare ego girth with, a small friendly roving band of travelling workers to bump into sometimes…pretty easy.
The grinding sameness is offset by headphone music, changing locations sometimes, and this work is more like tai chi excercise anyway. The thing is, is that you build up energy during the day in the sameness to unleash it in the evenings which can go till 2 am or so because you’re not burned out from humping all day. You of course have to live alone for this to work. It sucks working inside your head all day on your true calling at your repetitive job just to come home to a roommate’s cigs and beer and friends and dope and laziness and tv bullcrap. You show up to all your half finished art chaos without having had anyone disrupt anything, things are the way you left them last night. You can work on it or go out and no one messes with your projects or criticises the finished or unfinished work.
Your girlfriend really ought to live the same way so when you’re together it’s just the two of you at her place or yours without beerpigs in the way. And when one wants to be alone , the other leaves and peace is had to freely vent in artwork! It’s not necessary at all to have a nice apartment with a view or cool location, or a stupid “artist loft” which is a scam. It doesn’t have to be big so you can afford a vehicle and you can have money left over to travel! This does not work if you have kids in which case you need some roomates to help and a big place that’s safe- that means the art room is apart from the little ones obviously! So affordability first, easy job second and privacy third- a controllable deal!
What a great discussion! I recently had a similar discussion with a fellow artist about the idea of success as an artist. She held the idea that even though she had recently placed 2nd in an international biennale, had held several solo shows in the past 1 months plus been included in countless group shows, had a functioning studio in the Pioneer Square neighborhood and was open for almost every Art Walk, had written several critical arts articles and curated a catalog… she was not yet successful. I was astonished really and wondered how anyone could ever be successful with that thought process.
After returning to grad school as an older student to be closer to my mother when she was dealing with breast cancer, I made a concise decision that when I graduated my professional life would be art related. Period. No more general retail or construction or food service UNLESS it was art related and I enjoyed it. So upon graduation, I searched for related jobs (notice I said jobs) that would allow me to pursue my passion for producing art. And at age 37, this wasn’t an easy decision at all. I figured that if I was going to live off of very little, I might as well be happy making this small amount of money.
I now have a studio in Pioneer Square in the TK building and am also the Commercial Space Manager for the building. I also teach for Pratt and Seniors Making Art, plus private lessens. And I continue to make my own work. I pay my own bills each month, I apply for every grant and exhibition call that fits my work, I do studio visits and lectures for small stipends and I even still do a little construction if it falls under an art cause. It’s a lot of work- a job- but I love every minute of it. I am constantly looking for the next step.
Now before I continue, you should know that I was lucky and ended up in a relationship right before grad school ended that I am still in which allowed me to even take the first step towards doing my own work. It was the most vital part of my story I would say. I made a deal with my partner Michael that if I took the leap to make art full time, I would help with things around our home that would generally cost us money or things he was already paying for. I cleaned the house weekly (I suggested we get rid of the house cleaner he already had), did home repairs, built fences, landscaped the yard, cooked inexpensive meals at home more often, etc. I needed to do this to feel that I was providing something to this household instead of suckling off it. I also gave up a lot of things I had become accustomed to plus I refinanced my student loans to be reflective of my actual income instead of an estimated income to reduce the amount (which costs me more in interest each month, but it helps me with finances). I didn’t go out drinking weekly, I watched how my money was spent, I used the materials I already had to start my studio or found free items to work with. I struggled even though some thought we were rich because Michael worked for Microsoft at the time; if that were only true! I made a specific choice because I love what I do and can’t image my life without it again.
I guess what I am trying to say is that no matter who you are , your financial stability or what situation you are in, the idea of making your lively hood out of art is really about realizing the art making process is a job. A 50-70 hour a week job. And if that doesn’t sound pleasant, than making art as a hobby to add pleasure to your life might be a better idea. It works for many people I know who don’t really want to do it full time, but they enjoy the process of art making. Many artists quite frankly seem to idealize the idea of being persecuted because they feel the old masters had to do this. This is not me… I would rather eat! But what some don’t actually understand is that many reputable artists in our World histories did general work to offset their real art habit. They were graphic designers (poster designers and painters/printers), sign painters, portrait producers (in styles they hated) and such. And they didn’t “make it” until well after their deaths.
Finding a job that adds to your creativity is crucial in my opinion. As is an attitude that you are successful, even if it is only success in small amounts. To actually “make it” in the art world is most likely something that will never happen to any of us… including me! But if I can produce work, be involved with the local and national art scene, get some exhibitions, sell some work, get some grants and enjoy the journey… in my eyes I am more successful than anyone I know, because it was my goal to do the things I love.
Some people might think this post is elitist, but it really is how I live my life and I whole heatedly believe it. And after I made the decision to take the “full time step”, things started to fall into place with a ton of hard work, long studio hours and dedication; even after Michael left Microsoft and the economy tanked, leaving him unemployed for almost 2 years.
I am very thankful that at age 40, it’s working for me. And in my own head, I am very successful.