Name of Professional: Misty Foster Oliver
Profession: Painter Company: FreshPaints Date of Interview: 10/28/16 I interviewed Misty Oliver Foster on my fourth interview. I was looking forwards to learning about how artists develop themselves over time, so many of my questions were about Mrs. Foster’s journey over the years. Knowing how certain people got to where they are at is incredibly valuable in determining my own path as an artist. I believe knowing the way I want to mold my own path could be beneficial in seeing if painting is my passion. As the interview began Mrs. Foster explained the advantages and disadvantages of community colleges and universities. Community colleges are good for those unsure of pursuing art, while Universities ensure a higher education. However, Universities’, as Mrs. Foster explained, early education has a slower start. What was surprising is that, according to Mrs. Foster, Colleges do not teach artists how to make a living as artists. Mainly because art is an incredible diverse and unique field. However, there are some ways to excel in art, such as dedication towards improvement and being genuine with my work. Those that motivate themselves to keep creating the best art they can are those that are the most experienced, and therefore, successful. It is also important to learn what kind of art most interests me. That is what I am trying to do in this course. I want to discover my art style and improve on it. Hopefully I can do something similar to that in my final project. Another interesting aspect of art to learn about was Mrs. Foster’s past experience as an ISM mentor. She explained that, when working with Abby Ludman, she wanted to focus on the practical aspect of art rather than art itself. Which is encouraging to think of because that is what I have been trying to learn about my entire time in ISM. I know I can learn how about art itself in school, but it is much harder to learn how to make a living in art, so that is what I have focused on for the most part. However, I am satisfied about with the information I have on making a living as an artist. I want to focus more on what I will do as an artist; my art style, my prefered field of art, my strengths and, my weaknesses. I find that developing myself feels much more rewarding than looking into the distant future. Maybe it is because of quicker gratification, maybe it is not a good quality to have, but I still look to focusing on the present and what I can improve. Of course I still am looking into the future, it is why I took this course, but the present is what is easiest for me to improve on. Speaking of improvement, something I gathered over Mrs. Foster’s story is that painting is an incredibly personal job, which is centered on improvement. Improvement of skill, advertisement, and of self. I relate to this in a way. I have always focused on improvement my whole life. I plan to continue this in ISM and in my future. In that sense painting works well with me. Painting involves looking deeply into one’s self and how to improve one’s self. That is what I want to do. I want to explore my strengths and weaknesses so that I can improve on them. Art is the best way to do that. The most surprising thing I learned was a thought I had about a few things Mrs. Foster said. She mentioned everything was designed, from a building, to a painting, everything is designed. Which gives the encouraging feeling that a person can do an endless amount of work in art. However, as Mrs. Foster put it, art is a “Feast or Famine” job. People can go months without work and months with too much work. This sort of paradoxical nature of art is intriguing and terrifying at the same time, yet it only makes me want to continue exploring the field. I want truly dedicate myself to art so that I may learn if it is right for me.
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Name of Professional: Robert Rohm
Profession: Painter Company: Freelance Date of Interview: 10/24/16 My third interview was conducted with Robert Rohm, an experienced painter. From the interview, I was hoping to learn about how artists advertise and get their work recognition. I have studied a fair amount about what is important in the field of art, but I have never looked into what people actually do in the field. If I want to work in the field of art, it is important to learn about what artists actually do as part of their work. During the interview, I learned the basics of how galleries work. I was introduced to the mindset of how to begin advertising myself in galleries. I would have to being small. Visit small galleries and shows, but I would also have to make sure they are respected galleries. It is important to show people that I want to be a serious artist. Over time I would begin moving up in galleries to bigger and better galleries, with the end goal of prestigious galleries that would give me recognition. Not only did I learn about the value of galleries, but also of the value of identity. An artist needs to know what they enjoy working with, and do that. They need to be informed in the style and techniques they use. This quite encouraging, Knowing myself would help in how I would tackle competitions in preparing myself to improve. To me this means that if I set my mind to improvement and originality, I can, and will, achieve success. I was not only taught the basics of being an artist, but also how to be a successful artist. Only the most unique artists are successful and those were rare. As Mr. Rohm put it, art is a personal career, that involves experimentation. An artist has to make sure they do not follow trends. They need to work on what they enjoy because that is what will not only satisfy them, but also sell. This is monumental for me. I see now, being an artist, of any kind, is different from being anything else. If I want to follow my passion, that is what I should do. I should not conform to what is popular and what will sell. I have to follow my passion in the fullest extent, which means to do what I enjoy, and what I am best at. I will for sure, in the future, look to find exactly what I enjoy most about art, and improve on that above all else. I also managed to learn about the tough challenges of being a painter. It seems pretty much all artists are forced into secondary jobs. To put it simply, it is what pays the bills. Mr. Rohm showed me to schools of thought over the subject. The first is that an artist should pick a secondary job to do with art, this is what Mr. Rohm does, because it is what they are experienced in and what they enjoy; it might even inspire the artist. The other is that an artist should get a job away from art simply to avoid being burnt out from art. This is the most discouraging aspect of the work to me, this almost ensurance of a second job. It means I must do my best to avoid having a secondary job, but also be prepared to do so. The most invigorating part of my interview with Mr. Rohm was discussing history. He explained to me he is a history buff, to be specific, an art history buff. He explained learning art history is useful in learning of art’s evolution and to see what resonates with you. This is incredibly interesting, I love history, and this would give me an opportunity to study history and learn more about art at the same time. It seems every artist I talk to is incredibly passionate about what they do, which inspires me to do the same. Name of Professional: Gail Greenoe
Profession: Painter Company: Freelance Date of Interview: 10/05/16 My second interview was conducted with Gail Greenoe, a fairly new (Freelance) Painter. From the interview, I was hoping to learn how to get started in the world of painting and the challenges artists face on a daily basis. I have the most experience on traditional art than anything else, so it would be the easiest to begin learning from; however, it is also the toughest field, of those I am interested (concept art and painting), to get into. For that reason I am interested in interviewing artists, to see how they are able to keep a stable income. When it comes to picking what my project will be about, I want to be as knowledgeable as possible about every subject I am considering. During my interview I learned about the dangers of art. Ms. Greenoe detailed the scale of investment that comes into art. When an artist decides to get started they have to invest a large sum of money on supplies, then proceed to be unpaid until they gain recognition of galleries, which still might not sell their work. Ms. Greenoe herself after almost three years is, as she said, “in the red.” For that reason most artists have rooms converted into studies where they work from. Many of them have different jobs and struggle to get paid. This is demoralizing. It scares me to think that following my passion might leave me in a place where I am forced to work odd jobs to pay rent; without ever getting a chance to do what I enjoy. This interview mirrored my first interview in that Ms. Greenoe stressed how important it is to promote one's self. To maintain any income an artist needs to advertise themselves well. They need to maintain attention on them to sell their work. It sounds difficult, yet Ms. Greenoe says she still believes this is the best time to be an artist. Creating a website and a brand is easy through the use of social media, which can cast a domino effect. If an artist is noticed by one person, then that person will share the artist's work, which will cascade into the artist becoming fairly well noticed. I find this incredibly encouraging. This interview showed me that I need to create a unique brand. I need to show myself as a different artist, one of a kind. That way I am able to attract others and then try to keep a solid relationship with those that enjoy my art. Even if millions of artists surround me, I still have a chance to to be successful. It seems in every field of art it is invaluable to advertise one’s self well. Moreover, there also seems to be a need to be prepared to have to work those “odd jobs” that I fear. I am not alone in that fear though. Ms. Greenoe explained many artists face that fear. It seems to be common to have doubt, but Ms. Greenoe emphasized how an artist needs vigor. For me to succeed I need to follow my passion endlessly. Giving up seems to be what kills artists, so I will strive to never stop following my passions. The most surprising aspect of my interview was Ms. Greenoe’s journey. She graduated with a Commercial art degree (now known as a Graphic Design Degree) because she was afraid to fully committing to art, but soon went back to college and got a Art Education degree. She worked for years, and a few years ago decided she wanted to fully commit to art. She converted a room to a studio and set to work relearning to paint. She spent the last few years honing her skills in preparation to begin painting with other professionals. Her story is motivating, she, despite years of expertise in other fields decided to follow her passion. This only reinvigorates my desire to do the same. |
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