When I first opened my business, I was hesitant to tell people that I was an artist, even though I didn't fit the cliché; you know the one that artists are flaky, unorganized - in other words lack a head for business. Yes, I was concerned that that potential assumption would surface.
Interestingly, I have come to realize that being an artist prepared me for owning a business. Those of us in a creative field where our career is difference from our “day” job -
- develop a diverse skill set
- get good at juggling a range of tasks
- become expert at viewing problems from multiple angles, acting with agility
- know how to put rejection in its place and move on
Yes, that’s me – an artist with business skills.
As I worked to find balance between running a business and being an artist I started asking other solopreneur artists their strategies for maintaining their studio practice.
For this newsletter, I’ve highlighted conversations with two artists about how they maintain their studio practice while running successful businesses as print publishers.
Artists, Ann Aspinwall of Aspinwall Editions and Elizabeth Corkery of Print Club, Ltd.
In FreeFall Artists in the World I share my own work, a recent series of prints exhibited at the Carroll House Gallery at Keene State College.
Have a project idea? Let's chat!
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Ann Aspinwall
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Ann Aspinwall - Alba, 2017. Linocut with hand coloring, 34" x 55".
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Elizabeth Corkery
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Elizabeth Corkery - Pieces from Pictures, 2017. Installation at Outside, North Adams, MA.
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Elizabeth Corkery - Ruin Sequence
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Ann Aspinwall
What is the biggest obstacle between you and the studio?
Lack of time is certainly the biggest obstacle. When we started the business I naively thought that I would have more time for my work than I did when I had a full-time job. I was wrong! For the first few years I had even less time. But I have gradually learned how to manage my time better, though it feels like a constant battle.
What is your top strategy for preserving time in the studio?
I’ve learned to be very disciplined about identifying specific days of the week when I’m only working on my own art, which often means literally blocking those days out on my calendar, and not making appointments or scheduling anything else on those days. I take lunch and snacks to the studio, and hunker down for eight to ten uninterrupted hours.
Read the full interview with Ann, here.
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Elizabeth Corkery
What is the biggest obstacle between you and your studio time?
Probably the age old catch-22 of needing an income to support studio rental and materials while also needing that source of income to not take up so much of your time that you can’t make use of your studio or materials.
What is your top strategy for preserving your studio time?
I think for me, as someone who always has about seven different irons in the fire - between freelance work, contract work, Print Club commitments and my own art practice - the best way to be sure that studio time is preserved is to have a space that is separate from my apartment. That way I can go to there for specific periods of time and benefit from a spatial shift that then facilitates a mental shift.
Read the full interview with Elizabeth, here.
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FreeFall Artists in the World
Sarah Pike - I realized a year ago with the start of FreeFall Laser that I had become lost in false starts and second guessing. With no clear plan I went to the woods with my sketchbook and a bold black marker. We took daily walks, my sketchbook and I, stopping for an hour or two to rest in the space between seeing and mark-making.
When the weather turned cold I brought the drawings into the print studio. What started as enlarged silkscreens from the pages of my sketchbook, soon turned into improvisational layering and a series of unique prints that were exhibited this past month at the Carroll House Gallery at Keene State College.
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