When I was a kid i remember telling my mom that I wanted to be an artist and she asked me what kind. I was confused and she said that there are many types of artists. My only response was that it didnt matter. I just wanted to be an artist.

Good to know that even at the age of 5 or 6, I knew what my life would grow to be.

Not to mention the fact that, unless we’re on a first date and trying to impress the other person with our superior listening skills, we are usually having this conversation pretty much on auto-pilot anyway. It’s just kind of the script we follow to fill up the awkward silence after we run out of things to say about the weather. Usually you can tell is someone is really interested in “what you do” or if they are simply going through the motions. If they are really interested, I’ll usually go into more detail, otherwise I’ll give them the standard “I’m a writer” reply and wait for the inevitable “Oh that’s interesting. I have a friend who. . . “

Random person making small talk: “What do you do?”
Me: “I’m an artist.”
Random person: “Oh, what do you paint?”

I’ve lost track of the number of times this has happened. Since I don’t even know the first thing about painting having not done it since kindergarten, I tend to get very annoyed with this response. It makes me feel defensive of what I do and who I am when somebody I don’t even know has already formulated an idea of me from a simple two-sentence conversation.

Personally I love the reaction I get when I say that I am a sculptor. Most people don’t have an immediate response. I watch them pause and think about how to ask their next question. I imagine when they think of “artist” they immediately think of the go-to generic version of an artist in their head (a painter, usually Picasso or maybe a cartoon image of a man with a beret and a palette). When they hear “sculptor” they probably don’t have an immediate image in their head so they are forced to think about the conversation or let it die. And in my experience I get much more interesting questions in response to the term “sculptor” than to the term “artist” – usually something along the lines of “What medium to you work in?”

But, then again, sometimes they assume that sculptor means potter and they start to ask me about my kiln. At least they are in the same neighborhood of art. I think that the term “artist” is too broad of a description in most situations. Think of the word “professional”. A professional can be any number of types of professions, but when you hear somebody say “this is a building full of young professionals,” it’s more than likely you will conjure up the image of business suits and early bed times. In my opinion, if you are trying to describe yourself during a conversation, especially in a networking situation, it’s better to be specific. Even within artistic mediums there is need to be specific. I once had a coworker do a whole song and dance about a large-scale metal garden sculpture she wanted to commission from me until I finally had to stop her to let her know that the polymer clay miniatures I created were a far cry from the type of work she was interested in.

I think you’re right that one of the roles of the artist is to communicate that which is universal in us all but so difficult to describe. Whether our tools are words, pictures, or colors/shapes we are constantly trying to build that bridge between the conscious world and that which lies hidden within all of us.

Looking back, you’re right that “unnecessary” was probably a poor choice of words. I was attempting to describe the general public’s perception of art as a “luxury” or non-essential item — to the artist, of course, it is not only necessary, but completely unavoidable.

Thanks again Tracy for sharing your thoughts with us and now that I know where to find you, I’m looking forward to reading more from you on your own site.

All the best

If you think about it, virtually everything the general public knows about artists and writers comes from television or movies. This means that visual artists generally come off as a cross between a counter-culture hippies and raving lunatics, and writers are generally either alcoholic manic-depressives or pot-smoking slackers who are living in their mother’s basement.

Sure these are just stereotypes, but it’s an image that seems to be firmly stuck in the public’s consciousness. So when someone asks us what we do, we either become defensive and apologetic, or we simply try to avoid the whole situation by never leaving our house in the first place.

Since you’re in school in the moment, you have the luxury of working on your art and being an undercover artist while still being able to tell people you’re a college student, which everyone including parents love to hear. It’s the best of both worlds if you really think about it. Just remember that if you don’t have a job lined up by the time you graduate, start applying to graduate schools. . . . just kidding (kind of)

Then again, I’m one to always compare myself to the next person. I know I shouldn’t do it, but I almost can’t help it.

At the moment I’m more of a hobbyist more than anything since I’m still a student. I’ve tried doing a little commission work on the side, but balancing animation work with commissions is a harder task than I believed it was. My focus now is just on the school side of things while drawing sparingly for myself in whatever free time I might have.

I also see artists creating in whatever medium in order to communicate. So when we have “… that indescribable urge to create something that is completely unnecessary…”, I think it IS necessary to say or point out what you’re trying to express. I guess I would maybe replace “unnecessary” with ‘non-functional’. ?

Just food for thought. Just found your cool website; looking forward to more! Thanks Drew!

Art in its purest form, however, is more of an internal journey. It’s not about comparing yourself to another artist, it’s about comparing yourself to where you were six months ago as an artist. As long as you are making progress, growing as an artist, and working on your art everyday– I believe that you have the right to call yourself an “Artist” and not back down from it. It’s still far easier said than done, I know. . .

Thanks for stopping by, I hope to hear from you again soon!

I am almost artist-to-be.