[TheForge] Re: Starving artist

[Jerry Frost]

Hi back Ekaterina and welcome aboard, or welcome out of 
lurk mode, or . . . <grin> Whatever.

I'm glad you clarified (LAMOF) for me, I do that a lot, 
I just didn't know the anagram. I don't text anybody so 
it's all a mystery to me except what I see on TV.

What you describe is the danger you face when watching 
for hazards. You all too often find what you're looking 
for, it's like looking at a pothole while you're 
driving. If you do, you'll hit it every time, you have 
to look for/at the path past the hazard to clear it.

I never figured myself for a career lug either but here 
I am retired from a civil service position after 30 
years. Not a whole lot to recommend it, didn't pay 
great while I was employed, had to eat way too much 
crap and watching the institutionalized waste is 
frustrating in the extreme. The only really good thing 
about it is the medical bennies, the money still isn't 
terrific but with everything paid off it'll suffice.

You also strike to the heart of what working as a 
skilled craftsman/woman. (I refuse to use person or 
crafter. Brings me the image of crap hot glued to a 
stick. Ugh!) The materials are a small part of a craft, 
knowlege is what allows us to make things, provided a 
person has the knack for doing things that is. Some 
folk don't have a doing knack so they have to become: 
agents, critics, lawyers, politicians and other such 
bottom feeders. It's okay, there're a lot of 
non-creative jobs that need doing. To be fair, not all 
making knackless folk are bottom feeders, for example, 
I think non-creative book keepers are treasures to be 
cherished.

Anyway, it's our knowlege the customer is paying for, I 
could ignore the price of steel and it wouldn't cut 
into profits that much. Usually the price of new steel 
is far less than 10% of what I charge. When I get to 
charge someone that is. <wistful sigh> I've been a 
hobbyist smith most of my life and will probably only 
go semi-pro now. Since I was around 10 I've wanted a 
wrought iron shop with an attitude. The attitude being 
the customer isn't doing me a favor buying my work so 
at least be polite when you ask me to do something for 
you. (I know, pretty bad. Huh?) Of course you have to 
have everything paid off to make this work, unless 
you're REALLY talented which I'm not.

What it all boils down to is time. The ONLY thing we 
have on this earth is our time and we don't know how 
much we have till the timer rings us out. To not charge 
what our time is worth is doing us, our customers and 
our compatriots a serious disservice.

I'm not saying you shouldn't be competitive, if you can 
do an equivalent job for 1/4 what the competition can 
and make a profit you should by all means undercut them 
by 1/2. It'll be good for both of you. The competition 
will have incentive to get better, faster, more 
efficient, whatever it takes or find something s/he's 
better at to make a living, and you'll have the 
satisfaction of being a superior competitor. It feels 
good, REALLY good.

Glad you delurked Darlin. So how about telling us what 
you do with your treasure filled land. I'm kind of 
envious myself, all we had on this land when we bought 
it was trees, bushes and moose. So far I haven't found 
a single piece of good scrounge since we moved here. 
<sigh>

Frosty
-------------------------------
If it ain't forged
it ain't real.
Wrought iron is.
The FrostWorks

Meadow Lakes, AK.


From: "Ekaterina Harrison" <ekaterina at wildblue.net>


> Hi All,
>
> Up until now I have not posted on this forum , but I 
> have been  following the various threads for a little 
> while.
>
> The "starving, tortured artist" bit has often been a 
> trigger point of  sorts for me on many levels. I have 
> even on occasions been quite  indignant on the 
> subject! LOL and LAMOF (laughing at my own folly) I 
> have always hated this stereotype and have often 
> fought fiercely  against it.  I sure as hell was not 
> going to get caught up in it.  Funny how the very 
> things you fight against sneak up and grab you from 
> behind, in ways you least expect.
>
> It made me cringe when I saw an artist putting on the 
> tortured,  victimized role. I thought to myself " How 
> can one feel tortured when  one is doing that which 
> makes the heart sing?".
> In-deed, I found this to be true for me. I feel 
> inspired and uplifted  when I do work that rings true 
> to me and find the journey to be both  challenging 
> and exciting as it unfolds. However, I have in-deed 
> felt  truly tortured when I had turned my back on 
> myself, in order to  appease "the market" (in my 
> perception).
>
> I have heard it said many a time that a real artist 
> is poor. "No, not  me!!! I am not going to let this 
> happen to me, I will prove it  different !!!" I said 
> to me-self.
> True I had no money to begin with, but I could 
> improvise. So I  scrapped together all my resources 
> ( my desire, knowledge, experience  and information), 
> found a piece of land for next to nothing because it 
> was a junk pile (treasure) and built all my tools 
> from it and blah,  blah, blah.  This was a good 
> approach for me, but within it was the  trap. Because 
> I built the shop and tools from scrap materials, I 
> did  not spend too much money. In this regard I 
> became isolated from the  REALITY of the market.  It 
> took me a long time to understand and see  the 
> parallels in value within time and personal resources 
> and  monetary resources.  Until I could see these 
> parallels for myself I  was unable to price my work 
> appropriately, even though it had been  pointed out 
> to me before and I certainly never did believe in 
> being a  DAMN STARVING ARTIST. LAMOF
>
> What I have realized is that if I did not value my 
> time then in  reality I did not value myself. If a 
> person does not feel their own  value then how can 
> their product be any more valuable? I have found 
> that feelings speak louder than words and in this 
> regard no amount of  posturing is going to cover up 
> the feeling behind it.
>
> With laughter and thank you all for all your sharing,
> Ekaterina
>