The Business Of Making Art

Lately, I've been thinking about how much of being an artist doesn't actually involve making art.

There are open calls to apply to, websites to update, artwork to photograph, social media to maintain, emails to answer, classes to plan, classes to take, opportunities to research, and about a thousand other little things that somehow become part of having an art practice.

A lot of that work happens on my phone.

And it's not necessarily a bad thing. My phone has become a pretty essential tool for building the business side of my art. But I've noticed that after enough hours of screen time, I start to feel the difference.

I'm tired in a very specific way. Not physically tired. Just... done with looking at things.

And that's when I have to remind myself that the business exists to support the art—not replace it.

There's a strange irony in spending an entire day working on my art business and realizing I haven't actually made anything.

So lately, I'm trying to think more intentionally about the balance between creation and consumption, making and managing, screen time and studio time.

Because applying to the show is important. So is updating the website. Sharing the work. Building the business.

And honestly, I'm seeing the payoff from all of that work. My art is finding its way into more exhibitions, I'm teaching, I'm meeting other artists, and opportunities are starting to build on one another. That's exciting—and it's exactly what I've been working toward.

Now I just need to make sure there's still enough time in the middle of all that activity to sit down with a pile of old magazines and make something.

Maybe that's the next part of the work: finding a balance between building the art business and making the art that built it in the first place.