The advice Jennifer seeks is elusive. For an artist of any kind to
make a living for themselves, they must be fantastic self-promoters,
as well as extrodinarily talented. There is a long period of
suffering in every artist’s working life, and opportunities must be
sought tirelessly, with long periods of hopelessness and loathing
dominating the sparse moments of glory.
In the world of jewellery art, the odds of making a living are so
miniscule that it seems barely worth the effort. There are hundreds
of people on this list who make wonderful objects, but create them
in the time when they are not serving another master…their main
employer, who pay them a living wage and sometimes, a form of job
security if they are really lucky.
It doesn’t seem fair, but that’s reality. Reality and our dreams
seldom intersect in the short-term.
My number one apprentice has a degree in fine arts, and dreamed for
years of being an accomplished painter. With the continued support
of family, friends, and some enviable connections in the art world,
he was able to gain a position as artist-in-residence at a
prestigeous concert hall. After a year of living his dream, he was
crushed when the sponsorship ended. Saddled with an enormous debt
from his four years of university, his dream was becoming a
nightmare. Back to starving, he decided to revisit wax-carving on a
part-time basis, and came to work for me in August of 2000. Within a
few months, he was required full-time, and four years later, his
income is now chasing mine.
His naivity about the art world would have impoverished him, had he
stayed that course. It’s a bloody pyramid scheme at best. It took
him a long time and several bruises to come to grips with the
difficulty of making a living under the “art” banner. Grants and
fellowships are available to very few of those who have proven
themselves in painting or sculpture, but jewellery is seldom given a
nod in the art world. It is too easily associated with flea-market
sales and questionable materials and whimsy…
Jennifer, you have dues to pay. There are no short-cuts to earning a
liveable income. If a jewellery career is what you truly want, you
need to abandon the idea of complete independence for a few years,
and seek an employer in the industry who is willing to bring you
along. Do the bidding of your employer for 40 hours a week, and
arrange personal time in their workshop to facilitate your
alternative pursuits. What you will learn, providing that your
employer is sympathetic to your goals, is that there is a skill
requirement which goes far beyond your current abilities, and that
jewellery that is simply “fun” won’t gain you the sort of respect
that will translate into a liveable income. You will still be able
to do what you love, but the job requirements will necessitate the
repetitive application of the marketable skills you truly need to
make yourself and what you do a commodity.
After nearly 3 decades in the trade, I am finally where you want to
be right now. I had to do a lot of work that I didn’t care for for
much of that time, but the skills that I gained in doing so now feed
my family and allow a few luxuries. If I had attempted to get this
far on my own, without the assistance of mentors who were
taskmasters and critics, I might not have had any sort of a life at
all.
I hate to sound unsympathetic, but you asked for advice, and nobody
on this list can tell you what you seem to want to hear. It’s not
going to be o.k. You are, quite simply, on the wrong bus, and it’s
an express to nowhere.
David Keeling
www.davidkeelingjewellery.com