Recently, I have been journaling on the topic of “On Being an Artist.” When I started, I didn’t think I could come up with much and was reluctant to begin. But once I started, the 15-minutes that I gave myself to write in the morning didn’t seem like enough.
I thought back to my time in San Francisco, working at coffee bars, cleaning houses, and guarding cupcakes when I was 100% artist. I fumbled my way through, basically being self-taught but meeting just the right smattering of people to form a supportive community.
I met Dee and Tiny (mother and daughter) in a graduate class at San Francisco State. This is where and when I started to learn and understand what being an artist is all about.
My experience with Dee and Tiny was like no other. I was too young and stupid to realize all I was being introduced to. My more mainstream upbringing and social graces did not account for or compute this new life experience. I became involved with Tiny both as a romantic and collaborative partner. A short memoir might better diagram those five years of my life, and no brief details here will scratch the surface.
What I can tell you and what I learned is that to be an artist, I had to immerse myself in my truth and experience and try to explain that to the world through the medium(s) of my choice. There best be no or little separation between your art and your life. Not coincidently, the class we met in was called Life Art.
Tiny released a comprehensive memoir reflecting on her early life, opening my eyes to her experience that she all but kept in the shadows while we were together. She went on to found Poor Magazine in 1996 and has been a vocal advocate for homeless and other disenfranchised humans ever since.
Learning to merge and submerge into your subject provides a clear and synergistic pathway to becoming and maintaining your artist status. It’s your obsession. It needs to be.
I’ve been photographed with Jerry Saltz several times because I have taken every opportunity to hear him speak on “how to be an artist.” He took many of these free-wheeling lectures and organized them into a book he released in 2020 with the same title.
There are 62 bite-size chapters that I suggest you randomly read when you are checking in with your artist self. I have my students call out a number, 1- 62, knowing that whichever chapter I read aloud in class will have meaning to them (and me) at the moment.
The book could have the alternative title, Chicken Soup for the Artist’s Soul, as it addresses our insecurities and fears. Some passages soothe and coach while others call us out and give us a good spanking.
An excellent book to keep in your medicine cabinet as a tonic or on your studio desk as a jumpstart to your day.
Can I suggest that you spend the first 15 minutes of your day writing? You may choose the evening before bedtime, but I would add the morning. This is where ideas blossom and new pathways emerge in your practice.
We all know about Morning Pages. My life and practice have changed and grown through this simple writing method. Ideas come and disappear if we don’t write them down. And your thoughts are worth implementing. Maybe not all, but just like the old school film contact sheets, there’s at least one worth printing.
Classes & Notes
Athens Photo Festival will present an exhibition dedicated to the medium of the photobook and invites artists and publishers worldwide to submit their books for consideration.
The selected books will be on view during the Athens Photo Festival 2022 at the Benaki Museum / Pireos 138 in Athens. Our aim is to promote and showcase a wide variety of photobooks from all around the world in one exhibition. We are looking for books independently or commercially published, including handmade, self-published, dummies, zines, limited-edition publications, and other printed matters.
All books must be postmarked by the submission deadline of May 18, 2022.
You can submit your book as an artist, photographer, self-publisher, or publisher. There is no fee for submitting your book.
Submission Deadline: May 18, 2022
The Museum of the City of New York announces an open call for its Spring 2023 exhibition: New York Now: A Photography Triennial with the theme of “Home.”
The Museum of the City of New York invites amateur and professional photographers to submit images or videos for inclusion in New York Now: Home—A Photography Triennial.
Submission Deadline: June 17, 2022
The Hopper Prize Artist Grant Program deadline is approaching — May 17, 2022. Unrestricted artist grants on offer are $3,500 and $1,000.
I will be teaching an expanded edition of my recent Choosing Yourself as an Artist Zoom webinar at the SE Center of Photography on May 11 & 12, 6 - 8 PM EST.
Coming Soon: Community Crit at The Photo Community and an expanded version of The Photographers Report with video
I am offering my annual History of Contemporary Photography class at the International Center of Photography beginning May 9 via Zoom.
If you are interested in Photo Books, sign up for Launch Photo Books' new initiative.
Michael Foley opened his gallery in the fall of 2004 after fourteen years of working with notable photography galleries, including Fraenkel Gallery, Howard Greenberg Gallery, and Yancey Richardson Gallery.
In 2002, Foley continued his interest in educating and working with artists by serving on the School of Visual Arts and International Center of Photography faculty. He currently teaches and lectures on contemporary photography issues at the undergraduate and graduate levels.
In 2020, he founded The Photo Community, which offers classes and commentary on contemporary photography.
Foley lives and works on the Lower East Side of Manhattan with his wife, Maya.
I have recently started doing the three pages of Morning Papers. I guess I am the last person to discover the Artist’s Way, but I am glad I did. Something about writing things on paper makes an impression especially early in the morning. And I LOVE the How To Be An Artist book. That one I bought right when it came out.