5 Questions to Quiet Your Starving Artist
The “starving artist” is a social construct that roots itself in the belief that creativity is undervalued.
The starving artist belief sounds like...“You will never be able to make a decent living as an artist.” insert subtext of...because people undervalue creativity.
It’s why parents discourage their kids from pursuing art degrees. It’s not that they don’t believe in their kid’s abilities and talents...it’s because they were taught that people don’t pay for art...and no parent wants to think about their kid on the struggle bus.
And it’s also why artists feel so uncomfortable charging people for their art.
In our society, we learn early on that artists are underpaid for their work...but we artists make it anyway despite believing this to be true because making our art doesn’t feel like a choice. So, it’s no surprise that we get really weird when it comes to charging people for it.
“Here’s my art. It’s great. But also, I don’t know why you’d pay me for it because it’s not really of any value, so let me discount it for you...in fact...here, why don’t you just take it...it’s my pleasure. I’m just so glad to have my work out in the world.”
Artists who have accepted the starving artist construct, create art, and run their businesses with scarcity always hanging out in the background.
Like the low hum white noise of a coffee shop.
I’m not enough. My art isn’t enough. My business isn’t enough. My collectors aren’t enough. There aren’t enough shows. There isn’t enough money.
And we go into hustle mode to try and solve for the not enough.
We work crazy hours. We say yes to everything. We fear missing out on things. There is never enough time. We don’t believe in ourself and our work. We don’t take time to connect to the work we are making. We change our work to what we think is more sellable to prove that we are enough. We consume every tip and trick that promises more sales, more followers, more engagement. We compare ourselves to others. We do fire sales and big discounts. We run ourselves ragged.
All of this to outrun our thought that artists starve, and people don’t value my work.
But what’s really happening when you are hustling from feeling like you aren’t enough, is that YOU aren’t valuing your work.
You are in your studio like the Tasmanian devil trying to make it work, but never really believing that it’s working or that it will work.
You are waiting for people to buy your work to disprove the thought that artists starve.
And people will buy sometimes. And you will feel validated in that moment thinking that you have cold hard proof that your work is valuable.
And you do...but that feeling fades quickly and you go right back into hustling so you can get the next sale so you can feel better.
There is no power in this.
If you want to feel sufficient and enough as an artist, you have to believe that you and your art is valuable.
The starving artist construct is perpetuated by artists who believe it to be true.
If we want people to believe our work is valuable...we must go first.
Here are five questions to ask yourself and explore that will unearth your value while putting the starving artist to bed.
What do I understand about why people buy my art?
Where do I already agree that my art is enough and I am enough?
What do I love about people paying for my art?
How will it be more fun believing that people value my art?
How will believing “people want to pay me for my art” help my collectors?
Spend time answering them. Write down your answers...don’t do this work in your head. Pick one question and ask it every day for a week..or month...and see what comes up. The more time you spend believing that people value art, the quieter the starving artist gets.
Happy Friday!
xo
Teresa
P.S. I am enrolling for my next artist mastermind. If you want to sell more art, if you want to stop seeking validation from others, if you want to understand why your work matters...I want you with me for this year-long mentorship. Schedule a Q&A call today. We start Feb. 17th.
