How Do You Define Success Has An Artist?
April 9th, 2008 Daryle Dickens Posted in The Process |
Ever think about that? Your artistic goals and how you know your hitting them? I think more artists should. The other day my inbox was graced with one of Cole Thompson’s newsletters. Cole is a photographer who works in black and white. Cole has told me that he does not think he does a very good job as a writer. I think he does a really great job. This is from his latest.
As a young boy I dreamt of being a "great" photographer, but I’m not sure what "great" meant to me back then; fame, fortune, women? (no, that was the unrealized rock star fantasy!)
For the last month I’ve been forced to ask myself: what are my goals, what am I trying to accomplish and what defines success for me? As I was pondering this I ran across some interesting thoughts on success:
"Don’t aim for success if you want it; just do what you love and believe in, and it will come naturally." David Frost
"I don’t know the key to success, but the key to failure is trying to please everybody." Bill Cosby
"Some aspects of success seem rather silly as death approaches." Donald A. Miller
I wonder if one can separate success in art from success at work and at home. Can we be successful in one area our lives and a failure in another? Or is it all rolled up into a single measure?Ralph Waldo Emerson said this of success:
To laugh often and much, to win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children, to earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends, to appreciate beauty, to find the best in others, to leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch, or a redeemed social condition; to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded! ~Ralph Waldo Emerson
To achieve true success there must be balance, integrity and a purpose beyond self. I believe that true success in one area of our life permeates into every other area.
Good stuff to think about. And a great way to have Cole write a post for me. (Thanks Cole.) You should thank Cole too by going to his web site and checking out his work. You can find it at www.colethompsonphotography.com.
That is all I got,
April 9th, 2008 at 11:30 pm
If you enjoy your art, you are successful at it. Any other measure of success is like asking, “Am I being judged properly to be seen as better than most other people?” That would be a horrible question to ask.
April 10th, 2008 at 12:04 pm
In Alan Alda’s latest memoir, he offers an ancient quote, “Love your art, poor as it may be.” Seems like that may require that one get past self-loathing and recognize the beauty that is in each of us, even–or perhaps especially–one’s self.