Some people also refer to this as your artist’s voice, much like every singer has a distinct tone that cannot be duplicated, or a signature style that’s immediately recognizable (think Georgia O’Keefe or Frida Kahlo).

It is what sets you apart from the pack of ordinary work, where a dozen pair portraits from a dozen different artists could be lined up next to each other and all look as if they came from the same artist.

When your work is speaking from the level of your soul, no one can ever successfully copy you. Your artistic fingerprint is just that: yours. By definition it cannot be anyone else’s.

Only a lot of artists feel confused by the difference between loving what they have just made, and knowing the work carries a distinct sense of who they are as an artist.

An artistic fingerprint can be simple or complex, but it is never about self-duplication.

It’s something you do…

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Welcome to the phantasmagorical world of Geoffrey Gorman_American Style Mag

Geoffrey Gorman, artist and partner in our Art Career Mentor Program, made a very provocative statement during one of our sessions. He said that “curiosity is the most important trait an artist can have.”

Arguably, he was referring to the making of art where an artist lubricates all parts of the process by staying open and curious about materials, about subject matter, and the message.

But I think there’s another dimension where curiosity will separate out the short pants from the long pants (now why isn’t there…

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I’m so excited by what just happened on the First Day of smARTist 2009 that I simply have to share some of it with you.

The five panel members…

as far afield from each other as Molly Gordon in Seattle, Guillermo Cuellar in New England, Nancy Marmalejo and Lucia Cappacionne in Southern California, and artist Shirley Williams in Ontario, Canada…

…seemed to be flowing from an interconnected river of knowledge as they responded to the questions that came straight from this year’s smARTist participants. 

I found the panel’s answers to be practical in their collective wisdom, that only when we…

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Pencils

This week I invite you to visit my studio.  In my day-to-day life I am an organized person and like things to be evenly and purposefully arranged.  I used to have that going on in my studio as well–at least more than I do now.  Now…

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Throughout history, groups of artists have played a role in the development of one another’s careers, in terms of support, inspiration, and in some cases dissipation.

La Toilette by Toulouse Lautrec

There was Degas’ group that gathered each summer in Brittany, which later gave rise to Gauguin’s group. There was Lautrec’s group that roved in and out of a variety of Montmartre cafes, and experimented with a variety of absinthes. There was Benton’s crowd on Martha’s Vineyard, the American Impressionists at Old Lyme, and…

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