Six Ways to Use Travel To Prevent Burnout and Make Your Art Business Blossom
“Why do you go away? So that you can come back. So that you can see the place you came from with new eyes and extra colors.”― Terry Pratchett
By Thea Fiore-Bloom, Ph.D.
Ever guiltily scoot out to a flea market, museum or city park instead of writing or making art?
I do.
Next time you take a day off (or a week off) from creating to go on an adventure, hold your head high.
Don’t label it as goofing off.
Label it as fieldwork.
Fieldwork for artists is a form of archaeology.
It is digging down and around for the what, where, and why of your unique genius.
Successful artists I’ve interviewed insist both local and foreign forays improve your art, and even art business.
And they do it in 6 different ways. They are six different ways that I see as having six beautiful benefits for our art practices and art businesses.
So pretend you’re Margaret Mead, grab a pith helmet and some water and come with me.
6 Ways Travel (Fieldwork) Benefits Artists & How To Do It Up Right
#1 Travel (Fieldwork) Can Prevent Art-Related Burnout
Fieldwork can result in two kinds of treasure: physical treasure in the form of objects and mental treasure in the form of inspiration.
Unlike its evil cousin resistance fieldwork has you racing to your studio, not from your studio.
Michigan mixed media artist Graceann Warn (www.graceannwarn.com) gets so inspired after her art-related sojourns that as she says: “I can’t get back to my studio fast enough, I have speeding tickets to prove it.”
Remember Julia Cameron’s concept of the artists’ date from twenty years ago?
If you’re like me you used to make time for artists’ dates in your calendar.
But do you still?
If your soul is like mine it’s asking you to put things like visits to vintage shops or strange maritime museums into your monthly calendar again.
But fieldwork is not exactly the same as an artist date. It’s deeper and ultimately more influential on what you create long-term and why.
Because fieldwork for artists involves picking places to explore that you know are directly related to your unique why in artmaking.
Let’s look at the work of subscriber and artist Frank Connet for an example of what I’m talking about.
#2 Travel (Fieldwork) in Nature Can Be Better For You Than an MFA
Connet might go to a local tea house or even a 99 Cents Store for a fun artists’ date but the woods are Connet’s creative workshop. That’s where his fieldwork takes place.
Textile artist Frank Connet insists that his frequent, happiness-inducing escapes into the Michigan woods and other wild places, have done yeomen service to keep his pieces fresh, meaningful, and in-demand over the years.
Connet was making shibori long before he realized his unique way of practicing this art of sewing, bundling, and dying fabric resembled structures of ice formations he always loved but only later came to photograph (see image on left.)
“My fieldwork forays into the natural world keep me intrigued and curious about my work and about what surprise and inspiration nature will have in store for me around the next bend,” he said.
Connet believes that his nature-loving buyers may unconsciously be drawn to the archetypal elements and patterns of the woods and fields that his cashmere shibori throws celebrate.
But fieldwork has more internal benefits for artists, which brings us to our next tip.
#3 Travel (Fieldwork) In Nature Calms and Revives Stressed Artists
Connet’s fieldwork in the forest has strengthened his art, his powers of observation and helped him stay calm and confident under deadline pressures.
Here we see an image of a piece of northern California beach kelp that intrigued Connet.
12” x 13” x 10”. Photo: Guy Nicol.
He took the seaweed photo years after forming the copper piece seen beside.
Connet later noticed the resemblance between the kelp and his shibori on copper work and was intrigued.
For Connet it was confirmation that his artwork was on target, aligning with his lifelong interior musings on form and pattern.
Fieldwork can help you confirm what needs confirming in your art or writing as well.
It can remind you that yes you are intelligent.
Yes, you are filled with wonder.
And no, you are not crazy. (Even if friends or family don’t appreciate a nice piece of say…found kelp… as you do.)
But what if nature doesn’t do it for you?
#4 Urban Travel (Fieldwork) Can Encourage Art-Related Epiphanies
What if natural or beautiful places are just not where your muses dwell?
I walk the nature-laden section of my urban neighborhood a few times a week, along a picturesque series of canals.
On a good day, I admire the beauty of the quaint painted bungalows lining the waterways. I stare at cats sleeping on patio railings and spy egrets with their reflections mirrored beneath them in the still water.
I get less stressed, and even relaxed but rarely do I have art-related epiphanies.
The epiphany days for me come when I explore the alleys between the backs of the gingerbread houses that front the canals.
In the alleys, I find old wood-paned windows from the 1950s, car fenders from the 1970s, lost letters and odd handmade toys lying scattered against impromptu murals.
The combinations of weird and mysterious things, stir the kettle of my brain.
How did that brand new pair of boxer shorts get on the decrepit rocking horse anyway?
Even if I don’t bring anything home with me, I leave inspired. The ideas and the found ephemera for my assemblage often converge in abandoned places.
How about you?
For others of us, like Judy Wise, traveling further afield is just the ticket.
#6 Travel (Fieldwork) Injects New Life Into Stale Marketing
Wise is a successful, Oregon painter, teacher, and writer whose travels constantly feed her business with joy for life and art.
Wise now uses photos of her professional art classes abroad to add color and stories to her social media.
But I find her personal fieldwork-related art journal pages to be the most magnetic aspect of her marketing. They seem to stand out on noisy sites like Facebook.
To the left is her personal double-page journal spread from before and during a trip to Oaxaca that the artist shared with her followers online.
What a fun, imaginative way to take your readers on a romantic mini-voyage.
This is a way to have your travels/goofing off also serve as playful marketing for you as a creative.
Would you be comfortable sharing a few art journal pages of your local or foreign adventures with your blog readers or social media followers?
Our final tip is the cherry on the top and speaks to how fieldwork in general and geography, in particular, can help you soulfully celebrate where you have been on this earth and increase your art sales.
#6 Travel (Fieldwork) Can Increase Your Sales
“As an artist, all you have is your mind. Your mind is your best commodity. The more you enrich your mind the more you have to offer. That is your value,” said agent Lilla Rogers .”
“Another key to success in the art realm is to stay engaged, stay passionate. You must keep exploring and adventuring. Passion sells.”
“People buy your joy,” Rogers said.
“You need to understand the culture at large and the markets to find the best audience for your unique, inspired work. As an art agent, I know that my busiest artists are the ones who are having the most fun. They know how to tap into that place.”
One great way to tap into that emotional place Rogers speaks of is to make art about a physical place that lit you up. Try it, make art about a place you visited at 7 or 70, the energy will still be there and art buyers will feel it.
And don’t shy away from putting the actual geographic destination in the titles of your piece.
My assemblage boxes with titles like “What Happened in New Zealand” or “That Room at Versailles” sold speedily. I was so curious that I asked buyers how they found the obscure boxes. Turns out buyers search for work that encapsulates the emotions they felt in a certain magical place you may have investigated in your art.
Two buyers told me they both actually typed in the geographical place term like “New Zealand” or “Versaille” in the search bar on Etsy and found me that way.
So Go Away
So go away and do fieldwork.
Even to do a little metaphorical archeology in a new nook in your old neighborhood.
You don’t need to fly anywhere exotic or spend tons of money to reap the benefits of fieldwork.
Inspiration and exploration are waiting for you close to home, in the next junk-filled alley, or Brazilian cafe, or old park 3 miles from your home that you’ve never visited.
As Marcel Proust wrote:
“The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes.“
Let your jottings, drawings, or memories from your sojourns remind you of your unique take on all that is.
_______________________________________________________________
Beatrix Potter was the queen of fieldwork, read this post to find out more:
Or tuck a great beach read about one of your favorite artists into your carry-on when you go on your next adventure. Check out:
7 Best Books About Great Artists to Take on Vacation.
Does Meditation Help With Writing? Heck Yes: 3 Healing Meditations for Writing
O’Keeffe the Thief: What Georgia Stole
The 3 Biggest Mistakes Art Bloggers Make: Number 2 Will Surprise You
I’ve looked at most of her works, but will need to look that one up. Thanks for the kind words.
She did excellent traditional work before she dipped her toes into abstraction. It’s kind of surreal to see her early still lifes and her younger career abstractions, then the flowers, then the bones. The bones and stones are my favorites. 🙂
Another fine article. I always look forward to your posts. I was honored that you included my painting “The Globe” to help illustrate your post. Thank you Thea.
Your work is wonderful. It reminds me of O’Keeffe’s still lifes, which were gorgeous imo. Have you ever seen her “Dead Rabbit and Copper Pot”? She was irreverent (her title) from very early on, but the painting is powerfully executed nonetheless.https://www.pinterest.com.mx/pin/343258802823559164/
Thank you Thea for including my Turtle Island piece 🙂
The post is great, it helped put my experiences into words. I love to travel. It has helped me be more mindful about my environment to the point where I zone out in a meditative state to appreciate everything & everyone around me. Texture is the most important to me and I’ve been documenting textures in a sketchbook/journal/phone. Fieldwork has helped me visualize potential pieces/projects. In fact, even though I had not known at the time, the Turtle Island piece was inspired by my experience of traveling to South Dakota for the first time in the spring of 2018 when I made the piece in the fall of the same year. I was involved in a educationally-based intervention program offered by my college to mentor at-risk Native American youth (primarily 7th & 8th graders) to empower them to continue pursuing their education. The funny thing was, I was the only art major in my group while the majority were psychology majors yet the kids didn’t make fun of me for studying art (you know, like the standard “why art? art is dumb or not important”). It was the psychology majors they gave a hard time. I had never worked with kids before let alone mentor them so I had to learn how to be a mentor by doing it. The kids were reluctant at first thinking we were all there to become student teachers when that was not the case at all. I used art to connect with the kids by letting them be and draw their attention as I was making something like origami or knitting a sock. When I told them it was possible to study art and make a career out of it, they loved it. I was expanding their horizons as they were with mine. It was tough, I cracked under pressure the first night, but I held together by a thread all the way through and made an impact to inspire these kids. I can relate to these kids but I’m 3/4th Native American of three tribes, I’m an enrolled member of the Oneida Nation of Wisconsin (turtle clan), Stock-bridge Munsee, and Cherokee. I’m only 1/4th German. I was bullied for being too white/Native or not enough for either. Subconsciously, this piece reflected these ideas that spawned from my fieldwork.
What a profound and thought provoking comment Felonee. Thank you for leaving it. I think your work with at risk youth was a watershed moment for you, yes. A win-win. I would like to talk to you about this more some time. Have you ever considered blogging regularly about your work, travels and heritage? I think you are a strong writer with much to say to help others. Do you blog via Linkedin?
Time for some field work. Too much concrete around me!
Thanks for reminding me, I feel the same way at the moment. Too much concrete. Going to go for a walk in your honor this morning and keep my eyes peeled for potential art. 🙂
I got your response as an email.!! 😉😉
Thank you for the example of the reworked sentences!!!! It helps to see it. ☺☺
What an amazing post. I love these artists. It is so true when you get out of your day to day you see things you didn’t notice before that turn into art in your brain. When I’ve walked in a park or even a parking lot on occasion I’ve seen a leaf or a little peace of branch of wood and thought… That’s a necklace.
Thanks for reading this piece and thanks for leaving your poem-like comment Gale. I love the idea that beautiful inspiration can be found for creatives in both “park and parking lot” as you observed into your kind comment. Please send in some photos of your jewelry I would love to use one of your works in a post. 🙂