“When I was reading your email today for Artists Who THRIVE I found myself thinking, wow, who is this person?
How brave is she that she took all that pain in her life and was able to find her true purpose.
I thought she is brave for doing that and she really loves her kid.
I read about and see people like this on talk shows, but not me, cause I am just some ordinary person, living on an ordinary street in an ordinary neighborhood, doing ordinary things.
Then I realized it is me! I am that brave new person who is moving forward with confidence and joy because I have a mission in life now.
Something bigger than me!
Something selfless and full of love. This is what God meant by love your neighbor, as you would love yourself!
I am not just some ordinary person who will leave this earth without touching another person’s soul.
I am an artist who is going to touch lives and bring joy to kids who feel like they are unseen.
I understand how lonely it can be to be a kid, but the fact is that they matter.” -Julie Hemingway
This is was Julie Hemingway’s response to her THRIVING Artist profile interview last week’s where we discuss her mastering “Visioning,” or determining her “Why.”
“Visioning” is the foundational first of eight sequential realms.
Each must be mastered to build a profitable artistic enterprise.
“Visioning” is in this realm where the artist as thought leader emerges to claim their “mission.”
“Visioning” is where an artist defines who they are and what they stand for.
As you can see and hear in this interview, it is a profound and powerful process.
I created this process for artists with an open mind and trusting heart .
And no they don’t cover this in art school and certainly not in business school.
Once the artist’s mission is clear then we can move to the second realm, “Valuing.”
“Valuing” is where we can employ the Blue Ocean Strategy to define a unique value proposition, or the “What.”
Then we can determine the target market, the “Who” will be served.
So many artists start by thinking that they have to find their “niece market.”
Actually they have it backwards, they have to first have to find themselves.
The sequence is not:
- Who
- What
- Why
The sequence is:
- Why
- What
- Who
And this sequence starts with you.
I LOVE helping artists find their mission!
I feel like “Glenda the Good Witch” giving “Dorothy” her ruby slippers and leading her to the start of the “Yellow Brick Road” to the “Emerald City.”
Dorothy is going to encounter “lions, and tigers, and bears.” No doubt.
And if she falls asleep in a poppy field, she’ll have to get her own ass up.
But what she realizes in the end is that she always had the heart, the brains, and the courage to get home.
I’m just here to remind her of that and to warn her not to surrender those “ruby slippers.”
You’ve got to know your mission if you want to succeed and to make art that makes a difference.
What is your mission as an artist? Leave a comment below and let us know.
Did you enjoy this article?
Hi Ann:
After reading your blog this evening, I believe my mission took form a little more clearly. I realize that I want to do in art what Bill Cosby does with humor: create that place of safety in a turbulent world by somehow touching on our own past. His stories made us laugh because they were so familiar. Even though my art isn’t overtly nostalgic, I aim to create “Portraits Of The Ones You Love”, and “Moments Of Serenity”. When I write about the paintings, the subject tends to be something from the past. That is where my connection is, and it is the connection I hope to make in the soul of the observer. I want to know if this is the sort of thing you are striving to make us see. Thanks.
I want to do art with a message
You must!
That is what makes art.
Thank you for sharing Daniel.
It seems like you have some tag lines but I’m not convinced that you have identified a soulful mission.
This requires very deep personal reflection and vulnerability.
What do you think?
Hi Ann,
I really liked this article. Put most simply, I make art in order to bring some joy, beauty, and humor into people’s everyday lives through functional ceramics and sculpture. I’ve just spent a month in Rome seeing how other artists have done this over time. Very humbling and uplifting experience!
Are you absolutely certain that this is your mission?
What is your unique value proposition?
Which target market does that UVP serve?
I ask because it sounds a bit vague.
Because I know that spending time with horses can evolve human emotional intelligence (equine-assisted learning/therapy is one example), I want to create a desire in people through my art to connect with horses on a heart level to evolve society’s awareness, value and purpose for horses above that of “sport/recreational vehicle” or “stock animal.” My audience is made of those who are drawn to horses (may not know why and may or may not own horses) and want to celebrate their emotional connection to them.
Fantastic!
What is your unique value proposition?
Which target market does that UVP serve?
My UVP is that I create custom art of horses at liberty–just being themselves around their human–that evokes, deepens and celebrates what draws their guardians (and other horse lovers) to them. Most recent post on my site is an example.
My target market is made of those who prioritize their heartfelt connection to horses as much or more than what the horse can do for them under saddle.
Great! Are you selling art? If so, please share your latest success.
Yes…brick and mortar galleries and custom sessions are most successful. FAA online gallery sales, not so much. Last week I began offering limited editions on my site so time will tell there. Have been impressed with your corporate sales approach, and I have an equine hospital in mind where loving, appreciating and worrying is top of mind…
What was one your top most recent success?
The gallery sale that happened in the afternoon before the opening and the three people who came to the opening that night and were disappointed it had sold and told me they’d come specifically for it (it had been on the post card and poster announcing the opening). Unfortunately, I had not anticipated that kind of success and hadn’t yet discussed the option of offering a limited edition with the gallery owner if the first one sold. So I missed additional sales. Live and learn!
Follow what you feel in any circumstances! this is my mission.
Thanks to Ann’s process and great intuition, I found it. It takes courage and vulnerability but what a magic relief! Resistance, wrong paths, dead-end, bulls… Ann has always been here to put me on the right track. yes, this is magic but not only by chance. there is a lot of great thinking behind the process… merci
You’re welcome Marie