Art: It Must be Nice to have a Hobby
Back in the day when I was working full time in the business of being an artist I'd often hear that statement. Here I was working full time in my home studio and getting national or local attention for community art projects with my bestie, and YET! YET I'd still get that comment from people who knew all this. Sometimes it was easy to see it was an effort to insult, but others it was out of ignorance or well meant. My answer was no, not a hobby. Then I'd hand them a biz card and say if they ever needed to license an image or buy my work or be put on the mailing list for exhibits to let me know.
Fast forward and I am now retired from an active role in the business of art and promoting my work. I live in a new state and people around me generally have no clue I'm an artist or my art history so when they find out I do art and say it must be nice to have such a creative hobby I just smile and say it sure is OR say Hah! more like a daily obsession , and laugh.
It still doesn't feel right only because it's not actually an accurate description of my art life. That's like asking do I talk as a hobby :) but since I don't need to build an art rep or sell, or prove myself, meh!
For those in the active business side of their craft here is some good advice, from Psychology For Photographers, on how to respond,
In the end the only thing that counts is being able to create and that isn't dictated by the art world or other people's opinions. Cheers Jafabrit.
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