Artists Work

"Artists work, Franz, I believe they work very hard."

"Work is what you do for others, Liebchen. Art is what you do for yourself."
--Stephen Sondheim, Sundays in the Park with George

I first heard these words at the New York theater where Sundays in the Park debuted, and they have always stayed with me. Not long after I saw the show, I went to a job interview and tried to wheedle the interviewer into changing the full time hours into part time. 

I tried to explain I was an artist and could do the job in shorter hours, but she was having none of it. She laughed, called me an "artiste," and sent me on my way.

Over the years I found that some people understand that artists can also do other work for hire - quite well in fact - while still doing their own work. Others don't understand it, and as a friend once said, some people can be very jealous of artists, who are seen as spoiled children wanting only to work for themselves.

Yet, we'd never say a small business owner was spoiled. Right? So why do we say that about artists? And what do parents say when their kids tell them they want to be artists? My own weren't happy about it, but I wasn't about to let go of my dream. I'm glad I didn't, because the successes I've had have made me happier than almost anything else (except family and friends).

Still, there's always a strange moment when you tell someone what you do.

What I'm not sure most people know is that many artists have to work day jobs and still can have careers as artists. The poet Theodore Roethke taught at various colleges and universities and didn't put out a ton of work--but what he did write was beautiful and memorable and highly praised by people who read his work.

Poet and author Walt Whitman spent at least a decade in Washington D. C. working as a clerk and bureaucrat while writing a significant body of work that made him immortal. Author Herman Melville worked as cabin boy and harpooner on a whaling ship, and spent his last decades as a custom inspector. Of course, he also wrote Moby Dick.

I could go on and on, but I think you know what I'm saying here. Artists are all different, and succeed at different levels, but the one thing they have in common is being driven to do what they do. If you ask yourself, as poet Rainer Maria Rilke does, "Must I write?" (or paint or sing or whatever) - and the answer is yes, and you keep working and polishing and honing and trying - then chances are very, very good you are an artist.

Are you working for yourself? Yes, just as a small business owner does.

Artists work very hard, Franz. I promise you.

Face of the artist: nowhere Zen New Jersey