gummi Chandelier ii in detail

gummi Chandelier ii in detail
Inside the gummi bear Chandelier Jr.

Tuesday, August 22, 2006

I am not a housewife.

I was talking about quitting my part time job yesterday. It reminded me of a friend who once asked me about what I do everyday.

I am fortunate enough to work in my studio most of the time, therefore giving people false conception that I am FREE all the time. Non-artists can't imagine what an artist's life is like, they can't even think of Art as a choice of career or a way to make a living. Young artists nowadays actually don't have a life as romantic as others think. The competition is fierce, the business is easy to start but difficult to maintain, the same as in all fields.

I am a slow artist, I don't know how to paint quick paintings; each sculpture takes from 3 weeks to 5 months to finish. I work 7 days a week, which means if I have to go to my part time job, I have to stay late to make up those lost hours. I work in the studio about 30 hours a week, another 30 hours is research, online marketing and business coordination. All these hours doesn't include reading 3-4 art magazines and endless of literature works (poems, more magazines, books) a month, plus house works and time with family. What about vacation and laundry? These two remain the most challenging for me.

Vacations take a lot of days off my studio time, because home in Taiwan is a long way to go for just a week. Careful advanced planning is crucial. As of laundry, we can blame that on the immoral neighbors who like to leave their clothes in the washers for 4 hours and don't pull them out...

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

How right you are about people not understanding the life of an artist. They think you're just playing around and having fun. Most have no idea about the frustration and time involved to produce artwork from the heart - one of the reasons I gave up working from home!

YaYa Chou said...

thanks for visiting, joanna:)