5 Lessons Learned from 10 Years as an Exhibiting Artist

When I graduated from University of Houston back in 2017 with an art degree, I had not shown any work except for school shows and the weekly critique with classmates. I was still admittedly bad at art and I had not really found my footing in the art world. Nearly 10 years later, I have exhibited at multiple galleries, sold my work, figured out the kind of artist I wanted to be, and I’ve picked up a few kernels of wisdom along the way. 

1. You Don’t Need Permission. Art is an Action.

Don’t have a degree, award, or business? Guess what, you are still an artist.

I hear it all the time: “I draw but I’m not an artist,” or “my drawings are just doodles, I haven’t sold anything.” Art is not something you have to be certified in. Nobody checks your badge at the door.

To me, art is like journaling or gardening. There are a lot of levels to it and a lot of ways people engage with it. Not every gardener is expected to be a master gardener and not every artist has to be the next Caravaggio. Some people dedicate their entire lives to mastering a medium. Some people make art in waiting rooms on sticky notes that never leave their pocket or purse. Both are still art.

Yes, there are artists who have cornered a market, pushed a medium to its limits, or built careers that get a lot of attention. That does not invalidate everyone else. The act of making art is what makes you an artist, not your skill level, not your follower count, and not whether someone gave you permission to call yourself one.

For most artists, art actually gets easier as they grow. When I first started creating, I had absolutely no clue what I was doing. I struggled through learning everything I could. I practiced constantly because I wanted to get better.

So if you are just starting out, congratulations. You are doing the hardest part right now.

2. Draw Everyday

Every spare moment, eat it up with art. Post-it notes fit in your pocket. Do you know how fast you can doodle a face? You could be drawing right now (or as soon as you finish reading this). How often are you sitting waiting for something? How often are you on your phone scrolling? How often do you go to the bathroom? If you sub a drawing session for a night of doomscrolling, just imagine the mental health benefits. 

Back when I had an hour commute from school each day I would sit at Pinks Pizza and wait for traffic to die down. I would take my pocket sketchbook out and do a couple simple ink drawings and by the end of the semester I'd filled up two entire sketchbooks. It changed the way I saw drawing. The best way I can describe it is to compare it to speaking a language. I became fluent in ink. The artists I know who improve fastest are usually the ones who stop treating drawing like an event and start treating it like something that naturally fills empty space. 

3. Find Your People

I know trying to get an artist friend out of their enrichment enclosure can be difficult. They are natural homebodies but hanging out with artists is the best way to build a support system and provide accountability. 

When I moved to a new area of Houston I tried to find an art group to join but there wasn’t anything for miles that didn’t come with a fee. I reached out to the Drink & Draw organizers that meet at the Coral Sword in EaDo and said hey, if you have any members that live in my area that don’t want to make the drive, send them to me. 

Then I promptly forgot about it until about a year later when two strange men reached out to me to see if I would meet them at a local bar. I agreed because apparently meeting strange men from the internet at a bar seemed reasonable at the time. Root, Mark, and myself formed the North Houston Drink and Draw. Meeting up regularly to draw and talk shop. Asking a lot of questions about everything from gallery applications to techniques was an absolute game changer for me and I met some really incredible friends along the way, RIP Mark Wise. 

4. Stop Trying to Please Everyone

There are good critiques and there are bad critiques and you will hear it all. You must be able to recognize a good critique when you hear it. I have seen so many artists put up a wall between themselves and their mentors or instructors. I’ve done it too. Art is personal and sometimes it is hard to see where change could actually benefit the work.  Really ask yourself if the person is critiquing you to get something from you or are they honestly trying to help you succeed?

There are comments, especially from people who do not understand your work, that can be ignored entirely. “Add more dirt bikes” and “You should sell these for cheaper” can easily be swept aside. This is your work, and there will always be people who think they know better.

5. Too Busy is a Myth

Most of the time, “‘too busy’ really means ‘not prioritizing it.’”. That is completely okay too. I have juggled multiple priorities and art has fallen off more than once but it wasn’t because I was too busy, it was because I opted not to prioritize it over other things I wanted or needed to do instead. I think the language here is important. If you want to make art, it has to exist somewhere in your actual schedule. If it never makes it onto the calendar, then other priorities are simply more important right now, and that’s okay. 

I would love to learn how to buy and sell stocks, but that is not something that I have prioritized learning in my life and I am okay with that for now.  This idea that you want to do art more than anything, if only you had the time, is a lie that you tell yourself just like I tell myself I’d workout more if I weren’t so busy! 

Make art unapologetically, make it often, and be honest with yourself. That’s probably the shortest version of everything I’ve learned so far. I hope you have found this to be useful.