So far 2012 is shaping up to be the year of turning thinking into doing. You know how it is, there are all these intentions and ideas in your head, and you never quite get around to them. For me this is completely focused around art, and all the things I’ve been thinking about for ages and not getting around to are ones that could contribute to my development as an artist.
In the past month there are three of these intentions I’ve taken off my list and transformed into reality. The first was to begin hosting an evening of art making with a small group of fellow artists. It was a terrific evening of good conversation, productivity, and sharing of art – exactly what I’d hoped for. I can hardly wait for the next Artist evening…
The second intention/idea I was happy to finally get around to was to launch my very own artist interview series. This was an item I’d written down on a list of goals for last year. It was the series of Food Advocate profile interviews I started for the Foodtree blog that got me going. I was impressed by the level of information people were willing to share about food that encouraged me to finally bring this idea to life and reach out to artists. You can read the first interview here.
This week marked the beginnings of getting started on a third goal that has been languishing away on a to do list, which is to establish a mentor relationship with a more experienced artist. Until recently I wasn’t really sure who to approach about this, especially knowing there isn’t another artist doing work similar to mine in Vancouver. But I realized this wasn’t a detail I should get hung up on, and came up with someone I wanted to reach out to. Yesterday I met with M.A.Tateishi, a mixed media artist I admire, and we discussed this idea of having her become my mentor. It was a really good conversation, and I look forward to her input and guidance as we trial this relationship over the next three months.
It feels very satisfying to get these long held thoughts into a forward motion. Now I just need to keep up the momentum…
I am on a mission to cross things off my list this year too, but mine is mainly concerned with learning and improving my abilities in other areas of art making.
I am curious what your expectations from a mentor are. I ask because I was just asked to mentor someone and I am not sure what being a mentor involves!
The first two goals are more about community building and the third of working with a mentor is related to professional development. I have more goals than these, and some are about developing my artistic skills in new ways.
I have never done this before so I’m not sure if I have good advice to give. It really depends what your mentee is looking to get out of the relationship. I am looking for guidance on how to develop further as a professional artist. I haven’t quite made the transition yet and felt I needed help to push myself further. In a way it makes me accountable to someone other than myself, and it’s not about having someone tell me exactly what to do.
Reading this blog post about mentoring was very helpful: http://hitenism.com/mentoring/ I think artists and entrepreneurs have the same struggles.