Great Art Requires Risk
What is art—great art—if not a risk at the time it was made?
Mistakes and Failures Are Part of the Bargain
My guest to discuss these things on The Art Biz is Christine Aaron.
You’ll hear how she embraces risk and has come to understand the role of rejection in her art career. She also shares the tools she relies on to get back in the studio and do it all over again. Resilience.
Highlights
- The unusual motivation behind Christine’s first watercolor class selection. (2:08)
- Taking risks and challenging yourself in a rewarding art career. (5:31)
- Refining your art by sharing it with and soliciting critique from others. (12:45)
- Identifying your safe zone and moving beyond it. (21:45)
- Taking on the work that pushes you out of your comfort zone. (25:12)
- Name the risks to work your way through the potential rejection. (32:57)
- What rejection really means about the work that you’re doing. (39:46)
- Honing your resilience skills amid rejection. (40:35)
- Stop comparing yourself to other artists and remember how far you’ve come. (45:45)
- Reflecting on your work, your processes, and your improvement. (47:06)
- The risks that Christine is going to take in 2022. (48:00)
Mentioned
- Weaving as Metaphor by Sheila Hicks
- Artist B. Avery Syrig
- Patricia Miranda : CritLab
Christine Aaron Quotes
- “There’s not one of us that hasn’t experienced disappointment and loss in life.”
- “I make work ultimately because I want it to resonate with someone else. And the only way to do that is to get it out there.”
- “Think beyond what you can imagine now and know that you’ll have the ability to get the resources you need to do it.”
- “Every artist I know gets way, way more rejections than they get acceptances. But nobody is talking about that.”
Related Episodes
Listen to other artists talk about risk, rejection, and failure.
About My Guest
Christine Aaron is a conceptual and material focused artist. Her work is exhibited nationally and internationally. Aaron received an artist’s grant from ArtsWestchester—New York State Council on The Arts, a Surface Design Association grant, and a residency and grant from Vermont Studio Center. She presents talks at The International Encaustic Conference in Provincetown, MA, received awards in printmaking and mixed media, and had a solo exhibit of The Memory Project at California Museum of Art Thousand Oaks.
Aaron holds a BS in education from Cornell University and a Masters in Social Work from Hunter College. She lives and maintains a studio in New Rochelle, NY.
Follow Christine on Instagram: @christineaaronart
7 thoughts on “Risk, Rejection, and Resilience with Christine Aaron (114)”
This was very helpful and inspiring! I especially appreciate the openness about rejections , so entwined with the art process and acceptances also!
Thank you for listening, Donna.
Thank you so much for listening Donna! Totally true that it is all entwined with the art process…and only by going through it…does one get to those successess and acceptances!
Once I interviewed for an artists assistant position at a prominent sculptor’s gallery and studio. He wanted me to apply for public art calls, they said to prepare for rejection because they only get accepted to 20% of the calls they apply for, and he was a well known sculptor who had a whole team working for him and his own gallery.
Interesting! Thank you for sharing that experience, Amanda.
Amanda, thanks so much listening! Wow that’s something…only 20%! But it shows me that even with a name and prominence in the art world…there are things worth applying for…and that rejections happen to everyone!
Enjoyed this interview! I completely agree with the “fits and starts” part here about how no one sees the struggle and disappointments behind an artist’s successes. It’s as if an artist’s life is supposed to be perfect like their art. The struggle of the contemporary artist’s life does not need to be hidden away, as if it would detract from their art. Hooray to Christine for sharing and being transparent about being an artist!