Getting Your Sh*t Together: The Ultimate Manual For Every Practicing Artist

Though nobody wants to acknowledge it, a working artist (performing or other) ends up with as much work as they do their “art.” You have workspace, material costs, and exhibitions to organize, and if you want to show your work in galleries, you’ll have to get past the picky and snotty gallery owners. If you want to market your own art, you’ll need a business plan and forms. It can be aggravating.

Karen Atkinson begins her book Getting Your Sh*t Together by creating a checklist for personal goals. She advises the reader to make a diagram showing all the possibilities, including galleries, freelancing, agencies, etc. Then she advises choosing which ones are the most feasible, giving your economic and personal situation. Further chapters cover resumes, portfolios, photographing your artwork, and shipping artwork.

I recall a gallery in New York’s Chelsea neighborhood, where the director advised me on painting sizes. Her customers wanted nothing bigger than 18x24 inches, because most New Yorkers don’t have room for a bus-size painting. If you read Art Studio America, you can see how sculptor Artis Lane does her small statues in her kitchen, and her pieces are rarely more than 2 feet tall. If large works were her intention, she’d need a larger studio space, and that would incur rent, transportation costs, assistants, etc. Atkinson advises going through all these factors before you even start a project.

Studio space gets a full chapter in this book, and as usual, it begins with a questionnaire about the pros and cons. How much can you afford to spend on a studio? What kind of electricity will you need? What about sharing a studio? After going over all the possibilities, I wondered if it’s worth bothering about. Why not just make small drawings at home? If nobody buys your paintings, storing them will be a b*tch. Unless you’re painting with oils or using spray paint, you should be able to do your art in the kitchen.

This is a great book for a working artists, or anyone who’s considering making some money on the side from their art. It treats art professions as serious business, and expects the artist to behave in a businesslike way. However, there is one thing missing, and that is the case study. There were few, if any, examples of real-life artists making a living from their art, and I think that they can help drive the point across. I thought of Lucy Knisley, the cartoonist responsible for the wonderful autobiography Relish: My Life in the Kitchen, and how she does all her art at home. She would’ve made a great profile to illustrate the home studio.