Teresa R. Funke's Blog: Bursts of Brilliance for a Creative Life, page 48

It’s Only True if You Believe It

I was working with some of the kids at our local Boys & Girls Clubs one day as part of a program I was running, when I started to talk about college. One of the kids said, “My dad says I can’t go to college because I’m not smart enough.”

“Do you believe that?” I asked.

He looked at me quizzically then said, “No.”

“Then it’s not true.”

A slow smile spread across his face. While it’s always a bit dangerous to suggest to a child that his parent has told him an untruth, it can sometimes change the course of a life.

But it’s not just children who buy into the beliefs that others hold about them. Adults do it too.  And what’s more, we buy into all kinds of other influencers as well. We believe the results of “recent studies” and think they apply to us. We’re affected by the labels applied to our gender, race, religion, profession, etc.  We allow the media to tell us what is “real.”

As artists and entrepreneurs we are especially vulnerable because everyone has an opinion on everything from the quality of our work to how we structure our businesses to how we live our lives.  Because our work makes us visible, we draw attention, and with attention comes judgment.

When was the last time someone told you you’d never be able to do something? Were they right? If so, were they right because you never really tried? In other words, just because they turned out to be correct, doesn’t mean their statement was true.  It’s only true if you believe it.

Imagine all the people who told Orville and Wilbur Wright they would never get their flying machine off the ground. If they’d quit, all of those people would have been right. But they didn’t. They believed in their miraculous invention, and they changed the world.

Does that mean we can accomplish anything if we just believe?  Let’s say I’d wanted to change my eye color. I would have been told, rightly, that you can’t change your genetic make-up in that manner. Then along came colored contacts. Someone out there figured out a way to make a seemingly impossible wish become a reality.  So, is there really anything we can’t do?

Think of all the limiting beliefs that were heaped on you as a child.  Some might even have been said in kindness, but good intentions also don’t make things accurate. The only person who can decide what is true for you is . . . you!

 

 

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Art Cafes – Great Ideas Giveaway

Think of Hemingway and F. Scott Fitzgerald hanging out in Parisian cafes in the 1920s. Think of all those writers and critics and actors exchanging barbs at the Algonquin Round Table in New York City. Think of the many movie stars, singers, and musicians who waited on servicemen during World War II at the Hollywood Canteen. We artists and art enthusiasts love to share in each other’s company, but we also love good food and drink!

In my newest video in my Great Ideas Giveaway series for artists and entrepreneurs, I share steps and revenue streams for how to start and grow a café staffed by artists of all kinds that also showcases their art.  Like all my ideas, it’s a win-win-win. The artists get employment and exposure for their work; the owner gets proceeds from food and drink sales, merchandise sales, and more; the patrons get to dine in a creative environment that is always changing, while supporting local artists.

I love this idea because every time I share it with someone, they immediately think of things they’d add to the concept. Ideas upon ideas come flooding out. That’s how you know a plan has struck a chord.

If you are interested in starting your own café or in trying to convince a local business owner to convert his/her restaurant to an “art café” you can also download the PDF on my website, which will walk you through the steps I outline in the video. You can find that PDF on my Products page under downloads.

Click here to watch the video on my YouTube channel, and to view the four other ideas I’ve shared. See if you can fit them into your own business models. I’m enjoying hearing from artists and entrepreneurs who have done just that!

P.S.  You may have noticed that I’ve switched to posting my blog on Sunday evenings, in the hope that whatever inspiration and excitement you pick up here will turn into passion that will carry you through your week!

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Why Bad Art Matters

Most of the music enthusiasts I know would admit that Achy Breaky Heart is one of the dumbest songs ever recorded. Why is it, then, that whenever someone mentions that song, it gets stuck in my head for days?!

And all of my writer friends agree that Bridges of Madison County is one of the most poorly written books ever published, yet it has sold over 50 million copies.

How is it that sometimes “bad” can feel so good?

The truly pompous critics would argue that the general public lacks the sophistication to recognize bad art, but I don’t think that’s true. I’ve heard book fans say, “I know the writing is awful, but I still love that story.”  Others would argue that there must be some “universal truth” within the bad art that strikes a chord. Maybe. But that seems a bit lofty at times.

I think part of the appeal of bad art is that it allows us to feel superior. While most of us lack the skills or the confidence to comment specifically on what makes a masterpiece a masterpiece, nearly all of us can recognize a corny line in a movie or a crack in a piece of pottery.

And with a sense of superiority comes courage. Art no longer seems so intimidating. How many times have you heard someone refer to a bad piece of art and say, “Well, I could do that.”

But mostly I think our love of bad art comes down to this: no one wants to feel alone. When we take to the dance floor to mimic the moves of some silly new dance craze, we point at each other and laugh. We know we look ridiculous, but it’s okay, because everyone else looks ridiculous too.

We can gather in our book clubs and collectively roll our eyes, we can sit in a crowded movie theater and groan in unison, we can nudge a total stranger and say “Can you believe this crap?” and he or she will nod back.

In other words, bad art— just like good art—brings us closer together.

 

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Chasing Perfection

Anthony Doerr recently won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction for his World War II novel All the Light We Cannot See. And his book is not only noteworthy, it’s popular. It seems as if everyone I know has read or is reading that story, including one of my relatives, who is one of the sharpest and most critical readers I’ve ever known.

Before it won the prize, she and I decided to read the book together and discuss it.  My relative came to the table with detailed notes. To my surprise, she was not a fan of the book, pointing out numerous “flaws” in its structure, a few failings with the metaphors, some overwritten sentences. Interestingly, I had noted several of the things she pointed out, but unlike her, I liked the book. In all fairness, she had also written down her favorite sentences and positive comments too.

Doerr himself has admitted to great challenges in writing his novel, which took him a full decade to complete. Even he would tell you his book is not perfect, and that is precisely my point. No piece of art will ever be perfect.

At some point in every artist’s journey, we question whether we are up to the task of creation. Inevitably, we turn to the masters and compare ourselves with them, and almost always, we come up short. But if not even a book worthy of the Pulitzer is without flaws, that takes some of the pressure off, right?

The point is to produce the best art of which we are capable and to put it out in the world. There will be those who declare it “perfect,” even though it’s not, and those who point out flaws that no one else sees. For the rest of our lives, we will look at our own works and notice things we wish we had done differently. That’s human nature. We are programmed to never be satisfied.

So here’s my take on the quest for perfection . . . if striving for perfection guides you toward your best work, follow that track for a while. Then jump the track before it leads you round and round in circles.

 

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My Regards to Broadway

It’s impossible to talk about Broadway musicals without sounding corny. So let’s acknowledge that and move on.

I’ve been obsessed with musicals for as long as I can remember. Why? Because on Broadway, the dreamers were the heroes. And they were not head-in-the-clouds dreamers, they were people who took action and changed everyone around them in the process. In a musical, you were lost without a dream.

I sometimes imagine my life playing out with a Broadway score behind it (admit it, you have too).  And I wonder if I ever would have had the guts to quit my job and become a writer if Don Quixote hadn’t convinced me it was noble to believe in “The Impossible Dream.”  I wonder how many risks I’ve taken because the song “Seasons of Love” constantly reminds me that our lives are made up of precious minutes that should never be wasted. As a good, little Catholic girl, when a nun, of all people, insisted we “Climb Every Mountain,” I knew God himself wanted us to reach for our highest aspirations. (I told you this was going to be corny).

In musicals, the rules were made to be broken, and that was often shown through the metaphor of dance. A Siamese king could waltz with a British school teacher, a stodgy old professor could spin with a flighty Cockney girl, a Polish boy could cross a gym to dance with a Puerto Rican beauty. Whether at a formal ball or a country hoedown, the people in musicals pushed the boundaries.

Even when a musical ended in heartbreak, the actors were played off stage by a soaring score that reminded us that, though they had lost it all, at least they’d had it in the first place.

While the adults around me filed out of the theater, saying things like, “Wasn’t that good? Wasn’t her dress lovely?”  I was jabbering all the way to the car about all the things I was going to accomplish, the dreams I was going to pursue, the rules I was going to break.

You can call it all schmaltzy, and I won’t argue, but there’s still a part of me that rallies every time I hear a stirring Broadway tune, and what’s wrong with that?  Those oh-so-clever songwriters knew that sometimes we humans just need to believe.

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To Boast or Not to Boast

If you look up the words “confidence” and “arrogance,” you’ll find there’s a fine line between the two. The former means having self-assurance in one’s own abilities or qualities. The latter implies an offensive display of superiority or possessing an overbearing pride. But where’s the line between self-assurance and overbearing pride? And who decides?

As artists and creatives, we face a unique conundrum. People expect us to be confident in our work, but not boastful.  We’re often told in the early stages of our careers that we don’t “sell” ourselves enough; that we need to toot our own horns, sing our own praises, get out there and make people believe we are good.

Then when we start to experience some success, we are told the opposite. “Don’t share too much about how well you’re doing. It makes people feel bad.” Or “It makes you seem arrogant.” We feel pressured to downplay our achievements, even in our moments of greatest success. Humility, even if it’s not sincere, is demanded.

Unless, of course, we are geniuses. As a society, we expect, maybe even want, our genius artists to be boastful and arrogant, so long as they do so in a manner that is eccentric or colorful. Then we can shake our heads and say, “Well he can’t help it, you see. He’s a true artist.”

In a sense, I’m not sure whether we can ever sensor ourselves enough to know when we’ve crossed the line. Like so many things, it comes down to subjectivity. I once had a friend ask me if I was afraid of seeming boastful if I announced my new award. Another friend, though, told me, “You don’t brag enough. You need to let everyone know all the things you’ve accomplished.”

So once again, it comes down to being true to yourself, and leaving the judgment to others. If you’re proud of something, if sharing that news makes you happy, if you hope it will somehow make others happy too, for heaven’s sake, say it. Give us a chance to share in your excitement.

Just remember that a little boasting goes a long way.

 

 

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Giving Your Most Precious Gift

Today I had the pleasure of attending a fundraiser for one of my favorite local charities. As always, I was in awe not only of the stories told by the families who benefit from the services, but by those of the volunteers and staff who shared how much their work means to them. We are fortunate to have so many generous souls on this earth.

All of that got me thinking about my own interest in philanthropy. I was that child who would lie awake at night worrying about the poor and starving children of the world and wondering how I got so lucky. I was sure if I thought long and hard enough, I could figure out how to help them all. So what was it that influenced me at such an early age to care so much about the plight of others? Truthfully, it was the hard work of all those writers, reporters, and photographers who brought the news into my living room every night. It was those heartbreaking images and well-told stories that haunted me.

We artists and creatives are in a unique position. We can and should donate our time, money, and expertise to causes we support, but we have something else to give . . . our talent. Because when an artist or playwright or musician or writer portrays pain or illness or despair in their work, they allow the rest of us to feel what it must be like to be starving or homeless or ill. They take us into the heart of war. The soul of misery. They allow us to look into the eyes of suffering.

But artists also enable us to feel the joy of human connection, the achievements of those who are challenged, the absolute love of a parent for his/her child, the small miracles of everyday life. It’s those emotional connections that make all the suffering and joy in the world seem real and immediate.

So I’m taking a moment to thank all the artists and creatives whose work has challenged, changed, or affirmed my view of humanity and to thank you for making me feel both troubled and determined. And I’m challenging all of us to use the gifts we were given to make a difference.

 

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I’m Done With That

As human beings, we reserve the right to complain once in a while. And lament and regret and maybe even whine.  As artists and entrepreneurs who are somewhat solitary in the work we do, it’s especially important to know where we can find a sympathetic friend.

When I’m listening to people talk about their troubles, my ears perk up when I hear two important words: I’m done.  These words have so much strength and power that it’s impossible to even say them without a rise or fall in your voice or an increase or decrease in energy. Try it. I’m right, huh? When I hear those words, I know it’s time for that person to either make a change or make a break from whatever is troubling them. After all, when something is done, you don’t put it back in the oven hoping it will somehow get better.

Let’s say your landlord keeps adding new rules to how you can use your studio space, or your band members aren’t showing up for rehearsals, or your writing partner is shooting down every idea you have. If the words, “That’s it, I’m done,” cross your mind, you know you’ve reached your limit. You have two choices then . . . you can set up a time to have a meaningful conversation with that person and push for change or you can walk away.

That’s not to say you should necessarily drop things in a rush. Don’t let your emotions get ahead of you. Think through what type of change you’d like to achieve and how you plan to work toward it. Whenever possible, you want to leave a troublesome situation without burning bridges or opening new wounds.

If fear is keeping you from addressing the problem, remember this:  we do our best work when we can lean into our passion. If a situation is draining you of positive energy, if a person is bringing you down, if fear is holding you back, you will never achieve your full potential. It’s okay to say, “I’m done.”  It’s okay to move on.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Whose Voice Do You Need in Your Head?

This blog is called Bursts of Brilliance because that’s what it feels like when you get a great idea, like the heavens opened up and handed you a gift. But that gift will pass you by if you don’t seize it. And it will wither on the vine if you don’t nurture it. I’ve seen far too many brilliant ideas fall apart because people, myself included, listened to the wrong person at the wrong time.

If your idea is your baby, you must treat it like one. You must protect it from anyone who wishes it harm, even if that person is your best friend or your mother or your spouse. So be careful who you first share your concept with. Choose someone who loves to ideate, someone who is good at brainstorming, someone who will share your excitement and put your feet in motion.

If you start to doubt that you are the one to build your idea, seek out that friend who is nothing but encouraging, the one who says things like, “You’re kidding, right? You’re a genius. You can do anything you set your mind to!” Fill up on her words of praise and move forward.

Now maybe you need the voice of someone who’s good at strategy, someone who can fill the gaps in your knowledge or skills base.  “Sounds great, but you need a plan. How about if you start here . . .”

When you’re stuck and tempted to give up, call that friend who always offers just the right amount of push. The one who will reassure you that you have what it takes, you just need to apply yourself.  “Quit your whining and figure it out. You know you can do this. This is your baby, no one else’s.”

At a certain point, when you’re feeling strong enough, you’ll want to seek out that “wet blanket” friend. “Go ahead,” you might say. “Poke holes in this idea. I want to see what I’m missing.”

If that person has beaten you up too badly, turn to the friend who makes any problem seem funny, because sometimes the only thing to do is laugh.

It’s important, especially to artists and entrepreneurs who often work alone, to think carefully about the type of feedback we want and when. Whenever I find myself feeling agitated, I say, “Whose voice do I need in my head right now?” And then I pick up the phone and call.

 

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What’s a Woman to Do?

Ask any person on the street to name a famous painter, and they’ll likely say Van Gogh, Michelangelo, Monet, etc.  Ask that same person to name a famous composer, and you’ll hear names like Mozart or Bach or Beethoven. According to statistics for 2014, male actors still out earned female actors in Hollywood.  If you can see where I’m going with this, you may be tempted to stop reading right now, but don’t worry, this is not a feminist rant. It’s a call for consideration.

After all, for many of the past centuries, women were either not allowed to participate openly in the arts or were overshadowed by their male counterparts. You could argue that we’ve come a long way. You could also argue that the arts are currently more open to women than some professions. All of that is great, but how can we make sure that women and girls continue to advance?

Ask any female in the arts why they think women still have trouble gaining respect, recognition, and equal compensation as men, and you’ll hear familiar opinions: that women still carry too much of the burden in the home life to allow time for their work; that the themes in women’s works are often considered too “soft”; that women are still judged more harshly than men for everything from the quality of their work to the way they dress; that women are too “generous” to treat their art as a business, too inclined to “give it away.”

But there’s hope, at least in my world, which is writing and publishing. Of the fifteen highest-grossing writers in the year 2014, six were women. That’s still a lopsided equation, but if you take a look at the names on the list, Janet Evanovich, Nora Roberts, Danielle Steel, Suzanne Collins, J.K. Rowling, and Stephanie Meyer, you see women who have taken control of their own destinies and their own empires.

I guess what I’m arguing is that women artists are business owners, and as such need to get more savvy in the ways of business; need to seek out more support at home to allow them to focus on growing their careers without neglecting their families; need to hire good people to move their ventures forward; need to stop apologizing for charging what they are worth; need to get out there and toot their own horns.

This is one of those times you may wish I allowed comments on my blog. But I don’t want you to type your first hair-trigger reaction to my musings. I want you to think about it, for days maybe, and continue to ask yourself how we can turn the tables so that when you say, “Name a famous artist,” it may be a woman’s name that comes to mind.

 

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