In our blog series Life of an Artist, local Bay Area artists share their experience and insight in balancing their art practice with other jobs, commitments and life. I had the pleasure of interviewing these artists and invite you to learn about their takes on all things identity, balance, success, sacrifices, and advice in navigating the art world. I hope that this series can provide valuable insight to emerging young artists into the vast and varied experiences of practicing artists and careers in the arts.
-Michèle Jubilee, NUMU’s Education Programs Manager
“If my picture can help someone on their path, then that’s great.”
Fanny Retsek in her home studio
“The next step in success would be, taking the opportunities I have to exhibit and making sure that the message of the artwork comes across, because that’s really important to me. Because if my art could make someone think just a little bit about their relationship with nature, and their relationship with the wild, and how their actions impact that, then thats a HUGE success to me. That’s huge. That’s about all I’m doing currently in trying to make the world a better place.”
“Success as an artist, for me, is making art continually. It’s a very personal practice, its a very personal goal. So for me its about not giving up, and not thinking what I do doesn’t have value, and not questioning myself, but just going ahead and doing it. It has relevance, even if it’s just relevant to me.”
First Large-scale work, Flee, 2016, 100x100 inches
Flee, Installation-view, Mildura Gallery Australia, 2016
“We have this sort of image of an artist, or an ideal of an artist that’s a certain thing, that’s actually not how 99.9% of the people making art are.”
“I think for me, the greatest barrier to being an artist is my own head.”
“There’s an infinite amount of ways to be an artist, and there’s an infinite amount of ways to be successful.”
Collaboration, Emu Eggs and Wildfire, 2021, 25x36in
Collaborative Practice Exhibition Postcard
“For as many individuals as there are, thats a way to be an artist. So I don’t have to live in New York, and I don’t have to have a gallery, and I don’t have to be famous, I just need to do the work, and then I’m an artist.”
“The most important aspects to success, only come from yourself. So there’s no amount of external validation that is going to be as important to what you feel in yourself when you’re making the work and the reasons behind making the work, whatever it is that motivates and inspires you. So being in touch with that is more important than any amount of money you’ll get for an artwork, or gallery representation.”
Fanny working inking plate in living room studio
“Figure out what makes you happy, where you fit in, and where you want to fit in, and take that path.”
NUMU Art in Time of Coroanavirus, GoingGoingGone, mixed media, 25x36
Posted by Michèle Jubilee, NUMU’s Education Programs Manager
