Welcome to Pearls, a space for exploring beautiful questions of art and life.
Today’s topic is one that I have a slippery relationship with — How to show up and stay inspired as an artist on social media?
First, a confession.
I have documented and shared my process and life on YouTube from the dawn of my artistic career. Yet I have not been able to commit to showing up with any degree of consistency. I don’t exactly know why, but I have some ideas - a love of freedom, sensitivity to what others think, desire to prioritize “real acts of creation,” content not included.
The truth is, showing up and saying things in public just plain scares me. I think that’s why I have so much trouble committing to it and also why I do it.
Another challenge in my relationship with social media are the labels and boxes that come with it. You are rewarded by doing the same fan favorites, over and over again. For an artist, this can be torture.
Fortunately, I had a forced break when I took a part-time gig as director of a Zen center. I told myself that I didn’t have time for social media because I had to prioritize painting, which was partially true, but not fully. I was also avoiding showing up because I didn’t know what to say anymore.
Now that I am back to life as a full-time artist, I want to have a new conversation, starting with this beautiful question —
Can the process of documenting my life and my work become a living artist statement?
I don’t know exactly what that means, but I know that it is an inspiring invitation to think about the conversation as an integral part of the creative process. So this is me, showing up and seeing what happens.
I appreciate you immensely and more soon!
x Jess
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