Words of Wisdom

Ten leading artists offer emerging artists thoughts on art, life and success – and how to keep making art even when things get tough.

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How do you plan for a life as an artist? It’s a question this year’s art school grads – and many emerging artists – must be asking themselves. It’s a difficult time to start a career – the precarity of making a living as an artist has been driven home again and again by the pandemic. Galleries West asked 10 of Western Canada’s leading artists – including Dorothy Knowles, Chris Cran, Adrian Stimson and Aganetha Dyck – for advice about how to move forward in the midst of uncertainty. Vancouver artist Pierre Coupey says there’s really no map to a life in the arts. “You find the geography of your fate within yourself,” he says. “And you create the map by going one step after another.” Here are more words of experience – and wisdom.

Dempsey Bob: Do your homework

“If you’re going to be a good artist, you have to do your homework,” says Tahltan-Tlingit artist Dempsey Bob. An officer of the Order of Canada and a winner of the 2021 Governor General’s Award in Visual and Media Arts, his work is held in the collections of the National Gallery of Canada, the Royal B.C. Museum and the Smithsonian. What Bob means by doing your homework is learning to draw well. “Drawing is the foundation of art. It’s the language of art, and you have to master that because it teaches you how to see. Because most people, they look, but they don’t really see. Artists train themselves to see.” Bob suggests drawing every day. “If you can’t draw … your design has no movement, and if it has no movement, it’s a statue standing on guard. You’ve got to get those magic lines in there ... and then it comes alive.” Perseverance is key. “Talent is cheap,” he says, “But it’s the dedication and the commitment that’s costly.” He says artists often stand in their own way. “You’re going to hit your wall, whatever it is, wherever you want to go … and that wall is yourself.” By doing the work, you can get past that wall. “You could learn so much,” he says. “You could do so much. But eventually you’ve got to go your own way, your own path, your own journey, because that’s where your style is, and that’s where your truth is as an artist and that’s where your true passion – if you’re lucky enough to find it – will be.”

Chris Cran: There’s nobody like you

“What I try to get across to students when I’m teaching them, is there’s actually nobody like you, there’s no sensibility like you,” says Calgary artist Chris Cran. “You have to go digging into your own sensibility and find out what it is that fascinates you, and you start looking there, and you wander and you wander, and you keep on finding new places like that.” Cran has had a storied career. His paintings are included in the collections of the National Gallery of Canada, the Art Gallery of Alberta and the Glenbow, to name a few. Cran acknowledges that young artists may feel insecure. “You believe that you can’t do this … you believe it might not be good enough – it’s got nothing to do with that. It’s got to do with how your attention gets held over and over and over again and where it goes.” He advises emerging artists to have faith in themselves. “If you believe that you can’t do it, then, guess what, you can’t. It’s what you believe that comes about,” he says. “It’s not about money … first and foremost, if you’re going to be an artist, you’ve got to be true to what it is that an artist does, which is finding that magic that’s yours alone.”

Dorothy Knowles: Create your own luck

“You need people to inspire you, to encourage you,” says Saskatoon artist Dorothy Knowles, 94. A renowned landscape artist known for her paintings of the Prairies, Knowles started her career over 70 years ago. Her works are held in many collections, including the National Gallery of Canada, the Art Gallery of Ontario and the Musée d’art contemporain in Montreal. She is also a member of the Order of Canada. Knowles acknowledges there’s an element of luck in achieving success. “It helps to have luck and be in the right place at the right time,” she says. “If you don’t have luck you have to create it. Put yourself in the right place. Mix with other artists and find a community to exchange ideas with.” Knowles cautions: “Don’t let opportunities pass you by, or let shyness or insecurity about your work stand in your way. Take yourself seriously and others will too.”

Pierre Coupey: It’s a lifelong commitment

“The most important thing is to commit yourself to actually working, if you really want to do it,” says Pierre Coupey. “You have to be constantly open to learning all the time.” Coupey is a visual artist and poet who taught in the English department at Capilano University in North Vancouver for 40 years. His abstract paintings are held in many collections, including the Canada Council Art Bank and the Vancouver Art Gallery. “You’re going to go out in the world and you’re going to find it really tough,” he says. “Only the toughest of you will continue. Only the ones who are really determined and have a commitment to their work are going to keep on going. Basically, you have to dig down deep, do you really want to do this? If you don’t really want to do it, find something else. There are a lot of easier things to do that’ll make you a lot more money. So it is a test of one’s commitment. It’s a lifelong commitment. If it’s in you to do it for your whole life, then you’re going to find a way of doing it, no matter what happens.” Coupey says being an artist is a challenging path. “You struggle your whole life to get your work into the public sphere, and to make a living at it, and most of us don’t make a living at it.” His advice for emerging artists is: “Be tough. Have a thick skin. Get ready for humiliation – that’ll happen all your life. And have patience, keep on working." Instant success is unusual. “Nothing happens for most people overnight … it’s a long, slow haul.” 

Lyndal Osborne: Get together

“Don’t be alone – get together,” says Edmonton artist Lyndal Osborne. “It’s isolation when people leave school and they’re all on their own. That really doesn’t help because your mother is never going to be a good critic of your work.” Osborne is known for organic sculptures and installations that incorporate roots, seed pods and other natural materials. Her work is held by institutions such as the Art Gallery of Alberta and the National Gallery of Canada. A professor at the University of Alberta for more than 30 years, she has known many prospective artists. “Isolation is not good for an artist – not total isolation,” she says. “You need to be inspired. You need to have other ideas discussed. It’s kind of like an element of excitement and hope enters you after people have been to your studio and you look at things differently.” She suggests monthly studio visits. When you know people are coming to your studio, “you kind of pull up your pants,” she says. “You need to have outside inspiration.”

Aganetha Dyck: Trust yourself

“Be yourself,” says Winnipeg's Aganetha Dyck. “Just do what you’re about.” For Dyck, this trust extends to the process of artmaking as well. “When you’re working … let’s just say I make a mark, I’ll just trust that mark, and it’ll go from there.” Dyck is known for incorporating honeycomb into her sculptural work. She is a recipient of the Governor General's Award in Visual and Media Arts and her work is held in collections such as the Vancouver Art Gallery, the Winnipeg Art Gallery and the National Gallery of Canada. Dyck says it’s important not to try to be someone else. “If you have something to say, it’ll come out. If you have nothing to say, you’ll soon know.”

Diana Thorneycroft: Be as honest as possible

“The biggest thing I would say, for all artists, is try to be as honest as possible in their practice, and to not censor their work,” says Winnipeg artist Diana Thorneycroft. Self-censorship can be an issue for young artists. “It really depends on whose voices are in their head. Sometimes some artists are like, ‘I can’t do that, my mother will never speak to me again!’ And my advice is don’t show your mother,” she says with a laugh. Thorneycroft’s photographs, drawings and installations often depict macabre situations with acerbic humour. Her work is held by the National Gallery of Canada, the Canada Council Art Bank and the Winnipeg Art Gallery, among others. For Thorneycroft, figuring out what advice to follow is also important. When it comes to professors, she says: “Sometimes their advice is good. But if it’s going against your gut feeling, then, you know, it has to wash out.”

Sean Caulfield: Look inward

“There are so many tensions as an artist,” says Edmonton printmaker Sean Caulfield, a professor at the University of Alberta whose work is held by institutions such as the Banff Centre, the Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts and the Houghton Library at Harvard University. Caulfield is known for prints with surreal organic forms that often bellow plumes of smoke. “You have to be very aware of what’s happening in the world, politically and socially, and all those questions around social justice … and what’s happening in contemporary art. But simultaneously you do also have to look inward and ask yourself what’s important to you … because if you don’t do that, you’re not going to make work. It’s just not going to be interesting to yourself over time.”

Adrian Stimson: We’re all navigating the same waters

“You have to be aware of your rights,” says Alberta artist Adrian Stimson, a member of the Siksika (Blackfoot) Nation. Stimson is an interdisciplinary artist known for performance work, as well as sculpture, video and installation and is a recipient of the Governor General’s Award in Visual and Media Arts. His work is held in many collections, including the Alberta Foundation for the Arts, and the British Museum in London has acquired two of his paintings. Stimson says some galleries may take advantage of artists if they don't advocate for themselves. “Most galleries don’t want to sign contracts with the artists for a number of reasons,” he says. “But I’ve always felt it’s so important to have a contract.” He says sharing information – like discussing how to formalize arrangements with galleries – is a form of mentoring between artists. “We mentor each other through our discussions,” he says. “We’re part of a group of people who are navigating all the same waters.” For Stimson, definitions of artistic success are often too narrow. “Success really is your own sense of well-being and happiness. Don’t measure yourself against other artists. Keep to your principles, keep to your ideas.” Other advice? “Do your research in relation to anything that you undertake … make sure that you have a good grounding and knowledge of what you’re doing.”

Eli Bornstein: Go out into the world

“See as much art as you possibly can – not only locally but everywhere,” says Saskatoon artist Eli Bornstein. He is still making art at 98, and his bold and geometric abstract relief sculptures are held by the National Gallery of Canada, the Remai Modern in Saskatoon and the Saskatchewan Arts Board. He’s also a member of the Order of Canada. For Bornstein, it’s important to go out into the world and learn. “Find the best possible teachers available,” he says. “Where are they? Who are they?” Try to learn from them. ■  

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