Personal Vision

I've finished the final draft of chapter 1, and am on draft 3 of chapter 2 - your personal vision.  Vision for me is at the heart of everything we do.  I keep re-writing this chapter! It's probably way too long. But, I've been researching visioning and visualization practices, and lately reading about the Tibetan practice of visualization with mandalas - its fascinating. I know we, as artists can apply that to our own growth, and career growth. The spiritual is not separate. The keys are in the practice. And expanding the mind, into non-mind. And then back into form.

Have been going to the Rubin Museum a lot and sitting with the amazing collection there. As a member it is free, so I spend my lunch hours - sometimes just 10 minutes gazing at a Thangka or Mandala painting. Very rejuvenating to the heart, the eyes, the  soul.

When I was just out of art school, I worked at MoMA, and used to pick a different painting to sit with on my lunch hours. My favorite was one of Archipenko's "Black on Black". I can still see myself sitting on a bench, in a deserted gallery, pondering it - entering it, almost 30 years ago.

So I had a thought. Not a vision, but an idea. I'll write about the ideas in the book for you to consider of course, and try out, but I'd also like to share the actual book with you, as it evolves. And I would love your feedback.

Here is the table of contents I've come up with. What do you think? I'd love for you tell me if you think I've missed anything, or you would like something included.  We are a community - we do for each other, we help each other, we grow together. Thanks for being there, thanks for sharing your process, your needs, and your ideas -  Thanks for letting me share what I've learned along the way.

So this is going to be a hands-on career planning book with creative visualizations and guided meditations, self-assessment and self-exploration worksheets for visual artists to create and sustain a

successful career. Workbook and audio files will be downloadable from a website I'll create for the book, so purchasers can actually hear me take them through each process.

Create Your Art Career: Tools for Empowerment and Success

Table of Contents 

Part 1: Who Are You

Chapter 1: What is Creative Visualization

Topics to cover: introduction to visualization and guided meditation, self assessment and

journaling. How to use visualization, guided meditation,  self-assessment and self

exploration techniques for career management.

Chapter 2: Your Personal Vision

Topics to cover: Introduction to career management and the core principles of an artistic

career, how to chart your visions, what is authentic for you in your artistic practice, how

to find your authentic voice and deepen your personal myth. Create your business vision

and creative manifesto, and visualize the journey as an end in itself.

Chapter 3: You are a Successful Artist

Topics to cover: what does success mean to you, what do you value, where are you

headed and why? Uncover what success and achievement mean to you in business and in

life, and begin to create a plan based on your definition of success. 

Chapter 4: Your Unique Talents 

Topics to cover: Learn how to deepen your creative process. Assess your skills,

accomplishments, values and talents. Understand why you make the creative choices you

do, how to utilize your unique talents and augment your weaknesses.  Learn from your

accomplishments to target future goals. Charting accomplishments and finding common

threads for success.

Part 2: Where Are You Going?

Chapter 5: What Would You Do if You Couldn’t Fail?

Topics to cover:  Exploring options, creating blueprints, varying scenarios, seeing the

future unfold 5 years, 15 years, 30 years in the future. Applying your fascinations into a

life plan. Apply the answers uncovered in Part 1 into career path visualizations. 

Chapter 6: Uncovering Your Long-Term Goals and Short-Term Goals

Topics to cover:  creating personal and professional goals for the short term and long

term, writing a personal mission statement and career creative manifesto, outlining career

ideals by stages and creating your career destiny. 

Chapter 7: Develop Strategies and Tactics to Reach Your Dreams

Topics to cover: once you have your long term and short term goals, you need to create

strategies and tactics to reach them. Uncover why your goals are important and discern

how you will get them done. Delving into your why statement, and outlining the how,

what, where, and when to manifest your goals. Create a mind map

Chapter 8: Clarify Your Vision

Topics to cover : Explore your ideal life , your ideal job, your ideal client, your ideal

business, your ideal location, your ideal day, your ideal co-workers, your ideal salary,

your ideal gallery, etc.. Learn to imagine and visualize every detail of making your

creative career dreams a reality. If you were to do one thing in your professional life that

would have the most positive impact, what would that be?

Part 3: How Will You Get There?

Chapter 9: Assembling an Action Plan

Topics to cover: Now we start to put into action all that we learned in parts 1 and 2.

Create a life plan and action plan of key moves and visualize the steps to succeed.

Incorporating the personal mission and creative manifesto from earlier chapters, this plan

will be the guiding and grounding force in moving your career forward.

Chapter 10: Create a Momentum Calendar and Vision Board

Topics to cover: Goals are simply dreams with deadlines. Nothing happens without start

dates and end dates. We will create a vision board with all key elements of our plan, with

dates. We will create/design a calendar and chart our momentum, our studio practice,

bridge our creative minds with business mind with daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly

goals that each reader can design for themselves.

Chapter 11: Visualizing Great Business Relationships, Research and Referrals

Topics to cover: Visualizing all the pieces coming together. The hardest part of putting

your authentic voice into the market place is knowing what is the right market,

networking, and talking about yourself. We will utilize creative visualization and

assessment exercises to research and uncover your market, enhance building successful

relationships, practice effective and easy mutual networking and pitching proposals.

Chapter 12: Affirmations for Achievement and Success

Topics to cover: Persevere and don’t give up. Change negative beliefs into positive ones,

learn to focus and affirm the “end in mind”, establishing a visualization and meditation

routine, forming a supportive community, seeing it all come together because you

deserve it! Learn how to maintain your art career.

Chapter 13: Artist as Entrepreneur

Topics to cover: How to incorporate your life plan into a innovative business plan. Turn your authentic voice into the perfect business plan, and create a right relationship with money. Visualize the funding you need and your business spirit and structure flourishing in the world with the right audience, with the right goals, and the right marketing initiatives so you can bring in the right income.

Chapter 14: Successful Partnerships

Topic to cover: You cannot do career alone. Now that you have a vision, a plan, and a budget it’s time to think about how you will reach your audience.  What is your brand, your marketing plan, understanding market trends, how to create your own micro-markets.  Visualize your hot business model reaching the world.  See yourself working with your ideal clients, innovating and responding to market conditions through the power of partnerships. 

Chapter 15: Your Sustainable Art Career 2.0

Topics to cover: Marketing with social media and how to keep it going on the web, get ready get set go, open for business, your social branding. Visualizing yourself in cyberspace, work hard and work smart reaching your ideal audience and marketing your message through social networking, building equity, building viral word of mouth through all cyber channels.

Chapter 16: Take Charge of Your Life

Topics to cover:  Success for the long haul. Make your dream of a creative career a reality. Maintaining a sustainable life and art practice. Visualizing the five elements of a recognized, successful artist and visualizing your artistic business, meaningful, purposeful, fulfilling.  Are you ready to succeed?  Exercises to ensure your long term survival, work/life balance, fulfillment and satisfaction.

Resources and Index at the end.

What do you think? Am I missing anything? Is there something you would like in addition?

And in between it all, I'm drawing, meditating, healing. Watching the branches sway in the wind. Teaching at SVA how to write grant proposals and visualize success, being a Thesis advisor to an awesome photographer Alisha Jones.  Hanging out with Elia and Dave, and Max. And of course, dancing with the trees and becoming the spaces inbetween all form - ahh.