The Art of Being Uncomfortable with Other Artists

This is part two of a series of blog posts. Part One can be found here.

I spent years in retail selling other people’s products in big box stores and, to be honest, I was pretty good at it. Promoting the things other people create was “easy” for me. This was especially true if I knew about the item and felt strongly enough about it that I could back it.

The one thing I am not comfortable promoting or selling, however, is my own creations. 

“Impostor syndrome, also known as impostor phenomenon or impostorism, is a psychological experience of intellectual and professional infraudulence.”

Imposter syndrome is “the subjective experience of perceived self-doubt in one’s abilities and accomplishments compared with others, despite evidence to suggest the contrary.” Truth be told, I know I am good at what I do. My pieces are beautiful, the lines crisp (so much so that it is often mistaken for machine-made), and the painting is clean and vibrant. There are some pieces I am more proud of than others, especially on my more intricate works, but somehow when talking about myself something gets lost. Promoting my work feels so much like boasting and bragging. I subconsciously fight with the voice in my head telling me that being proud of my work is “wrong” and that humility is what I should be striving for. 

Unfortunately, being unable to promote myself is not conducive to a profitable business. Being able to promote yourself in order to attract buyers or customers or patrons is critical to success. Fortunately, I have Brian. He truly is my biggest supporter, advocator, cheerleader, and partner. We work very well together at markets because I can sit on the side and quietly burn, while he engages people. Networking events are a different story. I can’t go hide in a corner and wait for someone to approach me. I have to leave my comfort zone and engage with people myself. This is definitely a work in progress.

I met a metal worker, Jill (@JillMelyssa) at a coffee networking event hosted by The Guild Of Charlotte Arts (@guildofcharlotteartists). She makes unique, beautiful jewelry pieces. She asked me to attend a fashion show with her recently. As I work mainly with wood, it isn’t really in my scene, but I had never been to an art fashion show. The artist Jonay Di Ragno (@jonay_di_ragno) is a mixed-media artist, who works with canvas, acrylics, glass, clothing, and other media. It was a fun night, the art was beautiful and the fashion so unique. It was out of my normal networking circles, but I spoke to a few people and made some connections. I did not think I would be able to do that, because to me fashion and pyrography are in two different worlds. But I soon realized by talking with attendees that I was wrong. I burn on cotton and leather, which is wearable. Bags and purses can be made of wood which, also, I can burn into. I realized that there could be opportunities for collaboration. If I had allowed my self-doubt and fears to be dominant I would not have had the opportunity to expand my horizons and think about where that could take me.

Do you struggle to get out of your comfort zone? What is your success story. Tag us @bz_furfur and share it with us and, as always, stay unique.