Charon Kransen Seminar

As I mentioned on Wednesday, we had Charon Kransen come as a visiting artist. We had an intense two day seminar on what we really want (the BIG dream), what's holding us back from what we want, how we define success for our selves, listening to our inner voice and what is our work is really about.

He took us through his personal history, so that we could understand better where he's coming from, which I found fascinating. It just really reinforced my belief that we're all just products of our unique set of experiences, and how we choose to handle those experiences. Also, that you never really know where life will take you, and the only thing you can really expect is the unplanned and the unexpected. One example that blew my mind was how at one point early in his career, he got offered a teaching position, from people who he didn't even know were following his work. It all felt a bit spy movieish, but he said never to underestimate that people aren't doing their research on you. Makes me wonder if there's anyone out there following MY work, that I don't even know about.

We also got some insights from Charon on choosing a gallery or galleries to represent you and what kind of relationship that should ideally be. I sometimes forget, and I'm sure I'm not the only one, that the galleries need the artist as much as the artist needs the galleries. A gallery needs good work if it's going to survive. He gave us an idea about how much it costs to do a show like SOFA Chicago. He said that maybe the artist doesn't need to know that kind of information, but it helps. I think it makes absolute sense that an artist knows how much, or about how much it's going to cost the gallery to do a show, because that affects how much work the artist needs to produce to make it worth it for the gallery to take to the show.

For me, the whole experience underscored or meshed really well with all of the things I've been thinking about the past several months. I almost wish I would have had this sooner. But life is what it is, and I feel like I was able to speak from an honest and stable place. I could totally empathize with the new grads though, and the things they're feeling now, were the exact same things I felt when I started grad school.

The seminar was open to both grads and undergrads, though most of the undergrads wound up leaving during the first day, whether due to class, or work, or just not being ready for what Charon had to say. The second day though, the grads got to crit with Charon, which made for a really long day, but it was still absolutely worth it. I felt like I had the most useful critique that I've had in a long time.

I've had a little time to digest and while most of what Charon talked about wasn't brand new to me, I keep coming back to a couple things. One is, that every time I think I'm dreaming a dream that's big enough for me, I realize that maybe I'm not. Maybe this thing that I thought I wanted isn't the best thing for me. Maybe there's something bigger and better out there. Also, that the majority of people live life out of fear, and also, I think, desire. You can live out of fear, or out of love, and I'm working very much on the latter. I want to learn how to be fearless.