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This post will cover a recap of what you will find in Austin Kleon’s book, Steal Like an Artist, chapters 7 & 8. The accompanying video is below. I hope you enjoy my thoughts on the sections and have picked up a copy of the book for yourself.

Vlog Entry here:

Overview of Chapters Six and Seven

Chapter Six: The Secret: Do Good Work and Share it With People

There is an 80’s song by the band, Bros, called “When Will I Be Famous?” and the song replies: “I can’t answer, I can’t answer that.” Once again, 80s pop music provides us the perspective we need to keep our heads on straight. We can’t really know if/when we might hit it big so, quit worrying about it and ENJOY NOT BEING FAMOUS!

Obscurity allows us the freedom to be ourselves and provides time and space to develop our craft. Once we are “discovered” or, at least, being paid to produce our art, we have, to varying degrees, an audience with set expectations and/or contractual demands. Perhaps, once we are SUPER FAMOUS, we can return to the freedom of doing what we want and telling our adoring fans to take it or leave it, but that is a very rare station in the art world. That kind of vanity is not really something I am aiming for in my art career.

While we are toiling away in obscurity and working on developing our craft, we should, at some point, concentrate on making our work awesome and, when we are ready, share that art. And that, dear reader, is the secret Kleon reveals in Steal Like an Artist:

THE SECRET:

Do good work: Work on your craft daily, Some work might suck, learn from the stuff that sucks and improve and then…

Share your work: Sounds simple, right? Well, it is a lot easier now than it was years ago. The gallery system is quickly becoming a thing of the past. The internet has opened up the entire world to be our gallery, and every day can be an art opening (minus the cheap wine and annoying small talk).

Internet: The internet is, of course, a great place to share and promote our work, and it can be a considerable time trap. If we have the strength to stay focused and not get lost in a social media spiral, then the world (wide web) is at our feet! Kleon advises that we don’t wait until we’ve achieved step one of “The Secret” to dip our toes into the internet pond. The internet is a great place to, as Kleon states:

“The Internet can be more than just a resting place to publish your finished ideas — it can also be an incubator for ideas that aren’t fully formed, a birthing center for developing work you haven’t started yet.”
So get to work, get great, get online, get inspiration, and get involved with others who feed your creativity.

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Chapter Seven: Geography is no Longer our Master.

Chapter seven starts off, encouraging us to make the environment we want/need to help us be creative. If we cannot pack up and move, we can still create a better world for ourselves, and by extension, others buy developing our internal, external, and creative environments. Making changes to our physical environment can make us feel refreshed and give a bit of a new outlook. Changing the art on our walls, the knickknacks on our tables, and other simple decorative adjustments can help us get into the right headspace.

What we watch and read can help influence our internal (i.e., mental/emp=otional) environment, for me, Audible is an excellent tool for nonfiction and fiction. It is also great for visual artists because you can listen to a book and paint/draw/collage, whatever, at the same time! I am currently listening to Anne Rice’s The Witching Hour, and I love it! I usually like nonfiction books, but I am finding Ms. Rice’s storytelling to be great food for my imagination!

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Kleon goes on to talk about leaving home and touches on his experience living in Italy and England. These are beautiful ideas, and I think we all might like to spend a few years in another part of the world, but, unfortunately, this might be unobtainable for many of us. I would place less emphasis on moving to a new location, even temporarily, and concentrate on building up where we are and, while working on “The Secret,” we can get ourselves to the point of moving to a new place if/when the time is right. As the saying goes, no matter where you go, there you are!

NEXT:
Chapters 8 -10 (The End)