CHALLENGE 33

Sharing and collaborating

AT FIRST, IT ISN’T ALWAYS EASY OR COMFORTABLE TO SHARE AND COLLABORATE WITH OTHER ARTISTS, BUT IT WILL BRING YOU MANY BENEFITS. KNOWING THAT SOMEONE ELSE IS LOOKING AT YOUR WORK, YOU WILL GIVE YOUR BEST, AND THE QUALITY OF YOUR ART WILL BE BETTER FOR IT. I SUGGEST HERE FOUR SIMPLE KINDS OF SHARING AND COLLABORATION: COLLABORATIVE PROJECTS, CREATIVE PARTNERSHIPS, MENTORING RELATIONSHIPS, AND ARTISTS’ MEETUPS. SHARING WITH OTHER ARTISTS WILL ALSO ALLOW YOU TO DEVELOP YOUR NETWORK AND TO MAKE YOUR ART KNOWN. SO, CHALLENGE YOURSELF TO CONTACT AN ARTIST TO SUGGEST ONE OF THESE FOUR KINDS OF COLLABORATION TO THEM.

1. Collaborative project

In certain artistic fields, like cinema, the theater, and music, where it is difficult or impossible to put together a project alone, collaboration is a natural part of the creative process. In those situations, tasks are distributed based on different specialties (for the movies, for instance, there’s the cameraman, editor, costume designer, actor, director, producer, etc.). Even if your art is of a more solitary kind, like painting or photography, I encourage you to work on a collaborative project.

Contact one or more artists and decide on a project where you can join your skills. Ideally, you should be proactive and give ideas. It could be a matter of creating a painting together or working on a video, an installation, an exhibit, or something else. The possibilities are endless. Whether it is something you do for pay or a personal project, if you do it in collaboration, you will surely produce something more complex and ambitious than what you would have produced on your own.

If you don’t quite dare to create something working together with several people at the beginning, then you can start by choosing a shared project where you work separately but compare your creations at the end. A challenge can lend itself well to this kind of format, like what PV Nova did (story on page 132).

At any rate, by leaving your comfort zone in this way, you will learn a lot about other people’s techniques, processes, and points of view. You will be inspired, filled with energy, and your art will reach a new level. In addition, this kind of project will allow you to better get to know the artists you are connecting with and potentially to make yourself known among their community.

2. Creative partnership

Your creative adventure will be made up of highs and lows. It’s a great thing to have a creative alter ego, with whom you can share what you’re going through. That person can also be an accountability partner for you: you can take on the responsibility of a mutual commitment to lift each other up, encourage each other, and support each other.

Just talking to your partner about your projects will help you make them more concrete. Sometimes, all you need in order to find a solution to your problems is to articulate them out loud. Check in with your partner on a regular basis in order to see where you are and what you’ve done. Your productivity will shoot up like an arrow, and you will quite naturally create a routine that is difficult to break because you will be committed to each other.

Being a part of a community, through a forum or a Facebook group, for example, can also play the role for you of having a creativity partner. But it’s more effective to designate one or two particular people. Among your friends or family, is there someone who might have goals that are similar to yours? Or if you don’t know anyone, send out a message among your community letting people know that you’re looking for a partner for mutual creative encouragement. I’m sure you’ll find someone!

3. Mentorship

You don’t have to discover and learn everything all by yourself. Someone else has already gone down that road and might have the answers to your questions. In reading artists’ stories and biographies, I realized that most of them have or had mentors. Unlike a creative alter ego, a mentor has several years more experience than you do. A mentor can advise you, guide you, and also push you to give your best, sometimes with some constructive criticism.

How do you go about finding a mentor? In an interview with the website The Great Discontent, the American painter Elle Luna explained that one day she sat down to write out some bold lists, including “Dream Mentors,” “People with Magic Powers,” and even “Things to Do before I Die.” She was daring enough to write to the people on her lists and was astonished when one of them suggested having lunch the following week.

In this day and age, when we can write to almost anyone electronically, dare to contact your dream mentors, while staying realistic (avoid celebrities). Also accept that a quality relationship takes time to build, and that it is a two-way street. Think about how you can help your mentor in your own way (see page 172).

4. Artists’ meetups

Artists’ meetups are a way to meet other artists and share with them just for pleasure. Choose a place and time and make a date to meet at a cafe, in a park, or at a museum to create together. There may already be groups in your city that meet regularly in order to create together. Urban Sketchers, for example, is a network that exists almost everywhere in the world and that organizes meetings between devotees of drawing, sketching, and travel notebooks. Participating in this kind of get-together is a way to relax and talk with other artists without expectations or comparisons. It’s a low-pressure way to develop your network and to break out of your isolation if that is weighing on you.

In order to find this kind of group:

start by asking about groups that might already exist in your town or city;

become active in a Facebook group specializing in your favorite medium and (with the group moderator’s permission) ask other members of the group if they would be interested in a local artists’ meetup;

ask your friends to spend some creative time with you, even if they don’t practice the same art form as you.

Élise’s photos www.lisebery.com

My photos

Juliette’s photos www.jenesaispaschoisir.com

One place, four interpretations

In 2016, I suggested a collaborative project to three other Parisian photographers, Élise, Marie-Charlotte, and Juliette. The goal was to photograph the same place and then to compare our pictures and our experiences. We shot a total of four locations, one for each season. Each person’s preferences in terms of subject matter, framing, light, and treatment come through: here you see our photographs of Paris’s Cité florale (an idyllic floral village in the 13th arrondissement) in the springtime. The similarities and differences provoked interesting discussions that taught me a lot about photography.

Marie-Charlotte’s photos www.mariecharlottephotographie.com

Seven tips for networking effectively

Be informed

Before contacting one of your idols, make sure that you are well acquainted with their history and their current activities. Respond to their work on social media, and don’t hesitate to share it. In the content of your message, concentrate on the person you are writing to, showing them that you know their work and mentioning the specific projects that have made an impression on you. There is no need to say too much about yourself.

Don’t hesitate

You have nothing to lose in contacting the artists that you admire. The worst that could happen is that they could ignore your request (consider asking again) or turn you down. Likewise, don’t be afraid to start a conversation in person with someone you meet at an event. If you don’t know how to approach them at that moment, try to guess what they might be thinking (it could even be as simple as “Nice buffet, isn’t it?”), and stay relaxed.

Prepare yourself for refusals

Whether you’re looking to start a collaborative project or organize a simple get-together, you will have to deal with multiple refusals. Be prepared for that, while still remaining confident.

Give before you receive

Whatever form the artistic sharing takes, everyone should get something out of it, not just you. Be clear on what the advantages of the collaboration are for everyone. Depending on who you’re approaching and for what kind of connection, consider offering your help before anything else. Even if you feel like you have nothing to offer (to a mentor, for example), you surely have resources in some other realm. Use your imagination!

Be specific

Make sure to give your interlocutor important details in order to convince them to collaborate with you. Show them that you have already thought about the best way to share and that you are organized. In particular, be prepared with an estimate of the time that your proposed collaboration will take, any costs, and the benefits.

Listen

Listen to your interlocutor, and ask questions about what intrigues you.

Make yourself visible

In order for people to be able to contact you and to know your art, you have to make yourself visible, findable. Share your work, talk about it at events. Start with your family and friends, then develop your online presence (challenge 34). If sharing your work comes naturally to you, opportunities for sharing and collaboration will be more plentiful and interesting!

In particular, revisit Courtney Cerruti’s advice on how to network in her story on page 26.