How to be a Self-Mentoring Artist

A Four-Session Workshop with Adam Lodzinski, Ph.D.

Workshop Description

The open-ended and typically solitary nature of artistic development and the frequent absence of clear milestones, makes achieving fulfillment and success in the arts especially challenging. Whether in the visual, literary, or performing arts it's not easy to be an artist; nor is it easy to deal with the blocks, detours, and decision points along the way. Of course, there is no single road map as each person's creative path is unique.

In an ideal world, everyone would have a mentor to guide them; but mentoring relationships are neither easily formed nor maintained even when they are available. An alternative? Learn to be one's own mentor. Research on the creative process reveals that what sustains creative people isn't just their passion, inventiveness, or even their talent in a particular area, but also their ability to continually mentor themselves, especially once their formal education and training has finished. Based on research on creativity and artistic development, my interviews with many artists in several fields and through interactive discussion and sharing, this workshop will help you clarify issues, sharpen focus, and develop a renewed determination and creative vision.

The workshop is run over four weekly three-hour sessions. In it we cover the following topics:

• Self-mentoring and creativity: Affirming your creative vision
• Courage, inspiration and imagination
• Working with feedback (and dealing with not-so-constructive feedback)
• Self-discipline, focus and staying motivated
• Setting artistic goals and priorities
• The Psychology of Creativity: Keeping the creative process moving

I have taught this workshop over the last ten years or so through various venues. Those who have attended range in age from 17 to 70. Some are teachers in the arts or are students, some are self-taught or want to make the arts their first career, others want to work in the arts as a second career. Some people currently make a living in the arts, others want to achieve that goal.. Some are returning to art after a long absence, having chosen to pursue another career, or having raised a family, or both. Each one is involved in a different medium and each comes with a different background in the arts. But all have one thing in common: they are passionate about art and committed to their artistic development.

Artists in various fields from all parts of Ontario have attended this seminar over the years, and have told me the course has been valuable for them. From those who write to me months afterward, I know that the course has had a very significant impact on their artistic lives. Here typically, is what they have had to say about it:

"You creates a wonderful atmosphere for learning..."

"I am now back on track..."

"The questions raised are vital to any artist."

"I am embarking on a new lease on artistic life!"

Participants benefit from the course in at least three important ways. First, it's often the first chance for many who participate to talk about issues that are deeply meaningful to them in the context of their artistic development. Simply put, most creative people don't have many others around to talk to about the kinds of issues that we explore.

The second key benefit of this course comes from listening to others; not just about their backgrounds and career, but from their perspective as kindred spirits working in other creative media. Writers hear from ceramicists, painters hear from furniture designers, musicians hear from photographers, and so on. One of the remarkable features of this experience is just how similar struggles and rewards are in different artistic media, and this is an invaluable experience from which we all learn.

Third, every creative person needs to periodically stop and re-assess his or her direction. This workshop not only provides an opportunity to do that, but also provides guidelines and insight from which to carry on. This experience will help them sort through issues to arrive at a clear idea of the steps they may now need to consider. The seminar will also give participants some ideas and viable strategies that they can draw upon in the weeks, months, and even years ahead to help them not only overcome creative blocks and doubts when they arise, but also make the most of the time that they have for their creative endeavours. In short, I am sure this course will help participants feel a renewed enthusiasm for their work and greater clarity of direction and purpose as an artist.

If you are interested in taking this workshop or would like to know more about it:

Contact me at email : adamlodz@rogers.com. I run this workshop in Toronto on an ongoing basis when I have enough participants. The cost is $200 for the four sessions and includes a helpful guidebook. I am happy to provide a discount for students and those artists who are in financial need.