By Noelle Sharp
MAKING ART WORK: Advice for artists, from artists is a series that taps into the knowledge and experience of seasoned creatives from our community and beyond for the benefit of our students. We had the pleasure of speaking with American composer and performer, Lea Bertucci, for this episode of MAKING ART WORK.
What do you wish you had known when you were a less experienced artist?
Failure is the ultimate teacher. Even though an unsuccessful or incomplete project may be intensely frustrating, its important to view it as an opportunity to learn about yourself and your work. Experimentation is essential to pushing the work forward and creates growth as an artist. The feeling of not knowing what you are doing (be it in terms of technical, material, or conceptual aspects) is actually what opens an artist up to other possibilities and can create an expanded notion of what the work can be.
How do you find balance between creating your own art and using your creative talents for other projects (jobs, collaborations, etc.)?
I'd say that my general work/life balance has always been to keep a low financial overhead (even though that can be tough living in NYC), so that the majority of time I spend awake is devoted to my creative projects. I've learned technical skills that I can use in a number of part time jobs, but I always prioritize my creative projects. This can certainly mean a degree of sacrifice of life stability or comforts, but to me its not even a question.
What’s the most useful advice you were given?
A very insightful older artist friend once told me opportunities tend to come in waves, or cycles. So its important to use periods of time where you are less busy to really dig in and develop ideas, techniques or collaborations. There is a big difference in between creating work and presenting it, and it is easy to get caught up in the presentation side of everything, but really, the most essential part of making work is the exploration, the possible failure that comes from experimentation.
To hear a selection of Bertucci's work visit her Soundcloud and Bandcamp sites.
