Hello
and welcome to the adventures and podcast where
we analyze floor and celebrate the creative journey.
My name is Julie Fe bo, and I'm
a working artist living outside of boss and.
I've been hosting this podcast with my super
special c host and my mom.
Ai Shoe balls since 2012.
Hi mom.
Hello, Julie.
So we recently had a group coaching session
over at my monthly membership site, my art
practice doc. Com. And I had a chance
to chat with many of the talented artists
who are part of the online community.
And what was great to hear were about
a month in, maybe to the new membership
site and,
it was great to hear that they love
the content. They found the message board, the
app and the site, you know, either to
use,
was a lot of the things that I
was nervous about, they just absolutely were like,
oh, this is easy. This is great. And
I was particularly pleased when 1 person pointed
out that the search function is super robust,
and she was able to immediately find what
she was looking for. And in fact, I've
had a couple people say, oh, I'd love
to see you do a tutorial for instance
on, like tents. And I said, oh, have
you used the search function because I've done
a few over the past few years, and
I'm sure enough, they type in tents and
up comes everything that I've ever done about
it. So
that is super exciting because it's really useful,
which is what I like. It kinda becomes
like a wiki
for sort of art techniques and ideas which
I really like.
In case I'm putting the car before the
horse, I wanna make sure everybody knows that
my art practice is a community and education
hub for artists of all levels from hobby
to professional,
who are interested in creating systems for growth,
the systems for consistency, systems, for radiation systems
for helping you make decisions. I think you
get the idea of systems.
You know, at its heart, and art practice
is about creating systems that work and help
you make better work.
So in our practice is much more than
the act of making art. It's thinking of
ideas. It's researching. It's developing consistency. Schedule. Its
mindset it's recovering from failure. It's networking, at
so many different things. And you can come
and work on your art practice with a
friendly community at my art practice dot com.
So the membership doors are gonna open for
1 week beginning on 08/08/2024
practice And I hope that you will check
it out. If you wanna be the first
to know when the doors open, you can
sign up for my mailing list, which you'll
find over at my art practice. Dot com.
So this is episode 01:60,
which I have given the enormously long title.
Let's see if I can say it in
1 bat breath.
Growth mindset and morning noon night at the
Att edinburgh Arts museum. So,
today, we're gonna talk about how continuous learning
and bring facing challenges and being open to
new experiences and feedback is a huge part
of success as well as satisfaction with your
work, and we're also gonna talk about the
exhibit morning new nice at the Att Arts
museum, they are actually related, but you're gonna
have to listen to the podcast
to find out how. It So mom, I
know. So today's episode is about growth mindset,
which is often held in contrast to fixed
mindset.
This is like, a... This is a theory
that's been around for a long time. It's
nothing new. Is this something you'd heard of
before I said that this is what today's
topic was gonna be?
I have heard about it. Mh.
Not as applied to an art practice, but
that
figures because I don't have an art practice.
To me,
growth mindset is similar to a phrase that's
often used lifelong learning
mh
And I think the idea is
very similar, which is you never
see yourself as a fixed
endpoint.
You see yourself as someone who's
always interested in something,
unexpected, new, different, a new person, a new
taste, a new
piece of art, a new movie, whatever it
is, music,
you like to
travel or you
like to
just watch people,
you know, go to a cafe and watch
people,
I think 1 of the issues
that's different in the way I approach it
is that
I don't have a particular thing. Like in
our practice
that organizes
and focuses me on
this lifelong learning. I'm just interested in things.
I often find myself reading something from a
magazine or
pursuing something,
which has no relationship to anything I've done
be 4,
but I'm interested.
So I
follow it. And then I use whatever it
is,
as it comes up in my life as
opposed to what you're offering, which is having
in particular
area where you want to keep learning more
That's the difference I think. Doesn't mean you
can't do both.
I don't know that growth mindset is quite
so
needs to be quite so
specific, which is apparently a very difficult word
to say.
I think that a lot of growth mindset,
the reason this this topic came up for
me is 1 of the things that happened
is in group coaching we were talking about
confidence
and how to have confidence.
And I was saying that, you know, 1
of the things I believe in is
that you have to believe
that, like, it's not that you're inherently smart
or you're inherently talented,
but it's that you can learn things. You
can grow. You can develop skills. Right? And
somebody, in the class you has a background
in psychology said, oh, that's called growth mindset.
And so we sort of talked about a
little group coaching, and then I went to
go look it up and really look at
some of the formal
definitions
of it.
Because it... It's related a little bit to
a story that somebody told me once a
woman had been a consultant that... I've always
always loved.
Because I think it speaks to mindset,
which is
they gave a group of women and men,
a fairly easy test,
And afterwards, they said to the women, why
did you do so well in test, and
they also said it's easy. It was easy.
And when they asked the men why they
did so well, the men all said because
I'm really smart or I'm really good at
this. Right?
So women are saying giving the credit to
the test and men are giving the credit
to themselves. Right? And then they gave them
a very, very hard test and they said
to the women, why didn't you do better?
And they said, I'm not that smart. I'm
not really good at this. You know, they
were blaming themselves for it. When they asked
men, you can guess what the men said,
the men said because it was impossible because
it was too... You know what I mean?
And they blamed the test.
And in some ways to me this relates
out to how we think of ourselves? I'm
not... How many times do I tell people
I'm an artist, and they say I'm not
creative.
And I say, no, you've chosen not to
be creative, and that was a choice that
you may. Right? Just like, I could say,
I'm not athletic. But the truth is I've
never once for a day in my life
tried to be athletic. So I could say
I'm not
naturally athletic. But it's a choice that I've
made not to try running, try gymnastics. Try,
like, whatever else it is to make somebody
athletic.
So
so very formally the definitions here. So a
growth mindset is the belief that abilities and
intelligence can be developed. With effort learning and
persistence, not that they're inherent qualities.
Right? And so some of the characteristics are
all the things you were talking about mom,
embracing challenges,
persisting through set,
seeing effort as a path to mastery, learning
from criticism, finding inspiration, other success, emphasis on
learning,
So for instance, in in the art world,
right, a person with a growth mindset will
likely believe that they can improve their painting
skills with practice and learn.
Okay? So then the opposite is a fixed
mindset,
in which it's the belief that abilities intelligence
are static traits that cannot be significantly developed.
You're gifted with the ability. You're born creative.
You wake up knowing how to do these
things. Right? And so people who have a
fixed men's mindset tend to avoid challenges. They
give up easily. They see effort as fruit.
They often ignore useful feedback, and they often
feel threatened by others success because they don't
see any way to close that gap. Right?
So a person and text mindset, in our
art world, might believe that they're either naturally
talented painting or not naturally talented, and basically
there's no amount of practice that can change
that. So that makes sense. Well, I'm trying
to look up this quote, which,
as you know, I'm
I love the new england patriots, and they
had a
big event where they ind Tom Brady into
the patriots hall of fame last week,
and he gave a speech. And 1 of
the things he said in the speech which
I can't find this minute, but I think
it goes to what you're saying
is that he said it's not that you
don't have to be supremely talented, but you
have to be is
consistent and willing to do the work. And
I think that's...
Similar to what you're saying actually.
Yeah. And I think, like, Tom Brady is
a great example of someone who... For people
who maybe don't know and don't follow sports
at all. You know,
very low draft pick, not considered a top
quarterback, not considered particularly athletic gifted called Stiff
and wooden his hole
life have all his success attributed to other
things, other people, other... You know what I
mean consistently. Right and yet, you know, closing
out, you know, 1 of the winning Qb
in
football history.
And I think that
it is again, the idea of do you
have to... With, like, which would you rather
be, like, naturally gifted or a super hard
worker
and to be, Frank, most people, it's better
for you to be a super hard worker
because that generally gets you further than the
natural gift. Now the natural gifts can give
you a head start.
Right? But it's the work that's gonna get
you there every single time.
Yeah. And I think the point he was
making is that
you don't have to be
supremely gifted.
What you have to be is
consistent
mh. Over a period of time and really
work to improve yourself. And I think that's
probably
true about a lot of things.
Some of
getting better at something
is wanting to.
Mh. And then hearing out some pathways for
yourself. I think there's a dis... As a
couple of steps and people often look past
the middle 1. So the first step is
you want to be,
you know, a really good painter. And then
so
you could choose to, like, take classes or
work at it or study with someone or
get critique or read But instead, you just
skip right to the become a famous painter
and you leave the whole middle part out.
You used to be when you were a
theater director, used to talk about how some
people
really like the acting work.
And other people will come in and what
they really want us to be an actor.
But they don't wanna do the work to
become an actor. And I think that's part
of this growth mindset as you understand, you
have to do the work to get to
where you wanna go.
Yeah.
So, an example of it is this. So
I've I've written a story for you guys.
So let's... I... You know, I have a
theatrical background. So let's set the scene.
So this... The character's name is Growth mindset
Julie. Now growth mindset Julie starts her art
making journey with traditional mixed media collage techniques,
you know, combining paper and paint a lot
of you were listening I've probably done that
before.
And over time, growth mindset Julie becomes interested
in new technologies, but
She knows nothing about how they work. She
doesn't have any of the equipment and cash
is tight.
So what does growth mindset Julie do?
Growth by essentially takes online classes to learn
digital art tools. She watches you free Youtube
videos. She visits her local maker space to
use their equipment and get some advice and
some help. She seeks feedback from peers and
mentors on how to proceed. She applies for
scholarships and grants. To be able to buy
the stuff that she needs and get the
education that she wants, and she actively seeks
to learn
and the outcome, the happy ending of our
incredible fairy tale. It's not a fairy tale
though, is that growth mindset Julie continuously evolves
her style by embracing new technologies and methods
through creative problem solving and by the belief
that she can learn new skills. And the
result is a vibrant and ever changing body
of work. Now let's contrast this to
fixed mindset Julie.
So fixed mindset that the evil client. Go
fix and mindset that Julius faced with the
same scenario, but instead of pursuing new technologies
and ideas, she allows the barriers of knowledge
equipment and cash to remain in place, and
the outcome, of course, for poor fixed mindset
Julie is that she continued to make the
same art she has always made.
And while that's not bad. The issue is
she makes it with some dissatisfaction
because she'd like to do other things, but
she's scared or unsure
or unwilling or unable to do them, and
that leads to dissatisfaction
with what she's making. Right?
And so that was sort of, obviously a
fantastic example, but I actually have a really
a real world example, and this is where
we're gonna talk about the Att Arts museums
current show, morning noon and night. Okay? So
here's the real thing that happened, which is
for years, you know, I've been going to
art shows. I'm going museums. I see other
people's art in shows, I see online, thousands
of people having shows and art in this,
and I hear about art called and all
that kind of stuff, but I was fixed
mindset Julie.
And I allowed my insecurities to stop me
from applying to shows with lots of excuses,
things that you might have said to.
You know, things like, I don't have time
to apply to these things. It's really expensive
to pay those entry fees, you know, they'll
never take my work anyway. I don't make
the kind of work that they like, you
know, blah blah blah blah. And the outcome
was basically like a lot of longing and
frankly envy of other people. So
I shifted my mindset.
And in the day. I know yeah. And
I became growth mindset, Julie, but truthfully at
the end of 20 23, I said I'm
done with, like, making excuses.
And I'm gonna start applying to stuff, and
I'm gonna... And I'm gonna stop saying
all the reasons I can't and start thinking
of all the reasons I can. So I
try turn all the excuses into action steps.
I... Instead of saying, I don't have time
to apply. I said I'll make time to
apply. And I I put in my calendar
once a month, There's a There's an appointment
that says apply to calls.
Then it's too expensive to apply, and I
said, you know what? I'll create a budget
for trying to show something that's reasonable and
make decisions on what to apply to partially
based on cost so that I'm not... You
know, because it's 30 or, it can be
anywhere from usually 15 to 45 dollars each
time you apply for a call? And it's
like, you know, do you wanna spend all
that money
on what often ends up being nothing a
rejection?
And then, you know, instead of saying they'll
never take my work. I don't make the
kind of work that they like. I said,
I won't know
if they'll take my work.
Until I apply. And the outcome, the happy
ending to our story is that this year
in 20 24, and it is June now.
I think this podcast podcasts will go out
in July, But this year, I've had 1
solo show. I've been in 7 group shows.
And I won a Jurors award at the
Att Arts museum show, morning noon and night.
My first time in a Museum show, my
first time winning a Jurors award, like, very
exciting stuff. And that 8 shows
is about the same number of shows that
I've been over the past 5 years combined.
And, you know, I think this is just
an example of how changing
your mindset
can lead to a lot of success that
you were maybe too scared to reach out
for. And at the same time though, I've
been doing the work. My work is better
than it was 5 years it's better than
I was a year ago, You know? And
I've... Everything that I've entered into the shows
has been new work that I've done recently.
And so that's another part is believing that
I can. You know, for engineers,
people have told me that I need that
my work is too busy.
And My work is too busy. And I
heard it, and I heard it, and I
heard it and I heard it, and I
could think of a thousand reasons why there
are other artists whose work as equally as
busy or more busy and, like why can't
I also, But then I started to listen
and I started to think about it. And
I've now found some ways that still feel
like me
to draw down some of the busy. And
I think that has helped out of the
success too. And part of that is growth
mindset is actually like listening and hearing what
people are saying, but sometimes the timing has
to be right for that, But that's a
whole separate other thing. Anyway, the fairy tale
is true. Mom, you look like you were
gonna say something.
Well, I was thinking that
some of it is changing your mind, but
some of it you do have a fearless
about putting yourself out there because when you
were a little kid, maybe you were in
middle school, and there was a
call for a Tv show,
1 of those after school specials
at 1 of our local Tv stations and
you decided you wanted to do this. And
it was,
you know,
everyone else sort of looked like
Britney spears,
you know, 1 of those
little skinny blonde girls,
and
you look like you.
Mh.
And I'll try not to take that as
an insult, but okay.
We're not... Yes.
Out
Yes. I'm a I'm a little around dark
haired girl. I get it.
And
so... But I took you to the addition,
and you got a callback
and you book the part out of nowhere.
And I think
a lot of people were surprised.
The point is you took an emotional chance,
and a lot of this growth mindset is
emotional,
even though
it may not seem so. But, I mean,
to let other people
see your art
some will like it, some will not. Some
will get it, some won't.
Yeah. Do you apply of things that you
could be rejected from,
Mh. And not let it feel like a
rejection of you. Mh. I think that's hard.
I think it's hard too. I think rejection
and failure are super scary things and the
whole idea of growth mindset I think or
the reason that
it works for people is because
it's it's like things
permission to say
that failure and rejection are
growth.
It's permission to believe that, you know,
every time you fail, every time you're rejected,
that's an opportunity to grow. I mean, I
I would add the extra step in there
and say that
it isn't enough to fail and say that
that's growth.
You have to fail and consider why.
Why did you fail? And so I will
give another real world like example, which is
we went to a a show that I
was in,
and the juror was giving out awards
and
you know, gave out the awards and afterwards,
you said to me, you know, because I
didn't get an award. You said, you know,
are you okay or something or do you
feel alright about that. And I said, you
know,
I do. I said he didn't give an
award to a single
abstract
piece of work.
And everything
that... And what I had in the show
was abstract, you know, but everything he had
given a award to was
representation. And so I said,
it's always the jurors personal taste, like, the
hs is. Right. And some jurors have a
wider taste. And some have a narrower taste.
And so you just never know whether you're
gonna hit it with the dirt or not,
but that 1 in particular,
the taste of the juror was so clear
to me.
Mh. That it wasn't difficult
to not to,
you know,
wasn't difficult to not feel bad. Is that
too many negatives,
but it it it... I didn't feel bad
because they under... It was so clear
how
his taste was his taste, and I wasn't
even in the conversation of that taste.
Right. I mean, then this goes back to
on a previous podcast. I think we said
this. You always have to consider...
Who is giving you the critique or the
advice and
choose whether or not you think that person
as an insight that's useful to you or
not?
Yeah.
I agree.
So
just... And thinking that the opposite is Issue
too, which is, like, I got the Jurors
award at this Att Arts museum show, but
a different juror on a different day.
You know, I wouldn't have.
And, like, I'm... Who knows if I would
have gone in the show because every juror
has
a difference,
taste profile. I have to say though, that
show... So I... This so the concede of
the show,
morning Noon night is very much what it
sounds like is that they wanted
entries that,
had something to do with,
you know, time of day or sense of
that. And 1 of the things I talked
to the juror at the show and Actually,
she's gonna be a guest on a podcast,
which I'm very excited about. So I won't
talk about it too much. But I will
just mention that she said, you know, there
were 450
entries or something like that. And she said
a lot of them were, like sunrise and
sunsets, and it would have been easy to
fill the entire
show that with sunrise and sunsets, but she
didn't wanna do that. Right? She wanted to
think about the theme in sort of broader
terms and all of things
that it could be. And then so she
chose art that fit that. And then I
also think she was very thoughtful in the
sense of trying to include a wide range
of art because that show had
sculpture,
quilt,
print geography,
photography,
makes media,
painting
ink the
models. Yeah. I mean, there was just the
glass work, like, there was just so many
there was such a wide
range
of art. It really... I mean, maybe because
it's a museum too, but it it... It
felt like a very
wide
spectrum of art and, like, a true representation
of lots of different kinds.
Of our unit I mean? So there was
kind of like, a little bit of something
for everything. Some stuff that was more
of
I I wanna say theoretical, not not the
right word conceptual perhaps, for instance there was
a piece that I'm thinking of, which was,
about this
guy
who was a photographer photographer... Chap who was
a photograph.
Oh a man,
I'm having trouble speaking today.
With a photograph of a man in a
storage unit.
And
there was, like, a flickering light sort of
above the piece and real 3.
Actual flickering light.
And then
the
the photo was, like, printed onto to kind
of wooden slots almost like a pallet.
Yeah stuffed in between the cracks.
Of it, what you could see, like, bags
of stuff and garbage and all sorts of
stuff. And and I was kind of like
I don't get it when I looked at
it. And then I read the card, and
the card was super informative, and I basically
said, like, this is...
Stores that's provided to these addicts
that are often homeless so they can obviously
have their belongings somewhere.
And so
the whole piece of morning moon and night
is and she's it set is. And so
they're their
their belongings are available to them 24 7
morning noon and night,
you know, and that they're able to
access their stuff when they need to, And
I thought that's such an interesting
interpretation of morning noon and night as opposed
to my piece, which was,
called...
Memory of a summer day, which is about
me and my son going for a walk.
Right? And having that feeling of walking and,
like,
it's just not only and Looks was a
different, but just an interpretation of the theme
it was so different.
And I loved that. That those pieces could
exist in the same show and both make
sense.
You know? And I thought they, they just
did such a nice job too because each
of the pieces had the art statement about
how it fit into the theme, and I
thought that was really nice so that it
made everything feel a little bit deeper
a little more interesting in terms of
more than a title, you know, doesn't always
help as much.
Yeah. No. I thought it was a good
show. And I think
the jury
did a good job at being open minded.
Oh, by the way, the show in Att
is open for another week if anybody's interested
in seeing it.
And if you're interested in changing your mindset,
Here's a list of 10 fixed mindset statements
that you can easily transform to growth mindset
statements.
And these are statements that I hear from
students
and fellow artists all the time. So that's
and that's how I picked them, not out
of the air. So the first 1 is
the most common thing that I hear all
the time
I can't
draw.
That is a fixed mindset statement. The growth
mindset,
tone of it is
I don't know how to draw yet,
but I can improve my drawing skills with
practice and dedication.
And so that's gonna be the same for
anything else. I can't sew. I can't knit.
I can't paint. I can't draw people.
I can't draw, you know, and and I
have to tell you, I was talking to
an artist the other day, actually, at the
Att show.
And she was talking about her work, and
she said that she does all this watercolor,
and she doesn't normally draw people.
Because she just can't draw people.
But she was doing a demo...
Oh, wait, This isn't... This wasn't a battle
show. I just realized this was separate. Okay.
Anyway, brain fart,
let's give and rewind that and just say
I was talking to an artist.
And she said she doesn't normally draw people
and then she just decided that's something she
had put into her painting looked a little
like a person.
So then she decided it was a person
and she made another 1. And then she
felt so incredibly proud of herself
that she had drawn
right people.
And that is...
The growth mindset, which is instead of believing
that you can or you don't or whatever
else, it's that you try and you see
what happens.
You know, but knowing that you can get
there.
Okay. Fixed mindset
I can't afford expensive materials, So my work
will never be good enough. Where there's a
will there's a way. I remember when I
was touring colleges, and my father was incredibly
impressed, so with this girl who was our
tour guide at Brown.
She talks about how she couldn't get into
this class she went on a campaign to
get the professor to let her into the
class.
And the campaign to let her into class,
a included, like, all these letters she wrote
to him and this, like, big leg
demonstration that she did about it and all
the other stuff and she did eventually make
it into the class
Right?
And and that's a growth mindset in a
lot of ways too. Right? Believing that there
is a way to figure out how to
get it done.
So
the growth mindset version of not being able
to afford the expensive materials, so your work
whenever would be good enough is to say,
creativity isn't limited by materials.
I can innovate with what I have and
still make great art. I can also look
into other ways of gaining access, the materials
they wanna use.
This is this whole idea of,
can you
get a grant? Can you ask people
for donations? Can you, you know, find a
way to use a makers space or another
resource in town. Did you know that there
are all sorts of programs for artists who
supplies. Like, they're
there are ways to do it. I mean,
even if the expensive material thinking of is,
for instance, like, I don't have access to
a press, so I can't be a real
print maker. Okay. Whoa, whoa, whoa. Let's first
talk about what a real print maker is.
And second of all, let's figure out, like,
there are lots of ways to get access
to a press.
Is there a printing club in your town?
Is there an art center in your town?
Is there a way that you could, you
know that somebody you know has an... Etching
press that you could use time on. Can
you rent time from another print maker. Can
you... I mean, you can find creative ways
to solve your problems, And I think that's
why growth mindset is so popular in entrepreneurial
circles
is because it's about creative problem solving instead
of accepting that the problem is.
You know, I was just thinking that a
lot of times,
1 of the hallmarks of some outsider art.
Is that they use
unconventional quote unquote materials
that is to say
materials that are accessible to them
because they don't cost a lot of money,
including didn't we see 1...
And we're I am it
break.
But the point is
you have to
think about
materials as,
a wide spectrum of things of possibilities,
and you are not
bound by
having to, you know, by the most expensive
paints and the most glorious brushes. Mh.
Yeah. And, like, I will say after having
used a printing press now,
I can confirm that you do not need
a printing press for auto printing if you
have a gelatin plate. Like, I can't see
the difference.
Between the 2 for that particular,
you know,
thing. And, like, there are lots of other
ways to get around. Like, what could you
use in dead. Don't you what class an
online little video or something about doing screen
printing on making your own screen? It's I
do. I taught I taught a class about
that where you can make your own screens
for screen printing with very inexpensive supplies. You
can also find lots of tutorials online about
it. And the same with, like, making stamps
the same with, like there are lots of
paints that you can make lots of ways
to vape expensive supplies like, people have found
a way.
A lot of times expensive things are based
on convenience.
And if you're willing to put in a
little more work, then you can make the
cheap thing work for you. Okay. Fixed mindset
statement.
Oh, gosh. I hear this 1 so often.
If I can't do it perfectly, what's the
point?
In fact, I hear that 1 sometimes from
a voice inside my own hat. The growth
Fine perfectly.
Is perfectly the way you had imagined it.
Do you know what?
Yes. Is is perfectly the way another person
looks?
Yeah.
That's all those things are fair, and a
lot of times that is what people mean.
And the fact, the growth mindset version of
it is making mistakes as part of the
creative a process, and it helps me learn
improve, doing it a different way than what
I thought is okay, doing it not
exactly like somebody else is fine. Me you
know, like I'm me. I'm not them. And,
like, if you can get out of that
fixed mindset of the task to be this
1 way.
That's enormously helpful. I often tell people, the
the best art skill that you can develop
is an
openness
to
not having it turn out a particular way.
Like, that's the art skill that you'll really
lead just most success. Because if you're too
fixed on it,
You just never get there. None of us
will. Right?
Okay. Fixed mindset. I'll never be as good
as
insert the artist.
Picasso, my neighbor, and my mother, whoever it
is. Right?
And the growth mindset version is,
I can learn from said artist work. And
use it as inspiration to develop my own
style. You know, I think once you... As
I say, comparison is the thief of joy.
Once you start the comparing, it's so hard
to stop. And it's like, what does that
mean as good as? Does that mean as
successful?
Does that mean that everything looks great? Like,
what does that mean?
You know, and I think that's an important
thing to think about. What is it that
you want that that artist has?
Okay. Fixed mindset. I failed at that when
I tried it, So it's not for me.
This is the old. If you fall off
the horse, you gotta get back up again.
If you fall off your bike, you gotta
get back up again. If you fall down
on your paintbrush,
be careful where it poke you and get
up again. Right?
So the growth mindset version is, I didn't
get it right the first time or the
second time or maybe even the fifth time,
but with more practice,
I can master that.
Right? And I think it's kind of like,
I can practice yoga with someone who's been
practicing yoga, for 20 years. And they're just
gonna definitely at least grind through their son's
sal irritation. And I'm gonna hu and puff
and have to look at the teacher to
make sure I know what I'm doing and
think about on my body parts
and I can't imagine that that person would
look at me and be like,
get out
You're terrible at this. Right? Because they don't
care. They're in their yoga practice doing their
yoga thing, You know what I mean? I...
I'm am irrelevant to what's happening.
But I might be looking at them and
think to myself.
Oh, god. That person so good, and I'm
so terrible, but it's ridiculous. Isn't it? For
me to compare myself in my first yoga
class or even my
2 years of a yoga to someone who's
doing it for 20
years.
You know, my 4 year old told me
yesterday that that he knows how to drive
because he's watched us drive, which was a
hilarious
conversation I then sent to him, Oh, really?
Do you know how to read since you've
watched us read at which point I had
him. But I don't what did he say?
He was, like,
No. And I was like, okay. So you
don't know how to drive because I don't
want you getting behind the car and trying
to right do any type of wheel. Yeah.
But anyway, so
I think a lot of times, though, we
have this desire that I see in him
that I think is a innate and a
lot of people to sort of be
at a different point at a further along
point to say that we we we can
do it because I I saw your drive
so I can drive.
I saw you do I can do Yoga.
I saw I saw you paint this. So
since you can do it, I can do
it.
And it's like, it doesn't work that way.
There's a lot of steps in between, There's
a lot of practice. There's a lot of
work and things that look effortless are often
because that person has been practicing for so
long.
That it's become a innate in them. Right?
So practice is the key.
Okay.
Fixed mindset, my work
should speak for itself.
I don't want to do marketing.
And I hear a lot of people do
various versions of this, including, like, I don't
wanna have to make videos and reels, and
I don't wanna have to, you know, do
blah blah blah. And the answer is fine.
But then you you have to understand that
marketing is what you wanna do if you
want more people to see your work. If
you don't want more people to see your
work, that's also fine, but that's just a
choice that you're making.
Right? So the growth mindset version would be
like, listen. Marketing my work is an important
part of getting my work out in the
world. I can learn how to do it.
I can hire someone else to do it.
I can choose not to do it. But,
like, that is your... You're in control of
that. Mh. Whether you want or not. Do
you have to dance on tiktok in order
to get people to see your art no.
But can you find a way
to make an 8 second video? You know
what I mean? Of you painting or drawing
or knit whatever if you want a little
more attention, Sure. You do it. That goes
along with if you want
your artwork to be part of your a
business.
You have to accept certain things about being
a business. I mean,
am I gonna just
sit in my house and wait for the
doorbell to ring and
call that a business. No.
So
marketing, you don't have to market like everyone
else does,
you know, but you
can't
expect people to find you when they don't
even know you're there.
I think there's also some sort of belief
that some people have sometimes that marketing is
either, like,
shady
or,
like, tricking people
or you know what I mean? Doing something,
that isn't aligned
with your goals, but I think, like at
the end of the day,
the best marketing is honest.
And the best marketing is truthful. And the
best marketing is just about... It's like putting
up a big sign that people can actually
read from the road
You know what I mean? The best marketing
is saying, like, this is what I do.
This is who I am. I'm just trying
to tell you
that I exist so that you can find
me. It's not like, hey, you know, let
me trick you into doing this. Let me
trick the algorithm. Let me... I mean, I
think that that's a whole separate other thing.
But I think if you really wanna think
about what marketing is meant to do is
it's just meant to bring the right people
that people are interested in what you have.
To you.
You know Well then you tell me that
once you are talking to someone who said
to you,
you don't have to change yourself
to make yourself somehow appealing to everyone.
You be yourself and the people who are
your natural audience will find you.
Absolutely.
And I believe that a hundred percent. It's
actually
1 of the reasons I've I started to
change the kind of videos that I post
online.
So for instance, I I think there are
a lot of people who,
like, watch
let's say reels or Tiktok videos, which are
usually short as entertainment. Like, I watched a
lot of cooking videos for stuff I'm never
gonna make because
I enjoyed, like, the theater of it. Right?
So it doesn't matter to me that it
goes too fast that I couldn't actually follow
the instructions that they never give measurements that
they don't because I'm, Caught in the magic
of, like, the bowl turns into the this
turns into you what to mean? And this,
and it's fun and, like, the final thing
is dramatic and it's entertainment. Right?
And so I made a lot of art
videos like that, where it was really about,
like, it was almost performance art and, like,
things are so cool and it's not tutorial
and it's just for entertainment. But what I
found is those aren't my customer.
My customers is not people who are seeking
entertainment. My customers is people who want to
talk about art and learn about art. And
so it's better for me to have fewer
views,
fewer likes,
fewer people, but the right people. And that's
been a mental shift too to understand that
you're not trying to go for the most
you're not trying to go for the widest
swath. You're trying to go for a very
narrow slice of pie.
Well, also,
you want people to think that you
know them in some way that you are
speaking to them in some way.
And if you try to speak to everybody,
will all get it that you aren't speaking
to me. I do think it
also,
sometimes people are
shy to market because they feel like they're
self.
Toot your own horn too much,
you know, not humble, But I mean, would
you wanna buy something
from someone who's who who doesn't have anything
to say about it, who won't give you
any information about it, who,
you know, won't show you their face,
I just feel like there's a line that
you can
not go over
where
it it you don't have to turn to
1 of these people who says, buy it
now. It's, you know, the best thing that
ever happened. I mean, you're not selling the
Gin knife here. Right.
And you're for is not
not who everyone's faced.
Right? And you're also not the amish, you
think that buttons are.
Yeah. There you know. It's like finding that
Gold lock sweet spot
where it's not the honest, and you're not...
And neither are you selling your gin and
knives or somewhere in the middle of just
talking about what authentically talking about, like, what
you do?
Okay. Next
fixed mindset.
I'm not good with technology.
Oh my gosh. I need people to stop
saying this.
What you've done is you've made a choice.
Not to understand technology, and that may sting
to hear,
but it's true.
The the growth mindset version is, I don't
know how to do that yet I can
take classes or seek help to become profession
in any kind of technology.
So for instance, I say things all the
time, that's completely untrue. I say, like I'm
not good at
you know, remembering people's names. Well, no. I'm
just kind of a jerk, and I like,
it's not a priority to me. And so
I don't spend a lot of time thinking
about... Let me remember that person's name, but
I do spend a lot of time thinking
about, you know, let me remember the name
of this paint color.
Because that's important to me. And so it's
like you just have to think about it
as if you want to be good at
technology,
you can be,
if it's not a priority to you, then
it's not a priority to you, and that's
okay to say too.
But saying I'm not good at it,
is just a very...
It puts you in a place where you're
somehow helpless.
Right. And you're asking other help me. By
the way, 1 way, you can do it
is the way I've done it, which is
you have 2 children whom you can call
a bear night and beg for help. With,
you know, on your technology
issues. A fine way to do it. A
fine way to do it.
Okay. So fixed mindset. I can't take criticism.
It just discourage me. Well, let's think about
it first in the growth mindset way. Criticism
of my work is not criticism of me,
and it's valuable feedback that could help me
grow and improve as an artist, and I
will consider everything
take what's useful
and leave the rest. Right?
You know, that's really key. So it's not
that you can't take criticism and that Criticism
discourage you. It's that you... In your brain,
you're somehow con
what people are saying about your work with
you, which is natural. It makes sense that...
Because we put so much for ourselves into
our work. But but can you make an
effort to stop doing that? Can you make
an effort to, you know, take everything? I'll
tell you something I'm like Quick group has
been doing, which
has been really useful,
which is everybody gets, like, I think 10
or 15 minutes, To show their work and
have everybody's sort of talk about it.
But in addition, we give everybody little slips
of paper,
and everybody rights down
whatever it is that they're thinking of.
So there are really like...
There's literally probably 10 benefits of this. Like,
the major benefits of this are like, that
1, you get some written feedback that you
can process later privately,
digest it, think about it, etcetera.
2, people can say things that they wouldn't
necessarily say out loud. And oftentimes what I
find is there was a very vocal person
during the session, but then the cards, many
more people say something opposite, and I wouldn't
have known that.
If not for the cards beg the very
vocal person often, you know, wins out in
that conversation. And then the third thing is
that it's
different
when you read it a day later.
It's different
when you look at it even like a
week a month later.
Because you have more emotional distance
from it. And it's even different than it
was, like, in my memory of it, So
I find it really, really useful to have
that, like, multi layers of feedback.
Another thing that you do which is good
is... So you try to have people
ask the people who are doing the critique
very specific questions. So
They're not presenting something and suddenly saying here,
do you like it?
They're saying, j is x or y successful.
Yeah. Do you see the, you know, z
and r. So I think asking specific questions
like that,
doesn't
leave you as vulnerable somehow, and it's a
good way to get into the having your
stuff criticized.
I agree. And because thinking also about, like,
what is the feedback you want? Are you
just looking for praise? That's fine. You can
say to somebody what you like about this
piece?
You know? Are you looking
for... And, like, oftentimes I'll say, like, this
is done. I'm not gonna change anything about
it. But I'd love to know if you
think that it's
too crowded or if it feels joyful or
you know what I mean? But I like,
make very clear or I say something like,
I like this very much. I'm pleased with
how it turned out. I'm just not sure
if there's too much weight. I don't plan
to change anything about it, but I'm curious
to hear feedback.
That again is another way of kind of
protecting and then I can take that and
roll it into the next piece.
Okay. So related to this, there's fixed mindset
that thing that people say, which is
some version of, like, they just don't get
my work. Critics don't understand what I'm
about. Those people didn't know what I was
trying to do.
So that's a way of blaming them.
Right, for not understanding. But a a growth
mindset would ask the question of yourself, can
I find another way to explain or describe
my work? This is like what we were
talking about in the morning noon to night
exhibit, how I was saying that the little
cards
that explained each of the pieces really helped
me understand what was going on in a
way that I couldn't just looking at it.
And so this is why I often hear
our artist complain. I'm not a writer I
became an artist So I didn't have to
write. Why do I have to write these
statements and these and it's like, well, because...
People need a way into
your work.
You know? So
you're not a writer, but you are people
person who is making
something,
you know, that needs to be talked about
thought about? And so can you find some
ways,
that you can write in just a conversational
way
about your work about what you're doing. Can
you use chat To clean it up you
know, can you find a way to get
a friend to help you work it around.
But there are are again, creative
solutions to that problem?
I also feel that
you have to give to get.
M,
if you're not gonna
participate.
Open yourself up a little bit
and gives also some critique,
then people don't
feel comfortable doing it back. So then what's
the point? Mh. It's a conversation.
Yeah. Yeah. I think Art is almost always
a conversation with the viewer. Where they're bringing
their stuff to it, and I'm bringing my
stuff to it. The same is, like,
you could say...
So years and years and years ago I
went to therapy.
And I
started out with a therapist who been recommended
to me, and I shared a very upsetting
email I had gotten from my father.
Started and she was like,
could not see it as upsetting, refused to
see it upsetting, made me
acted like I was over reacting to it.
And what I realized is she wasn't the
right therapist for me because either I was
unable to communicate the baggage,
how, like, yes. That's a normal sounding sentence.
I agree. But but not from this man
on in this occasion. Right?
And she couldn't understand that or I couldn't
communicate it, And I was like, this is
not a good fit, and I stopped seeing
her, and I started seeing somebody else who
immediately was able to to listen and understand
about why it was upset and understand that
it came with baggage. Right? So just like
everything else who there's a conversation, everybody brings
their own
perspective, their baggage to what you're showing. If
you show a picture of a woman,
and she looks like someone in that person's
life, they have a different
interpretation of it than if she's a stranger.
You know? That's just the way that it
is.
Okay. The final fixed mindset statement that I
am turning around here is
I've always done it this way.
Sometimes you've always done it that way, and
that's the... Because you don't know any other
way. Sometimes you've always done this way because
it works every time and you just want
it to work. You know, there are lots
of reasons why you've always done it this
way. But growth mindset is saying I'm curious
to explore new techniques and methodologies to see
how they can and pants my work. Right?
I'm owing to the new. I... So I
just... We just read a book club, the
Rick Rubin books or Creative acts. And 1
of the things that he talks about in
map book I think is really true is
he says, like, every now and then, no
matter what it is that you've been doing
working, and you're the most success that full
singer song in the world,
you need to do the opposite.
You need to just do the opposite. You
need you to just see where that leads
you.
You know, you need to try something that's
very far away
from what it is that you're doing.
Okay?
Sense for me.
Yeah. And I think it's really true. I
mean,
as you can sort of hear from all
the examples that we've been giving, those are
the grown mindset,
growth mindset tend to embrace challenges and persist
despite setbacks.
And conversely, those are the fixed my may
limit their potential by adhering to familiar methods
and resisting change. And by cultivating a growth
mindset and you can unlock your full artistic
potential. You know, it applies to organizations too,
which is why they
often
want to
overturn
or
add on some different board members or drawn
from a different group. We... I'm I was
doing a strategic planning session the other day
with an organization. And when they divided us
up into sections to work on different parts
of the plan,
1 of the things was they took
the 3 people who were already doing
this task.
And they put them all together in the
same group. And I suggested
would they consider having at least 1 of
those people swap out with someone
from a different group who is not currently
engage in that task so that a new
way of thinking or looking at it. Mh.
Could happen. And I think
that's the same thing, but on a on
an organizational basis. You want to make sure
that
there's an open
an open window for some new ideas to
come in.
And and I think
that's the way you keep an organization striving
too.
Mh.
I think that people sometimes think that diversity
and inclusion
means
be somebody being a different race than you,
and that's the only definition of what that
can possibly mean. But I think it's also,
like, differences in perspective.
Differences in a bill it. Like, there's a
lot of ways to have a diverse I
group of people
look at something. And I think that it's
important,
that's 1 of the reasons it's so important
right? To have all those different perspectives is
because people come at things from different directions,
and that makes for something that's better and
stronger in the end.
If you want to develop a strong and
thriving our practice
I hope you'll check out my our practice
dot com. See this is my marketing, but
I'm not selling you against you knives. I'm
just telling you what it is. Right? This
is a monthly
membership for artists at any level who want
to create art regularly and develop a system
for getting better at making your own unique
arch. You can get on the wait and
be, the first to know when the doors
is open on August eighth for cycle 2.
The focus of cycle 2 is gonna be
on iteration or working in a series, and
I'm... Super excited for it.
So
any last thoughts, mom, While we sign off.
Just about drained.
I'm a mere hu of myself now.
Well, I am in a growth mindset, and
I'm excited to open myself up to lots
of new opportunities out of Failure, I am
a Phoenix rising from the ashes. And if
you want to connect with me. You can
find at julie balls dot com are all
over social media as app balls or designs.
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So