#beth pickens

A really good conversation on what life is like for artists (and how to be healthy as an artist)- from the perspectives of an artist and a non-artist-but-ally-of-artists. Number one thing: Make your work  Number two: Creative community Number three: It is easier to get the accolade than to enjoy it February 12, 2023Woodstock, NY

Creating Connections with an Old Bag of Tea

We power through cups of tea at our house. I’ve been saving the wrinkled and wet used tea bags in a bowl. Don’t judge me. I have my reasons. Not quite finished. The dark flecks are tea. The red pigment comes from pounded rose and geranium petals. In June I began a year long virtual course of study with India Flint. India is an artist who works with plants and found objects to create beautifully…

REVIEW

Make Your Art No Matter What by Beth Pickens

Moving Beyond Creative Hurdles

 With personal anecdotes, examples and stories taken from people she has consulted with, information she has gleaned from life, and issues she believes are important to artists this book provides case studies, suggestions, activities, meditations, list making, work to be done and more as it identifies twelve areas that might cause difficulty and how to overcome issues that might arise.

 The Twelve areas covered:

* Time

* Work

* Asking

* Money

* Fear

* Grief

* Other People

* Education

* Thinking and Feeling

* Isolation

* Marketing

* Death + God

-  additional reading suggestions a

 As an amateur artist, I have gotten away from the practice of creating and thought this book might assist me in returning to art, but it did not provide that stimulus or ideas that I was hoping for. Instead, it is more of a friendly consultant-like exploration of the topics listed above, the author’s thoughts and suggestions and beliefs on each topic, and a bit like a manual and self-help for artists with the above specific issues to address. If you do have such issues then this book might help, but it is not the book that I need right now or the one I was hoping it would be.

 Thank you to NetGalley and Chronicle Books for the ARC – This is my honest review.

 2-3 Stars

    BLURB

Beth Pickens is a Los Angeles-based consultant for artists and arts organizations. She provides career consultation, grant writing, fundraising, and financial, project, and strategic planning services for clients across the US. Before relocating to Los Angeles in 2014, Pickens was based in San Francisco and served as Senior Program Manager at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts and Managing Director of both RADAR Productions and the Queer Cultural Center.

Beth celebrates her new book, Your Art Will Save Your Life, at City Lights on Tuesday, April 24th, in conversation with Brontez Purnell.

City Lights: If you’ve been to City Lights before, what’s your memory of the visit? If you haven’t been here before, what are you expecting?

Beth Pickens: I lived in San Francisco from 2007-2014 and visited City Lights many times to buy books and attend readings. I used to work for San Francisco queer literary arts organization RADAR Productions and City Lights was hallowed grounds for us! One of my favorite readings there was the late poet Justin Chin's book event when 99 Wounds was released.

CL: What’s the first book you read & what are you reading right now?