Blog

I’ve written a lot about the real issues and the emotional life of artists. I’ve tackled creativity and depression in books like The Van Gogh’s Blues and Rethinking Depression, creativity and anxiety in books like Mastering Creative Anxiety and Performance Anxiety,...

Here are some last things to consider: + Will you ask participants to evaluate the experience? You need not consider this a requirement or an obligation: ask for feedback and/or an evaluation only if you feel like doing so. However, you should ask for an endorsement....

Step 7. Run Your Class, Workshop or Retreat You’ve created your class, workshop or retreat, dealt with all the details, marketed and promoted it well enough that you have sufficient participants, and now—it’s time to run it! Here are some things to keep in mind: +...

Step 6. Stretch the Next Step Some aspects of creating and running classes, workshops and retreats your way may strike you as easy—and some may strike you as hard. When you come up against one of those hard places you are likely to stall, avoid doing the work, and...

Step 5. Follow through Once you pick a specific class, workshop or retreat to run, what follows next is: everything. You will need to: + Settle on a venue (home studio, rental space, cyber class, etc.) + Research venues (if you need a rental space) + Pick a price (if...

Step 4. Pick One Idea It’s not unusual to have several different ideas for the classes, workshops or retreats you want to run. As a person with a fertile imagination, it’s easy for you to dream up lots of alternatives! But then you are faced with choices. Since having...

Step 3. Decide to Start Ever had the experience of not being able to find the edge on a roll of packing tape, getting frustrated, and just giving up, for the moment at least? It turns out that something similar can happen as we dream about running our class, workshop...

Step 2. Don the mantle of leader When you run a successful art class, workshop, or retreat you are doing more than presenting information or sharing techniques. You are leading. Leadership is not a quality we usually associate with teachers or with workshop leaders...

Step 1. Embrace the Logic If you’re a working artist who loves making things and who has little patience for other pursuits why would you want to run art classes, workshops or retreats? Won’t they cost you time and energy that you’d rather devote to making art? And...

Sometimes the simplest ideas are the most powerful and the most useful. One such simple idea is getting to your art before your “real” day (of a day job or similar responsibilities) begins. Many people already do something during this “before the day begins” time:...