Being an artist is not my job, it’s who I am.
I can’t turn off the part of me that’s constantly looking, listening and feeling the world, then thinking of ways to connect various bits and pieces together in order to help me make sense of it all.
Running a business as an artist is very different from being an artist. Being an artist exists whether or not I make money from it. I don’t need to sell or even show my work in order to be an artist. It’s important to me to understand first and foremost that my artist self exists outside of everything else that I do in order to support myself financially. And how I decide to support myself financially is up to me:
– Do I sell artworks?
– Do I apply for funding?
– Do I ask family for help?
– Do I take on a part-time job elsewhere?
Which elements of my artistic self do I monetise? How? And why? In the past I’ve earned money in a variety of ways. At first, I worked as a freelance illustrator. I tried several different business ideas – such as surface pattern design and selling home goods, then creating and distributing a children’s magazine. In the long run neither of these were a good fit. They were more business than art and working within the illustration industry was too confining for me.
So, in 2021 I applied for a DYCP grant in order to pivot out of illustration and into painting. I received the full amount and spent all of 2022 taking the time and space I needed in order to move away from how I previously worked.
When I first moved into painting, I thought I’d be able to sell paintings and support myself that way. However, I quickly realised that I didn’t like to put pressure on my artwork to sell. I felt that as an emerging artist I needed the freedom to be able to experiment, explore and play as widely as possible in order to figure out who I was as an artist and how I wanted my art practice to operate. I also recognised quite quickly that I was mainly breaking even on exhibitions and open studios once all my costs were factored for. So, if I didn’t want to put pressure on my artwork, I knew I needed to explore as many different ways to earn as possible. During this time one of the primary ways I was earning was through teaching a variety of art classes for adults with Cambridge Community Arts (CCA). This work really resonated with me because the idea behind CCA was to use art as a way to improve the mental and physical health of others.
As well as running courses for CCA I started to expand my personal offerings by running mastermind mentoring groups and 1-2-1 mentoring sessions. As I grew more confident in myself as a painter of abstracted landscapes using cold wax and oils, I also started to offer workshops. Each year for the past four years my income has grown; at first, I was making a loss, then breaking even and now within the past year I’ve just started to profit. This year I’ve also managed to reduce my costs by moving further north, finding a bigger studio for less money with ACAVA at Spode works in Stoke-on-Trent, which in turn will allow me to expand my workshop offerings.
Throughout this time, I’ve also had other financial support through Widowed Parents Allowance plus Child and Working Tax Credits which switched over to Universal Credit last year. Sadly, this year my work with CCA ended when they were unable to secure funding to run courses and had to close down. This is the nature of work in the public side of the creative sector. A good deal of it depends on money from funding bodies and there isn’t always enough to go around. Although this is a blow to my finances, I’m continuing to move forward with the same determination that I’ve always had to stay true to myself as an artist.
In the past a way I’ve enjoyed financial security while staying true to myself as an artist was working part-time for a small family run leather business while also still being self-employed. In this job I worked three days a week, was PAYE registered, received sick and holiday pay, plus had contributions added to my pension.
Having worked so long for myself, it was a relief to be working for someone else. I wasn’t used to having sick or holiday pay and had never started a pension. Having someone take care of these things taught me a lot about how I should be treating myself in my own business as well.
What I enjoyed most about working part-time while also being self-employed is that I had financial stability but still had the time and energy to maintain my art practice. In fact, having a part-time job made me feel like I had more time for my practice because I wasn’t worrying about different ways to earn.
The part-time work ended when I moved away. Since then I’ve remained fully self-employed. This is mainly because the right part-time job hasn’t come along. To work for someone else I need a certain amount of flexibility plus I prefer if the work is in the creative industries or with a small creative business.
For now, this means I’m juggling all the different ways in which I earn money. The upside is that I’m my own boss, which I love. The downside is that I’m always searching for new ways to support myself whether through selling artworks, mentoring, running workshops, and working with community organisations or museums. The uncertainty can be exhausting and mentally draining so I surround myself with as many supportive people, artists and organisations as possible.
I know there’s sometimes a stigma around having a “real job” versus being self-employed as an artist. Overall, I don’t judge how I earn money. I don’t consider one way of earning any more important than another.
On one thing I’m always clear – I’m an artist no matter how I support myself financially. That never goes away. It’s a fundamental part of my being.
Sasha DeWitt (b.1972) is a visual artist, creative facilitator and mentor. She was born in the USA, but left when 22 years old to live and work in Japan where she stayed for five years before migrating to the UK. She primarily uses cold wax and earth pigments to translate landscapes as paintings and explores geography, geology, immigration and identity with her work.
This work has a