In April of 2019 I was invited to be a judge and guest speaker at the 10th Congressional District Art Show held at George Washington University’s Ashburn campus. High school students enrolled in public and private art programs throughout the 10th Congressional District were invited to submit artwork in a variety of visual art mediums. Winners are recognized both in their district and at an annual awards ceremony in Washington, DC. The winning works from 435 districts are displayed for one year at the U.S. Capitol and in 2019 the winner of these entries receives a full scholarship to the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD). Jennifer Wexton displays the honorable mention winner from the 10th Congressional District in her D.C. office. 

I worked with four other judges to determine best in show and honorable mention from nearly 200 submissions as well as best in category and runner up in category. The submissions were organized into one of six categories: drawing, painting, photography, digital media, printmaking, and mixed media. I and my fellow judges spent an entire day evaluating the artwork. The attention, effort, and talent each student presented in their creation elevated our motivation to take time with their work while making our selections for the winning entries. 

Once the award recipients were selected, I got to work on my speech for the award ceremony. 

My speech needed to be relevant to both the students and their families. I wanted to address the creative process and provide sound career advice in an engaging format. I found my voice but could I keep my public speaking nerves in check to effectively deliver the speech?

 The day of the award ceremony was in early May. I spent the week leading up to it practicing my speech to anyone who would listen. Despite all of my preparation, I could not get my butterflies under control. I sat in the empty auditorium before the families came to claim a seat and tried to focus on something mundane but comforting. The warm Spring afternoon breeze coming through the windows and the deep yellow light of the setting sun through the venetian blinds helped but it was not enough to distract. 

One family arrived early. They sat in the back row and I could hear excitement in their voices as they discussed the show and dinner plans for later that evening. One family member approached me, bursting with pride, he told me his niece won best in her category of digital media. They had found out that day because his niece’s art teacher called the family after she realized her student had not told her family about the award. I told him I was one of the judges and he excitedly called his family over, including his niece, to meet me.

Creating art on a digital tablet was a lifeline for her. It allowed her to communicate with her family and provided a deeply needed outlet for creativity. The tablet had been a gift from her exuberant uncle who had dropped everything at work to see his niece receive her award. She generously shared images of her work with me and demonstrated her process of creation. By the time the other judges came to join me I had not realized the auditorium was nearly full and my anxiety level quieter thanks to the conversation with the digital media artist and her family.

While the butterflies quickly returned as soon as I stood at the podium, I made it through the speech successfully. 

Afterwards, I met with the families and award winners, took pictures with some of them, and chatted about their art. Returning to my car in the parking lot that evening I heaved a huge sigh of relief grateful for the opportunity, honored to speak in front of all those people, and thankful for the uncle, his niece, and her immediate family who kept the worst of my butterflies at bay. 

A few months later on my birthday, August 16th, the Mom of the digital media winner emailed me and gave me one of the nicest birthday gifts:

“…We met you and enjoyed your comments immensely. I have since tried (unsuccessfully) to paraphrase your speech to others - specifically around the portion where you explained why it is so hard for artists to share their work. I have been moved by that and no longer get frustrated at my daughter’s lack of sharing and relish when she invites me to look at her work in progress/finished works. I would be grateful for a copy of your speech to share that portion with family and friends in an effort to raise their awareness of the introverted nature of our daughter and the inner workings of their craft. You explained it beautifully.”

I sent her the speech and included it below. It means the world to me that I was able to help this family that unknowingly helped me deliver my speech.   

The process of making art starts with an idea. Sometimes those ideas arise after much deliberate contemplation and research. Sometimes they hit like flashes of lightening seemingly out of nowhere. Sometimes they are inspired by seeing or experiencing something that is truly life changing. These ideas are often so powerful and all-consuming that in order to give them life art must be created because this is the best way to share the idea with others.

Once the idea takes root in the mind of an artist, the process of brainstorming how best to express this idea begins. Sometimes brainstorming happens in tandem with the creation of the art itself. However, those flashes of inspiration translating into flawless execution are rare. Finding the best way to express an idea takes time, experimentation, research, and reflection on the question, what am I trying to say?

Once the artist has a vision for how art will give life to the idea the next phase of creation begins. Some ideas take easily to the form an artist has chosen for it. Sometimes ideas resist being molded into a physical form resulting in frustration and perhaps an image on a canvas angrily scribbled out. In order to realize achievement, creating art takes, time, energy, and often a healthy dose of grit. An artist must persist, work through creative blocks, cope with dead ends, and moments of self-doubt. 

At some point the artist must say it is completed. I am finished. This may seem like the easiest step, knowing when the creation truly reflects the idea. In reality, it is often one of the hardest steps. Left incomplete the idea is not fully expressed, overwrought and overworked the idea is buried or lost. Am I finished? Is sometimes the hardest question for an artist to answer.

The physical form of an artist’s idea is a real piece of the artist. It requires courage to share a piece of oneself not knowing how others will interpret the creation or the idea. Completing the journey from inspiration to creation to completion and finally sharing a piece of art is filled with potential obstacles. 

Every one of you here tonight has successfully completed this journey. You have created art and shared it with your family, friends, and community. You should be deeply proud of yourselves. I know what it takes to get here and regardless of the outcome of this competition, today you are all artists. I hope you will continue to create long after today. 

I am an artist, but I engage with other related disciplines as well. In my daily life I use a variety of skill sets that complement my different roles as an art educator, art manager, and art creator. I serve on the board of McLean Project for the Arts and I implement the Art in the Classroom program for kindergarten and first grade at my children’s elementary school. I teach art classes at Art House 7, and I am also the lead researcher on the Otto H. Bacher catalogue raisonne project. Sometimes art creation is my main focus and sometimes it exists on the periphery of my life but it is always present.

Speaking with you all tonight feels like an opportunity to share some guidance based on my experience with pursuing a career in the arts. Tonight, I have five points of advice to offer as you move forward and continue to create and engage with art as both a passion and potential career option.

1)   You can always reinvent yourself. It can be a small pivot or a major course correction. A small pivot for me was accepting a major commission in acrylic paint when I had spent years developing my skills as an oil painter. A major course correction was starting off my working life after college doing research on international technology trends for a company that made strategic investments for the intelligence community. Then progressing to apply for a position at the CIA, making it through the grueling interview process, and then having a major identity crisis while traveling with my family in Rome. I had not realized, until that trip to Italy, how the absence of art as a central piece to my daily life made me deeply unhappy. I was focused on financial independence, making a difference in the world, and establishing stability in my life. At twenty-one I could not see how my love of art would help me accomplish any of those goals. This brings me to point number two.

2)   Develop and maintain a network of peers and mentors who you trust and who inspire you. I returned home from that trip to Rome and reached out to one of my favorite college professors, Evan Reed. We met for coffee and he kindly listened while I laid out my dilemma. I wanted art to be a major part of my life but I would also like to feed myself on a semi-regular basis. He suggested looking at nonprofits that support the arts for steady income and reasonable work hours. In my free time I could focus on building a portfolio of art work. Once I had enough work built up then perhaps the art creation could move to center stage. I started interning at the Arlington Art Center at night, while continuing to work the soul crushing but financially lucrative day job. Around the same time, I met, by chance, David Freeberg, in McLean. He became my mentor for creating work post college and has remained my closest art mentor for the last eleven years. Together we brainstormed ideas for a portfolio while I continued to work two career paths. At the Arlington Art Center I learned from one of the best nonprofit art managers in the area, Claire Huschle, who taught me the importance of this next point.

3)   A diversity of skill sets is critical not only to make financial ends meet but can enrich your own creative process. Claire provided me with the opportunity to learn about non-profit management and encouraged me to look into graduate programs. I gained experience balancing budgets, event management, community outreach, arts education, and artistic cultivation through the studio residency program at the center. Eventually it became clear that this was where I belonged. I quit my day job, moved back home with my incredibly supportive parents, worked at the Arlington Art Center, applied and was accepted to the Master of Arts Management program at Carnegie Mellon in Pittsburgh. Working on the management level of an arts non-profit and going to graduate school allowed me to see, experience, and discuss art and creative processes I might not otherwise have encountered. This leads me to point number four.

4)   Collaboration is critical to developing and reaching your full artistic potential. Creating art in isolation can lead to a narrow viewpoint and greater struggles navigating around creative road blocks. Finding quiet dedicated time to get things done, yes absolutely, but make time to learn, talk about, and see art. The inspiration you can gain from sharing ideas with other people about art or the process of making art can help you make the best version of your own work. This brings me to my last point.

5)   Presentation matters. You may have interesting, inspiring, thought-provoking work but when submitting for a show or applying for a grant, presentation matters and attention to the details of the application is important. Experimentation with different mediums is necessary in any artist’s practice, but when it comes to presenting a final piece, know the durability and characteristics of your materials.  This understanding will help you clearly communicate the expectations of your work to a client or a gallery. For example, if you are painting an outdoor mural are you preparing the surface correctly and using the right paint for the climate? Did you follow the instructions on the size or framing requirements of the artwork you are submitting to a show? Do you have a clear description of your artwork? Are you taking care with editing your written submissions materials? If you are mailing your artwork take care to pack it well. After graduate school I was the director of an art gallery on U Street. I had to send work back or remove it from a show if the method of presentation was incomplete or incompatible with the gallery or if a piece was severely damaged due to poor packing. When making an artist recommendation to a gallery client, the care the artist took with presentation and construction of their work was an important consideration.  

Lastly, if you only remember one thing, I hope this has some stickiness, creating art is not a race there is no finish line to cross.  It is a life-long endeavor. Sometimes it will take center stage in your life. Sometimes it will slip to the periphery to make room for other things you may want to do. There may be periods in your life when picking up a paintbrush or pencil to create art is just not in the cards. Your tools will be there when you can reincorporate them into your daily life again. After a long absence it may seem you have been out of practice too long, and you may worry you have lost your edge. Be kind to yourself, summon up that courage and persistence you demonstrated years ago entering a Congressional Art Show in high school and get back to work.