Artist Statement - Setting the Record Straight

Kelowna Artist Rebekah Nesbit Speaks Her Mind – Artist Statement – Setting the Record Straight

Due Recognition

Living in Kelowna for over 12 years has been basically a wonderful experience. Obtaining due recognition for my accomplishments has been received well by a few. Then there are times when being taken seriously as an artist has been bypassed. This can be a difficult hurdle to jump. So, it is what is written here is to set everything straight. It has been questioned many times to me about lack of employment outside the home despite the economy being on a downhill slide for many years. Finding a job outside the home is not easy these days. Quite frankly from past experiences many of these lower ranking, low paying jobs have accomplished me nothing. Quite often the employers have been difficult to work with and or overload their demands to more than what it's worth. To top it all off it has never been a relief financially without still having to obtain outside resources for extra help. This can be shameful and embarrassing as a working individual. Today, even the cost of training in a career is staggering to the point where one could be living out of their car if they even own one. In my opinion it is not worth the debt and lack of assurance in securing employment.

I Create Art

My comfort lies in art and internet business. This is what I enjoy to do. I create digital art and photography. I may not own the most expensive camera (still high quality though) in the world but it does the job. Computer skills come in handy and are vital with a knowledge of graphics software. So a high quality computer is a must. It may have taken me several years to gather the tools and resources needed to start an online business but there was no outside help whatsoever. That is no loans, no borrowing no nothing. I was determined that I was going to obtain the tools needed to start an online business and I did it. Searching the internet every single day was a crucial factor in finding all the information and tools needed to get started. It takes money to make money but this does not happen overnight. You don't just throw a website up and get found like that. One must utilize seo tools and get down to work to get the website noticed on the search engines and finally to gather traffic. This can be a slower process if you are the little guy on the bottom. You cannot compete with the big corporations that normally hit the first pages in the search results. Running an online business and website is ongoing learning. Either one will like it or they won't. Not everyone is computer savvy but I just happen to enjoy working with computers. I also like being my own boss and setting my own hours. The fact is I have no set hours and more often than not a working day can even average more than a full time outside job. Don't get me wrong but I'm still wanting to find a decent job outside the home if it's worth my time. I do have credentials and will not tolerate these being overlooked. However, my main focus is to establish my own domain. Being mostly self taught is not easily recognized in the outside workplace. Employers normally want to see a piece of paper with the words like graduate, diploma, etc. Other than that one will find that they can get stuck in dead end jobs where you can't even put food on the table after you have paid the rent. No job should be like this and that includes the most humble low paying job out there especially in a country such as Canada.

How Do You Make Money?

Now someone reading this may think, well, how do you make money to start a business if you don't work outside the home? Well, there are many things a person can do to generate extra income. I will not mention them here but it is just a matter of using brainstorming to find innovative ways of supplying legit extra income to help along the way. No matter how big or small the dollars they all add up and can pay for that piece of software required or that domain name you are seeking. It is just a matter of smart budgeting, time and patience. Perhaps, the most difficult aspect of running an online business is marketing and sales. This is another field that requires searching and studying. Reading, writing blogs, articles on your particular niche is always vital to becoming a step closer to ultimate success. This is the point my own business is at right now after finding a some establishment with my website on the internet after a year and a half.

Art is My Niche

Creating art is my niche. From thorough studying it is actually one of the most difficult subjects to self promote. There are many artist's out there who struggle with the marketing aspect of selling art. This usually applies to artist's who have had no formal training at an institution. Even if one has had formal training they can still find themselves in the position of a starving artist who quite often donates their work just to get a little recognition. I do not believe in this. It is total rubbish. This just makes museums and galleries more rich and the artist is just being used with little or no compensation for their time and effort. Digital artists are sometimes not taken seriously as traditional artist such as painters, sculptors, craftsmen, etc. Perhaps they believe the computer does all the work and the input from the computer artist is minimal. This is far from the truth. This type of art still requires originality, creativity and imagination as well as technical skills. It may be difficult to make sales in the beginning but in my personal opinion I would rather make nothing at all than give my artwork away for free unless I choose to do so. However, I believe that would defeating the purposing to owning an online art site in the first place. If you like the artwork, buy it. If you don't you can still look and perhaps one may even change their mind in the future about purchasing an art print or photograph.

Final Note

Do what you love to do and not what others think you should be doing.