Turning to Others

Mentors come to us in all kinds of ways. You may meet them face to face at art shows, writing conferences, or in your local artist community, or they may be artists in your field you court from afar, working with them by phone or the occasional email. However, they come to you and whatever form the mentee-mentor relationship may take, the work is always heart-to-heart.

My mentors have been impactful during different stages of my life, helping me uncover more and more moments when my writing accomplishes what I desire, conveying the message I want. During times when my creativity goes on sabbatical, they provide the encouragement, the little nudge I need to get me going again. More than anything, however, their mentoring pushes me to reflect upon my own writing, and notice like Swiss cheese all the holes. And I learned, and learned again, that satisfaction for one’s finished art is a rare thing.

Working with an artist mentor can liberate you from unproductive patterns, from the stale and ho-hum, and help you get to the edge of an experience and encounter truth. Mentors carry insight and knowledge because they have lived through their travails. Yes, it’s their genius and persistence that attracts us. Whether we call them mentors or artists doesn’t really matter, it’s to whom we humbly turn when we want to develop as artists.

Take, for instance, Anne Burkholder, who not only paints exquisite landscapes, but has created, through her Burkholder Project, a caring community to support local and regional artists. Anne offers a courtship of sorts with artists, and through her studios provides a hallowed place for art making. There, artists have not only privacy for idea incubation and design, but a place to meet  and collaborate with others. For many, it is a word or a nod from another that puts stalled artists into movement, into doing.

Anne describes her work with the artists as a “trusted counselor or guide – a tutor or coach.”  Sometimes artists lose focus, get discouraged, yell for help. Many artists are insecure about how their work is perceived by others. In her longtime mentoring work, Anne understands. She describes her efforts. “I have been able to encourage artists to take chances and trust themselves or ‘nudge’ an artist to make time for their art and take it seriously.”

There are no guidebooks for creativity, no instructions to accomplish A, then B, and inevitably success will follow. It’s these times that we may need help, a counselor or a coach. And if we are fortunate enough to have a mentor willing to stand with us and show us the way, to open their minds and hearts to us, it is a gift. – Becky Breed