Who do you create for and why?
My conversation today is with the multi-talented powerhouse of an artist, Christi Friesen, a polymer and mixed media artist who has authored a dozen books and more articles in more magazines than I think even she can count. She is a skillful teacher with a huge, magnetic personality that has drawn fans from all over the world. She’s built a life around her full-time creative career but not without some bumps and self-questioning, which is a large part of what she talked with me about in this episode.
Get ready for a really fun conversation with this truly insightful guest.
Find more about Christi and her work, as well as shop at her art supply store and sign up for her entertaining newsletter, at www.christifriesen.com
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Credits:
Cover design by Sage; Illustration by Olga Kostenko
Music by Playsound
Transcription (AI transcribed, unedited due to lack of budget. Please excuse the copious errors.)
CF:
Or do I stop making those and concentrate and go on the gallery route? And I kind of went back and forth and back and forth about that. And then one day I just woke up and I went, screw it. I like making them. People like having them. What do I care how people perceive me of whether I’m a gallery worthy or not?
SBV:
Hello all my lovely friends. Happy New Year’s and thank you for for joining me on the first podcast episode of 2023 of the Sage Arts podcast. I’m Sage Bray Veron, your host with the rough sounding voice. Today, I’m afraid I’ve developed yet another cold. This is the second one in a month, which is just weird because I normally never get sick. I have this theory that the universe is challenging me because normally being sick doesn’t get in the way of me working because I’m usually writing or layout or making art or whatnot. But when you’re podcasting, you actually have to talk. And the whole getting sick and sore throat and congested head just really kind of throws a literal damper in that process.
So I do feel like the universe is asking me, do you really want to do this podcast? The answer is yes, I really want to do this podcast. It’s so much fun. I’m really enjoying the process. I’m really, really enjoying the connection I’m having with people already. So a few colds is not going to stop me from making this, but it is going to sound a little funny from my end.
Actually, the whole thing is going to sound a little different because this is the first interview format that we’ll be doing in the series so far. And I use a new service, maybe not to the best of my ability, and there are some scratchy parts on the side of my guest audio here and there, but I’m hoping we’ll be having so much fun that you won’t even notice. So that’s the plan. But in a moment, we’ll go ahead and join my good friend Christi Friedman and I in an interview I did about a month ago. But I’ve saved until now because it just felt like the thing to really start off this new year.
But before we go to that, I just want to send a few quick shout outs to some of the folks that have been writing to me about the podcast already. First, to Kelly Hoffman, who was the very first listener to write me. And her enthusiasm was so uplifting, just really made my day. Apparently she listened to the first two episodes more than once each because the conversation was really speaking to her. So Kelly, I just want to thank you for letting me know.
Also a grateful shout out to Denise Fitzsimmons, who bought me, I think, five coffees on my Buy Me a Coffee page that’s Buy me a Coffee comthesage Arts if you’re curious about it. But it was more than the financial support that that gave me. It was the comment she left. She also found these discussions really hitting the spot, and she binge listened to the first four episodes. Just so cool. Someone’s binge listening to me. I also love that she decided to dedicate her listening time to creative time, and we’ll be looking forward to studio time while listening to the podcast. That was something I suggested end of I think it was the last episode, and I really think this could be particularly helpful for all of us, but more so maybe for the people who are having motivational problems just getting themselves to sit down in the studio. You have the podcast to look forward to, and you can just sit and play while you listen. You don’t have to work on a masterpiece and just let your brain and soul just bask in a fully creative moment. I think that could be wonderful for a lot of people.
Also a shout out to a longtime cheerleader of mine, another fabulous artist, Wendy Moore, who also found these chats to be the kind of food for thought she wants for a particularly contemplative creative year. She’s delving into. It was wonderful to hear that. I really, really admire Wendy and all the things that she does. It was great to know that I’m helping her out as well. So thank you, sweetie. And if you have comments, I’d love to hear from you as well. Anything having to do with this podcast, your artistic journey, any artistic ideas. I’ll have those contact options at the end of the podcast. They’re also in the show notes, so you can check that out in the show notes or descriptions section of your podcast player.
But let’s get on with the show. If you haven’t already. Grab yourself a tasty beverage, maybe a snack. Settle into your creative space if you’re joining us there. Or just sit back and relax, wherever you are. The question I hope you’ll be asking yourself as you listen is, who do you create for and why? That’s what we hope to help you answer today. So let’s join the conversation.
4:31- Interview
SBV: Today, I’m super excited to be speaking to one of the most energetic artists, if not one of the most energetic people I’ve ever known, the mixed media and polymer artist and writer, Christie Friesen. So, everyone say hi to Christie. Hi, Christi. Hi, everybody. Hello. Thank you so much for coming and joining me. I always super enjoy our talks, and she’s actually one of the inspirations for doing this because of the conversations that we have that we sometimes sit there and go, gosh, I wish we could just record this so people could hear just the crazy ideas that we throw around. They always have great talk, so much fun. I love that. So although when this comes out, I imagine the majority of listeners will probably know who you are, but we’ll have some that don’t. So why don’t you tell us a little bit about yourself?
CF: Oh, boy. Thank you for that, I guess. And just like so many people who’ve discovered early on that they were creative, so I’ve just created my whole life, and it’s morphed into my whole way of identifying myself and making a living, which is both exciting and problematic, but it’s all good. But I’ve done art professionally for at least 25 years, if you count getting paid for a piece of art is professional, which they usually do, then forever. But yeah, I live here in Maui, Hawaii, with my brother for the last couple of years. I kind of decided this would be a good place to stay for the pandemic, and then I haven’t left, so that works out great. And I’m just enjoying creating and sharing my creativity on my social media and sometimes in writing, in classes and stuff. So I keep myself busy all day with making things and looking at the beautiful island around. Yeah, busy is definitely a word for you. For both of us, to be truthful. Yeah. Oh, man. All right, so you’re in your studio today? Yeah, I am. This is where you spend lots of time. Yeah. It’s funny. I’ve had various studios, as we all have, depending on where we’ve lived our lives. But right now, I’m in a room in my brother’s apartment and it’s the tiniest little space I’ve ever been in before, but I absolutely just love it because I can look out my window at the mountains, the Hale Aquala and the mountains there and then just this little thing is just everything I need. So it’s really quite lovely. But yeah, I’ve got my little aloha here right behind you. Yeah. For those of you just listening, she’s got her little plants and her aloha. Yeah. I feel very island paradise. Right? Did you bring yourself some refreshments so we can share what kind of refreshments we have with you? I really did. I love that. It’s kind of fun to treat yourself. I say it’s good for your creativity. I don’t know if it really is, but I’m going to stick with that. This is fresh squeeze local oranges. So I squeeze the local oranges, and it’s got a dragon fruit float on the top, so dragonfruit is just so gorgeous, and I haven’t even sipped it yet. Yeah, the dragon fruit is like this bright magenta against the orange and just all swirling in it. It’s gorgeous. Yeah. And then I also brought some chocolates. There’s a local plan, of course. Yeah. There’s, like, some really good chocolates on island, and this is a little company that makes several flavors, but this is a mango chocolate, dark chocolate mango. And I’ve got, like, a little Amazon influencer page. So whenever I find a good chocolate, if I can find it on Amazon, I’ll put it there. And so I put these on there in case you want to find them yourself, because they’re really good price, surprisingly, on Amazon, but it’s delicious. Mango chocolate. I am so going there. Mango duck chocolate. That’s amazing. Yeah. I didn’t bring anything interesting today. I didn’t get a lot of sleep last night, so I have matcha tea with lemon and just help wake me up. Yeah, that’s good. That’s really good. Green teas are fab. I mean, to me, it always tastes like eating grass clippings, but sometimes you need the grass clippings to just make you feel alive, so it’s all good. Well, the thing is, I found I mean, I was a coffee drinker for ages and ages, but drinking too much coffee makes me just crazy. So let’s start out with a couple of speed questions since we’re talking about food. Tell me, Christie, because I know you’ve eaten a lot of weird food. What is your favorite weird food? Oh, gosh, like, the list could go ever forever. But most recently, I stopped at a little fruit stand on the Hana Highway, the road to Hana. And he had something on there that I’ve never seen before called an ice cream bean. So it looks like this big green pod that you would never think is edible, and you crack it open, and it’s got these fuzzy white seeds covered in this fuzzy white fluff. And when you eat it, it just sort of melts in your mouth, kind of like cotton candy, almost. And it’s got a slight ice, creamy taste. It’s really sweet and good, but that was like I had never heard of that, never eaten it. And I definitely say if you find some, eat them because they’re awesome. That’s so cool. So we’ll speed along a little bit more. I could talk about food forever. I know. Do you have a favorite medium that you’ve never tried? There’s so many good things that we could get into, and I’ve dabbled with a lot, but I have to say that one of the mediums that has always fascinated me, but I know that I won’t do it is, like, lamp work. Glass. It’s just the things you can do with glass are amazing, but the idea of having to manipulate it with tools and not touch it, I don’t think I could do that. But I just love what I see that can be done. So that one, I’ve never tried it, but it looks fascinating. How about you? Do you have one as well? Welding, like, metal sculpture? I’ve always thought that would be fantastic, but really, I don’t like being hot. Yeah, I get that. That’s a problem. It is. A couple of other things. If someone wrote a book about you right now, what would be the title of your biography? Probably. What the hell are you doing? Okay, that’s fair. And there are different philosophies of approaching your work in writing. We call them planners or panthers. I think this is something we can use in art as well. So would you call yourself a planner or a panther? As in do you do things by the seat of your pants? I’d say my default setting is I’m a panther. I definitely fly by the seat of my pants. But surprisingly, you can wing it and paint it a lot easier if you also do have some planning skills. So it’s like outside it looks like seat of the pants, but underneath there’s a little planning going. Disguised planning, little hybrid. Yeah, but I got no problem with just pants in it, man. That’s all good. All right, well, now that we’ve gotten to know you a little bit better, let’s talk about our theme for today. We talked through a couple of different options for themes, and we came down to really discussing the idea of who you make your art for. Do you make it for yourself? Do you make it for your market? Do you make it for your online audience? And how much does that weigh in on your creativity and your approach to making art? So just to start out with, how much is your potential customer audience in mind when you sit down to create work? Because you spend so much time with your customer base and your audience, you do a lot of online classes, chats, you’re constantly on social media and sending out newsletters and whatnot. So I know it can’t be off in the netherworlds, right? It’s got to be out front. So how does that affect your creativity? As per our conversations we’ve had over the years, this is something that I think you and I have bounced around a lot because we have both been in transition for the last few years on what we do as artists and as businesswomen. And so it’s really fascinating, and I love talking about it. We could probably talk about this for a couple of hours, and I’m sure we will at some point, but I’ve been taking stock of myself lately, and I’ve got to say that the majority of the art that I do has other people in mind all the time. And I know that when you are doing your art for other people, you don’t do your best work. So I get around that by deciding upfront that although I’m doing work for an event or for a tutorial or whatever else, if I don’t want to do it or if I don’t like it, then I’m not going to do it. So I feel like I probably could do a whole different body of work and maybe even a better body of work if I just didn’t care about any of that and I just did only what I want. However, I asked my mom and dad if I could have been a trust fund baby, and apparently no. So that means I got to pay the bills and I’ve got to make sure that things that I do have an immediate cash connection to just keep everything flowing. So there is a certain necessity in having to do art with other people in mind. But I think for me, one of the reasons why people do appreciate my art and I have a strong audience is that at the end of the day, it’s always something that pleases me. There’s very few times when I make a piece of artwork that I’m like, well, I’m just going to make this because I have to. It’s usually, hey, I want to do a holiday thing, so what should I do? I don’t want to do any of the traditional Santa, anything like that. I’m going to do a holiday squid. And so I’m amused by that. But it is also for an event for people to buy whatever else. So as long as I keep true to my own weirdness, the what the hell is she doing thing, then I think I can kind of dance on both sides of that equation. So I don’t think it’s a perfect set up, but it seems to work for me so far. I love that. I think you need to get a plaque that says True to your weirdness. That’s a good one. Isn’t it weirdness we’re making those? That’s going to be on the list for sure. That’s fantastic. Yeah. I mean, you make a living from your art and you’ve been doing that for a long time. Yeah, a couple of decades. You don’t have another job. Being able to sell and being able to bring in an income is going to be a point of balance between what you want to do and what you have to do in order to make sure you’re selling stuff. Yeah. So do you make things just for yourself? That’s such a great question. And I think the underlying of all of this is, like, you have to ask those questions. Anybody does who’s a creative that is doing it more than an occasional hobby to put up decorations for a holiday or whatever, which I’m not knocking that’s viable. But if you’re doing it more than that, then you have to ask yourself at some point, why am I doing this? And I don’t think that I ever did. And I’ve kind of come to know that I have always used my art as a way to cope with life. So it’s like I always assumed I was just artistic, and it flowed out of me and I couldn’t not create, which is partially true, but it is also the way that I have interacted with people. Like, I was a new kid at a new school and I drew dinosaurs. So now I had friends and various things like that. It’s like I had a job that was very frustrating and I didn’t want it. So I pushed doing my art and making some money there so I could transition into something I liked more. So this aspect of monetizing my creativity has always been a part of my life. And I think you just have to do that. You have to kind of look at yourself and say, why am I doing this stuff? And what part of it is bringing me joy versus what part is necessity? But yeah, it’s been an interesting journey of trying to figure it out. Yeah, because you have to consider your customer base and how you’re going to monetize what you do. That’s got to affect the choices that you make in terms of the actual pieces that you create. And I know at one time you were creating more gallery level so that your stuff couldn’t be in galleries because they are right. But the gallery level work that you were doing more for just one offs because you do a lot of stuff that you make. Repeatedly boiled down for me, I realized I was having a real conflict between the stuff that I made that I knew it always sell. Like, poor example. I make these little glow in the dark gooey and I’ve had a lovely relationship because they are so much fun to make. But they are goofy and silly and they portray me as a certain kind of artist, which isn’t bad, but my ego is like but also I’m a good artist and I’m in gallery. So it was always a conflict between do I make these cutesy little things because they make money or do I stop making those and concentrate and go on the gallery route. And I kind of went back and forth and back and forth about that. And then one day I just woke up and I went, screw it. I like making them. People like having them. What do I care how people perceive me of whether I’m a gallery worthy or not if I wanted to go that route? And it was important to me, and this is not to knock anyone who’s gone that route because I think it’s a viable wonderful thing if you have decided to make art that is in higher levels of galleries and fine art. I love that and there was a time in my life where that was the direction I was going. But financially, that is a little bit trickier for me. I didn’t start early enough to where I was established at it. And I do need money to come in. So I kind of thought, who am I trying to impress? I’m happy, my fans are happy I can do more high end art on my own and continue to sell it in those markets without having to be either or. So why not both? So that was kind of a breakthrough for me of just realizing that I didn’t have anything to prove to anybody that if one day I decided I’ve got enough money and I’m just going to make things that amuse me forever and I don’t care what happens, I’ll put them in the gallery or not, whatever, then I’ll do that. And that will be fun too. But at the moment, this having to do art that sells is important. So I just kind of, in the last couple of years, just turned that corner and embraced it. And it’s made it so much more fun. Because now, as I make things, I absolutely make things to amuse myself. But in the back of my mind is always, I can’t wait to show this to everybody. And I’m wondering who will want it? And that’s always very satisfying with them. I want to buy that. It’s a great feeling. It’s a very nice validation. But I very seldom make anything for myself. The process I do for myself, the creating, is for me. And then the end product has always been to sell from the beginning. But I would say over the course of 2025 years of actively creating with polymer clay mixed media, I have probably kept only maybe four or five pieces in all that time that I just like, I’m going to hang on to this a little longer. And that’s all I have of my own work. Which is partly kind of weird, but also I can can always make another one. So once in a while there’s one of those that just come out like, I don’t know if I can make this one again, I’m just going to let this one stay here. But it is interesting, and I think that’s something that we all have to do is we’re deciding what part creativity plays in our career, in our financial needs, in our self care, in our identity, in our desire to leave a legacy or whatever it is that we need to do and then focus on that direction. But I was kind of going in trying to do too many things at once and none of them were working. And I finally just dropped it and said, I don’t care. I don’t need to impress anybody. I’m just going to enjoy the income that I can make doing this and then use the income to go do the things I want to do. So that was kind of where I landed today. Tomorrow I might change my mind and do something completely different. So who knows? Flexibility. Yeah, he said something interesting. At least it struck me that you said you make something, then you wonder who wants it. And I think most people make something thinking, I think the market wants this, like a presumptive idea. Where did you come about? Where you’re thinking, oh, I wonder who wants this? You make what you like and then you’re like, OOH. You know, it’s a great attitude to have to think about that. There’s someone out there that wants it. I really appreciate that because I do think that’s, like, if you do art for any part of your living, like, whether it’s your full livelihood, like me, or a thing you do on the side, at some point, you have to decide if you’re just going to make what you want and then see if it sells or if you’re going to make things that, you know, people will buy. And either is fine, but you have to pick what you like. And I have found, like, early on, there were people like, oh, I love that. Would you make a such and such for me? And I found that hated commission so much for many reasons, but for me, it’s like it just put the brakes on all kinds of creativity. It turned it into Job, I didn’t like it. And so now if somebody says, hey, I love that thing, would you make another? A lot of times I’ll say I’d like to, but honestly, I know I won’t get to it, or next time I make a fire breathing armadillo, I’ll let you know, and you’ll have first choice, or whatever, so it really frees me up. Just make whatever the heck I want. And it’s not always that they turn out great, but they almost always are interesting and satisfying and somebody wants them. So that’s really exciting. I love that. I love that. I’m to the point in my artistic career that I would say 99% of anything that I make will be purchased, which is great, because not everybody is at that stage. And that is an accomplishment. I feel really good about that. Absolutely. And people are happy to get the things, so that’s really exciting. It’s a good place to be. Yeah, that’s wonderful. I think that’s one of the markers for success for some people, just to know that they will be able to sell what they say, that they have a market, and you have built that over ages and ages. I must steer a little off from the theme just to ask you, how did you determine that market or build that market, the one that you know would buy the things that you want to make? That’s an excellent question. Sage, I feel like you and I have talked about similar themes to this, and I wish I did have magic formula, but I think all of the things that I know about art, the thing that I have heard before, and it rings absolutely true to me, is what we just said. You stay true to your weirdness, you make the things you like. And thanks to the power of being interconnected to the entire world through the Internet, the people who like your weirdness will show up and want your weirdness, no matter what it is. And so if you are a good artist and good at expressing yourself, and I don’t even mean in terms of proficiency or professionalism, but if you’re good at expressing what you want to express, that’s only half the battle. The other half is getting that out so people can see it and want it, because it doesn’t matter how good you are if you’re not where the people are who like your weirdness, then you have a lot of weirdness that’s not going anywhere. So sometimes that means you’re in a local area where people get to know you and you have an open studio or you’re part of a cooperative or a local boutique or whatever. Other times you’re doing your social media and you’re putting it out there and you’re showing people and eventually they’re like, oh, I love that when you’re going to make another so there’s so many ways to sell your art. All of them work in different ways for different people. But I think it’s just really important to show. Let people in, show them why you’re making it. Tell what it is and why it’s meaningful. Just let people into your process. And that, I think, is the key. And then whatever weird thing you do, if it’s coming from your heart, you will find other people who have the same weird heart. And that is a truism. I see that across the board all the time. Right. But it’s also a very scary thing to think I’m going to put myself out there because people have opinions. Yeah, if you’re specifically weird, you might have a whole bunch of people who have to inform you of your weirdness. Like. I know. Thank you. That’s not for you. So you do have to develop a way of doing that so that you don’t feel too vulnerable and there’s ways you can do that. But for me, I won’t say I have a thick skin because does anybody really? But I have learned how to present myself in such a way that I tend not to get too many people criticizing me, which is great. I mean, I love validation, so I have learned how to get that. And a little aside, I remember I do a lot of weird stuff. And I remember one day I was just in this wacky mood and I put out this newsletter and it was just the weirdest newsletter I ever did. I had this picture and it had like a rainbow coming through my head and I did something stupid. So I sent this email out, whatever, and I had this one lady comment on the email, which I had never seen her before since she just commented, that was the stupidest email I’ve ever gotten. The end. And it just made me laugh so hard because I thought it is. And obviously it was so stupid that you felt the need to let me know about it. But that happens so rarely because most people are like, oh, that Christie. They’re my weirdos, they get me. But once in a while, somebody who’s not in that weirdo camp is just like, what’s going on? What the hell? But it was a chuckle moment anyway because I thought, yeah, admittedly that one was pretty weird. Yeah. There will always be people that will criticize you. And we live in a world where we get. To hear it a lot more than we used to and we can focus on that criticism and that’s hard. A lot of people do. But yeah, I think just you find your weird people and you just share. You share what you’re making. You share your process. You share whether it’s working or not working. You share how you feel about it. You just share as much as you’re able and that builds your fans and that builds the people wanting your stuff. At least that’s been my experience. And I see that works for many people too. Yeah, I know these days people’s opinions probably would not steer you too much, but earlier on, did you determine a lot of what you’re doing because of the opinions, because of the feedback that you were getting? Or did you still just kind of make your thing and then see and just wonder who out there would want it? That is a great question because you go back and think, how did I get to where I am? And I created forever. I mean, ever since I was three, I was doing stuff. So I think I was one of those sort of gifted kids. So things that I made were noticed when I was young. So I got a lot of feedback and people wanted to buy my stuff. And then once I married, had kids and started a different thing and I came back around going, boy, I need to be an artist now because I’m so sick of this job I’m doing. I started wanting to be an artist and at that point I was definitely chasing what I thought the market wanted. It’s like, oh, pottery is in. I think I’ll make some cute little potpourri things. Telematic Christmas market. Again, not knocking that if that’s your thing. It was not a good fit for me because there was not enough creativity in it. I need to do something creative on my way to being whatever. And it was miserable because I would just go to these things to try and sell this garbage that I didn’t really want to make in the first place. And it was all sort of chasing what I thought people would want. And at a certain point, I just shifted gears and just went, screw it, I was going to make whatever I want. And then people were like, well, what is that? Could I buy that? It’s like yes, you could. And I thought it was funny because one of the very first things I did was like a bead show and it was kind of like, let me see, to go to a place and pay money for it and put all my stuff out. And before I put everything out there, this was when focal beads were a big deal and everybody was buying some. And I thought, you know what, I already have a job. I don’t need to just be doing this as a livelihood. Barely scratching by, I’m going to charge what I think these are actually worth that I’d be happy with. So I put decent prices on them and I sold all of them. And I thought these were all Christi weirdness at a high price. I’ve learned something here. Stop making these little things where you’re making a nickel and you’re not happy and it’s boring. You might as well get a job at a restaurant because then we should go home. At the end of the day, with art, you can never go home. So that was a good thing for me. So it took me a couple of years to figure that out, but I think luckily I made a thing that people said, I want that. And it just helped crystallize that lesson. I didn’t have to come up with the lesson. The lesson just presented itself to me. Right. That’s fantastic. That’s great. That’s a long answer. No, but it’s a great answer because it is something that people need to hear. You put your stuff out there and you put a price on that, it shows you that not only should they value the work, but that you personally value the work. That’s why you’re doing it, that’s why you’re putting it out there. And that the market that wants it will find you as long as you keep trying. I mean, you might agree, do a little research on your shows you go to, but yeah, there’s a market for everybody. There is. And I think you just always try to do the best you can at the thing you’ve chosen, and you try always to make the thing that brings you joy, that you get lost in, that you forget what time it is and that you have to pee and have to eat. When you’re in that moment where everything else is gone and you’re in this trance, this altered state, you’re doing the right thing. That’s what you should be doing. Because that’s when you know that you are totally in the flow of your own needs, and that is a beautiful thing. So I can say that that’s me most of the time, which is wonderful. That’s great. So most of the time it’s not too hard for you to get into a flow while you’re working, that you can shut out those other voices and things. I am really lucky in that this has always been easy for me to create, and I know that’s not easy for everybody, and I’m very lucky. And my silly little room here is I just roll out of bed into my computer chair and then I just start making things. And then when you need a nap, I roll back the other way. So it’s like so easy to not have to switch gears between all the comforts and everything I need at my fingertips. I could just start making it’s just like it’s so easy because I don’t have to put anything away. Nobody needs anything from me. I’m at this really great stage now. It hasn’t always been like that, but right now that’s my life and it makes it very easy to stay in this. All of the pipes and everything for this creativity is just wide open, everything’s flowing. You’re never having to stop to go do something else. I mean, obviously you got to go shopping, do some errands, but I don’t really ever have to switch out of that. I can just kind of like, okay, I’ll just let it idle a little here while I’m taking it and then right back in again. So it’s a beautiful place to be. It’s very exciting and easy. I’m happy to say it’s possible, but didn’t used to always be like that. You had a very full house at certain times and I’m sure it was very hard to get away and not be distracted by all that. It was very disjointed. Now that I look back at it and like you were talking about this energies, I have realized that that’s part of my coping skill going back to childhood of just like powering through, just like keep moving, keep running on the logs, then you won’t fall in the river kind of a thing. And that’s been my whole life. And the last couple of years I’ve changed life dramatically and I have stopped and slowed down, which has been very interesting to me because I’m realizing that, you know what, that was out of balance and you were falling apart and probably other people saw it that you’re just stressed or whatever else. And now I can kind of take stock and choose a little differently than when I felt like everybody needed something for me. I was on the go all the time. A million deadlines. We go through different parts of her life, but this part where I’ve been able to slow down a little bit has been really good on making a little bit saner choices. I think that’s great. I wouldn’t not want to have been the crazy hair on fire girl because I’ve got a lot to show for that. But I’m also glad that I don’t have to be quite so insanely busy now. That’s great. So glad that you’re there. Yeah. I was going to bring up an adjunct kind of conversation. I think we’ve hit on some of it, but just for some clarification. Because one of the things like we’re talking about being authentic and putting your stuff out there that you love to make is hard because of the potential for criticism because it becomes so much more personal when you’re doing something like, this is what I like. And the people are like, no, you either get criticism or you get crickets. Especially if it’s different from what you did do and what people are expecting from you. And suddenly like, what’s this thing now? You’re right. And both of those responses can really be hard. Now, have you had experiences where it’s been really hard to handle the criticism or the crickets or whatnot? Did that steer your work in the past? Boy, this is something I think everybody should talk about with people that they can be comfortable with, of just like the things that are triggers, like you’re talking about with criticism and stuff. And I go back and forth. There are times when if somebody is critical or whatever, it doesn’t faze me at all. Because I can look at them and realize they’re not talking about me even though I might have been in the vicinity or they’re just making a commentary on their life or I don’t care what they think or other times when it can just be devastating and you have to go in the bathroom and cry about it for a while. I think we all have the moments of strength and vulnerability, and so much of it depends on what you’re coping with, what you’ve had to deal with in your life and that kind of thing. But I would say that I have gotten, for me personally, validation from my art just because I have always had a higher level of talent than the average Joe. So my artwork has always been praised. But one of the people that was difficult, I’ve had a difficult parenting, like many people have. My mom was super critical, and I can remember as a kid, and even as an adult, oftentimes I would go and show my mom something and she would immediately find the one flaw and point that out. And that happens constantly. Now. I look back and go, she just had damage, and she never knew how to cope with it, and she was just spewing that out on everybody else. And it leaves its marks, for sure. But I realized that what I needed to do is not get my validation from someone who didn’t understand or had an agenda in this case. So my validation for my art had started then and still comes from the people who get it, the people who like it, which can be hard if the only people you’re around are the people who tell you you’re great. So you don’t always want that. Sometimes you want honest critique. The reason I bring this up is so many women are and we’re talking to both men and women and all genders in this podcast, but often you’re partnering with a woman, partnering with a husband who she’s an artist type, he’s an engineer type, and they just don’t see the world the same. So you come and bring your orange polka dotted cow and they’re like, what’s that supposed to be? And that can be very devastating. You need to bring it to your weirdo friends who go, oh, an orange, polka dotted cow, I love it so much. And it’s like, that’s who you need to have your first validations from. So for me, I have not had much critique of my art. I have a critique of other stuff because I’m loud and noisy and I’m in people’s face, so that’s going to bring critique. But my art has usually almost always been praised and a few times when somebody had something negative to say, most of the time I’m like, well they’re dumb so it was easy to discount. But I know that that’s not typical. A lot of people have to you have your stuff for sale on your thing and people walking by like they want that for that much. I can do that. That can be very hard. So just make sure if you put yourself out there that you kind of give yourself a pep talk ahead of time. Maybe have a friend with you if you’re vulnerable or take that kind of stuff more personally and do things to kind of make sure you’ve gotten your validation so that you’re not expecting these random people walking by to have something valid to say. Because it can hurt and it can be devastating and it can make you question yourself. So I try to keep the validation coming thick and heavy all the time and keep myself pumped up in an unnatural level of awesomeness. And that works for me. But that’s not always something you can do. I always love your attitude. It’s one part insanity, one part optimism. Well, we’re going to kind of wrap up a little bit here. I have some wrap up questions that I want to ask you because one of the things I want to focus on continuously is what does success mean to us? And it’s not going to mean the same thing all the time, it’s going to change. But we do need to measure our success for ourselves, not based on what other people would expect. So for you, what does success mean to you and what markers do you use to measure it? I love that question and I’m going to be curious as these podcasts continue to hear what your other people answer to that because that is going to be a lot of wisdom, I think, for all of us to soak in. And my idea of what success is, and I will tell you, in the last couple of years I have gone through a transformation of what I think about everything. But I would say, like right now, what I feel like my success is is that if I wake up and I am looking forward to the day, whatever it is I may have to do and I am anticipating that tomorrow or next week or a month from now, I have fun things that are ahead of me and minimal stress on how I’m going to pay for it all. Which means that my work is being successful. But I’ve got enough downtime, so I’m not worn out. It’s basically as is my day to day life happy and that’s it. I don’t care if I’m ever touted from the rooftops, if I have gallery shows, if everybody buys everything, those are all nice things. But at the end of it, I want to have people that I enjoy connecting with and a sense of satisfaction that I’ve gotten my stuff done and things that I’m looking forward to coming up. If that’s happening, then I’m good. That’s all I need. That’s great. So it sounds like your markers are really your work life balance. Yeah, exactly. And paying your bills, which is part of that balance. It is, and it’s just trying to come up with that internal validation for what I’m doing and not always expecting other people. I mean, I love outside praise, that’s great. But I’m not like, deciding whether or not I’m successful by whether other people think I am. I’m trying to make this success be the day to day happiness, not if other people are going to love me tomorrow. That’s so important. I’m assuming they just will. So no worries there. But I’m not like, stressing about it. That’s great. I love that you’re not afraid to say that. I love praise that. I like the accolades.
Participant #1:
Fantastic. We live in a society where we’re taught to be modest, and yet at the same time, we’re taught to go after these things. Yeah, it’s a hard balance, isn’t it, to not get that right. My kid used to say growing up, he goes, mom, my modesty is second to none. And I thought, that’s great. I like that. That’s amazing. I love that. And I honestly don’t know how much of it was ironic, how much he honestly how funny. That’s fantastic. I love that. All right, so why don’t you help us out also? I want to really encourage listeners to get out and do new and novel things, because we can’t create in a vacuum. We can’t just depend on our past experiences to be our only inspiration and influence. You need to keep the brain and the museum continuously fed. So tell us something that you’ve done recently or the last, greatest, unexpected, new and novel thing that you’ve done or seen or taste or heard. Right. You know what? I love this thought because it is a great thing to kind of wrap everything up with, because I really do feel like creativity and the feeling of being bold in your creativity is really nurtured by stepping out of your comfort zone, trying things that you’ve never done before, just keeping yourself feeling like you’ve got new experiences around the corner. So that’s really important. I try to do as much as I can. Also being lazy and liking to take naps now, apparently. But one thing I did here fairly recently is there’s a little island just right off of our you can practically see it from here called Molaquini. It’s just a little volcano crater, and you have to take a little boat out there. It takes maybe ten minutes to get out there and you can snorkel on moluccini. I’ve done it a couple of times. The first time I did it, it was a little out of my comfort zone because the inside of the cone is kind of shallow and it’s calm. Everything is great, but when you go to the backside, it is deep ocean. It is just straight down total like dark blue. You feel like you are flying and falling into the realm of the crack. And it is so bizarre and it is so different. And I was a little scared to do it, but I’m like, I’m doing this, man. I can snorkel in all the shallow waters, everything’s great. But this one going deep water and the unknown was a little scary. So for me that was kind of nice. It kind of pushed myself and it was fascinating. I loved it. It was amazing. So things like that, just things to just keep yourself not defined, death per se, but just pushing yourself a little bit beyond what you normally do. I don’t know how many people are going to have the opportunity to go snorkeling on the backside of a crater. I’m sure you can find something equivalent wherever we are, but if you can, you really should. You definitely should do it though, if you can, I just might. It’s weird to be in a spot where there’s so many interesting things like that. I mean, I never would have imagined myself here. And there are lots of those little experiences. You can go up to the crater, into the rainforest, you can go there’s like so many things. So for me, stepping into a brand new experience, like when you’re under the water, everything is different. The sound is different, the light is different, you’re weightless. I mean, it’s stepping into an alter reality by just going across the street. For me, that’s great. I think I’ve been in well, you’ve been all over the world. I can’t hardly say I’ve been all over the world compared to you, but all over the world. All over the United States. And I think even in the most banal seeming places, all these crazy, wonderful things, you just got to go out and find them. And you can get a lot of inspiration from just going out and adventuring nearby. Yeah, and looking smaller, seeing the little bugs on the plants. It doesn’t have to be anything like that. It can be just a tiny thing. That’s why my presence medium is primarily photography right now and macro photography and ICM, which is intentional camera movement. It has a lot to do with finding the little things and bringing those out so you can kind of visually see them more deeply and find the stories and whatnot. Okay, so what do you think is the number one thing you want the listeners to take from our chat today? I want them to take away the fact that if you are actively pursuing some creativity in your life, you’re already winning. Adding creativity in your life is adding, like, candy to your diet or whatever without the bad effects. It’s a beautiful thing. So if there’s any part of that creativity that is giving you stress or making you frustrated, examine that and try to eliminate that so that the creativity is just bringing you joy as much as it can. That’s what I would bring you joy. Keep looking for the joy in your creativity and being true to your weirdness. And being true to your weirdness. Yes. I almost want to use it for my exit line on my podcast now, so I might be stealing that. We’ll see. Sounds perfect. Be true to your weirdness. I love it. All right, Christi, why don’t you tell people where they can find your work, where they can find your chats and all the things that you do to contribute to the artistic community? Easy. Just go to Christifriesen.com. Everything is there. Go down and subscribe to the newsletter, and I’ll be sending you updates on everything I’m doing all the time. And then everything else is just there. You can get to all the things. So just Christifreezen.com and subscribe. So tell us what’s the next thing you’ll be doing and you have offer. Honestly, a lot of it is just like, I do a continuous live chat, so those are always ongoing, which is really good, and I try to cycle through different events and workshops, so I’ve always got something like that coming up. But, yeah, live on live chat and things like that is kind of what I got going on. Her chats are great. It’s such a way to kind of feel connected to other artists and not just to you, because you have a very active community that follows you. Yeah, they have side chats going on, and it’s fun. It’s a good time. Absolutely. If connecting is something that you need more of in your life, check out Christie’s website and see what she’s up to. All right, well, thank you so much for spending his time with me. You’re welcome very much. Imagine I will be bringing you back. I’m always so happy to talk to Sage, and we always have such fun at it because I think we both think about a lot together, so it’s kind of fun when we can combine courses on that. But thank you. Yes, absolutely. Well, thank you so much, Christi.
(end interview)
44:31
And thank you all for joining us for this conversation. Doesn’t Christie just have the best outlook on life, just the best views? I love her insights. By the way, if you like the be true to your weird phrase christie made stickers or magnets or some such, right after that interview, I guess plaques are still something we’ll have to work on. If you want some or want to check out her other offerings that include things like beads and rocks and all kinds of weird and wonderful bits and bobs, along with tutorials tools and her various clubs. Just head over to her website as she mentioned@christifreezen.com, if interested in her project books on polymer clay and mixedmedia, I think she still has some on her website. But besides Amazon, I might have the most stock of still imprint Christie Friesian books, which you can find at www.tenthmusearts.com that’s 10th spelled out. And I thought for this month, just for my early onboard listeners, if you want some of Christie’s books or want to check out some of the polymer books and magazines I’ve published over the last decade or so, here’s a promo code for you. Use Cfsage. So C as in Cat, f as in Frank Sage. C-F-S-A-G-E. For an additional 15% off any purchase on my site, even sale items and even the books, which are, I think, all on sale right now. So it’s quite a steal of a deal for you if you want to check that out. That’s at tenthmusearts.com.
This information will also be in the Show notes, if it’s kind of hard to get that down from audio for you. Aside from all that silliness, don’t forget to send me your comments and ideas, even let me know if you might want to be a guest. You can go to the show website at www the sagearts.com. Use the contact page there to write me, or click on the red button on the bottom right corner to leave me a voice message. You can also follow me on social media on Facebook and Instagram at facebook.Com/thesageartspodcast or instagram.Com/ thesageartspodcast. That’s all one word at the end. If you like what you’ve heard so far and want to help me with the expenses of putting on this podcast, you can make a one time contribution on my Buy Me a Coffee page at buymeacoffee.Com/thesagearts that doesn’t include the word podcast like on social media pages, it’s just the Sage Arts all one word. So until next time, when hopefully I sound a little better, please do nurture your creative self, be true to your weirdness, and join me again next week on the Sage Arts podcast.
