In my mind I'd always wanted to be an artist and make my living as an artist, but had made a lot of decisions that made it seem unlikely that would happen. I'd dropped out of art school after a year and became a nurse for one. I also had no studio, and hadn't been doing any sort of art for several years. When I was 24 my mother suddenly died in a tragic accident. She'd been struggling with alcoholism and mental illness since I could remember and her death brought overwhelming sadness and relief.
Some months later, after being immersed in family drama around my mom's death, I was in Boston talking to a friend about my remote artistic intentions. My friend, who'd watched me attend and then drop out of art school, and who's father, incidently, died on the same day as my mother, so I forgive her callousness, said to me, "I keep hearing you say you're going to make something happen, and you never do." My heart dropped. That was my biggest suspicion of why my mother had been so unhappy, and was now dead, and it stung to hear someone say it to me. So, to make a long story short, it was being deeply insulted by a friend that sparked my career as an artist, and wound me up for two year crash course in the practices and business of being an artist.

I found a local ceramics co-op and spent about a year relearning what I'd known in high school and trying to teach myself how to slip cast, and eventually broke down and took a mold-making class. I was incredibly fortunate to find a part-time school nursing job at a private school about two blocks from the studio that paid enough that I could just get by until I started making money from my art. I would work from 7-noon at the studio and then work at the school from 1-5:30pm. At my first group show at the co-op I made $1400 and nearly sold out. Then I got a booth at an outdoor market and was able to make and sell about $500 of pottery a week. I was able to set up my own studio near my house, had a friend help me make a website, got a credit card swiper, and was in business.
Admittedly, I had a pretty manic delving into my art career, and as a nurse I might suggest a more moderated approach. I think my circumstances gave me a way to take was I was given and use it as fuel, instead of becoming hopeless or depressed. Now I'm learning to think of success as something that is good because it makes life better for us and the people around us, and not something that I desperately need in order to avoid becoming my mother.

The biggest gift my mother gave me was showing me that no matter how nice or interesting you are your life can become a tragedy if you don't exercise your influence over it. I recently started running after some sluggish suspicion that I might injur myself. My mantra that keeps me going and feeling like I could run over a mountain if I needed to is, "I am so much stronger than I need to be to do this."

www.isabelleabramson.com
Isabelle has been kind enough to offer this handmade votive holder and fabulous candle. Simply POST YOUR COMMENTS on her post and we'll pull the winners name out of a hat! GOOD LUCK! Offer ends February 6th 2010.