ARTIST INSIGHT | Creative Balance

Check out popular craft artist, Kalpna Patel insight's on how to manage a productive creative practice and career. She includes insights on productivity, evaluation, process and maintaining individual personality in your work.

TOP 5 TIPS | Kalpna Patel

1. Productivity

 My basic rule for maximum productivity is to do creative work first, and reactive work second. I do my best work first thing in the morning, so I make sure to take advantage of that time and energy to focus on creative projects, before delving into things like email and meetings and other correspondence. Don’t let reactive work take up your whole day!

 2. Post-Mortem

Take time to reflect and re-assess your work at the end of each project. Ask yourself what worked and what didn’t. Make notes about your experience, what you enjoyed, what you didn’t enjoy, and what you would do differently, so you have something to refer to before you embark on the next project.

3. Process

Your creative process is every bit as important as the final product. Share images of your work-in-progress - your drafts, experiments, and failures – and take people along for the ride. They will develop a deeper connection to your work, and you will take greater joy in creating it.

 4. Personality

When you work for yourself, you are marketing yourself. Don’t be afraid to share your personal thoughts and ideas, your sense of humour, your inspiration. Through social media, you are essentially inviting people into your world, be warm and welcoming.

 5. Promote

Show the world what your friends are up to, and take time to promote the work of other artists you admire. By sharing the work of others around you, you can help to expand and strengthen the community that makes being a working artist possible.

BIO |  Kalpna Patel is a self-taught craft artist based in Toronto. Specializing in storefront installations, environment design and event decor, she is devoted to animating the ordinary spaces we occupy in our day to day lives and transforming them into elaborate and immersive dream-like worlds that inspire social and civic engagement, and encourage the growth of new entrepreneurial and artistic endeavors.

As part of Making A Living. Making Art: Creative Business and Social Media Strategies for Artists presented by Neighbourhood Arts Network, in partnership with Lakeshore Arts. Event took place on Wednesday June 18th, 2014 at Lakeshore Arts