Review
“A strikingly frank book that removes the veil of mysticism surrounding the artistic life.”
(
Hyperallergic)
“Sharon Louden has gathered together in this book an exceptionally diverse range of artists’ experiences in order to illustrate, in a manner otherwise inaccessible, the inherent tensions that artists face in constantly balancing their drive to devote core time and energy to creating new work and their wish to share that work with the world with the complexities, as well as the joys, of their personal and family lives.”
(Michael Straus, chairman, Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts)
"Anyone serious about a career as an artist must read this book."
(Adam Sheffer, partner, Cheim and Read Gallery)
“I applaud artist Sharon Louden for assembling this fascinating compilation of artist testimonies. It provides a refreshing, honest look at the myriad ways that artists shape and feed their lives and evolve authentic, generative practices in a society that does not always make it easy for artists to subsist and fully contribute. Living and Sustaining a Creative Life is thus an inspiring, unexpurgated resource for artists beginning their careers as well as any individual seeking to recalibrate his or her daily life to pursue a more purpose-filled existence.”
(Olga Viso, executive director, Walker Art Center)
“Too often the story of how an artist makes art and a living is advertised as either a step into an abyss of debt and dementia or a glamorized Bohemia misunderstood by a general public. Yet what these artists demonstrate in this valuable book is that the common bond for us all who aspire to a well-lived life is blood, sweat, and tears. From artists living off sales of their work to those who teach and those who search for paychecks in odd jobs, the desire to create is never extinguished.”
(Franklin Sirmans, Terri and Michael Smooke Curator, Los Angeles County Museum of)
“From surprisingly frank sharings on the struggles of starting out as young artists to the challenges of making time and space for creation, the artists in Living and Sustaining a Creative Life share with candor and heart just what it takes to be an artist today."
(Anne Pasternak, president and artistic director, Creative Time)
About the Author
Sharon Louden is a practicing, professional artist living and working in Brooklyn. Her work has been exhibited at the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art, Birmingham Museum of Art, Neuberger Museum, and the Weisman Art Museum, among other venues, and it is held in the public collections of the Whitney Museum of American Art, Weatherspoon Art Museum, and National Gallery of Art.