Experience Post: Summer Balcom Lecture

I went to the lunchtime lecture on Tuesday, and I learned a lot about how an artist's work changes over time and how that is affected by art as a full-time job.

Balcom was very transparent on how her current life situation and emotional state influenced her artwork, and I thought it was interesting how she moved from drawing to sculpture to sgraffito and how her subject material changed from faces and people to scenes from nature. That proves to me that my art career doesn't have to be tied to a specific subject or medium, but that it's meant to evolve over time as I change. I also thought it was interesting how Balcom changed her work to be more marketable. Now that she's a full time artist, she has to be more responsive to what customers are willing to buy. She gradually shifted to imagery with birds and butterflies, as well as sgraffitoing in color rather than just black and white.