Howdy folks! 
Have you ever had someone look at you with that look that says,"I am concerned for  your future and I also think you are flat out bonkers for trying to make a go of it in anything related to the arts because you are going to fall flat on your face, have to move in with your parents, never be able to pay your bills and end up sad and alone." 
Well, I have. More times that I can or want to count. It's part of the fine print that we all ignore when we decide to go into an arts related field or forge our way forward in the arts. Sometimes you don't even get the concern from people, just the flat out crazy bit. 
So why do we do it? It's not like their concerns aren't valid. Going into the arts certainly doesn't provide a person with any sort of guarantee, stability, or promises. In a time/economy/social era like we are in these days the arts are low man on the totem pole at best, kicked off the island and forgotten about most of the time and usually just something that is relegated to little kids and something to marvel at for a second when someone convinces an Elephant to "paint" (I won't get going on my feelings on this whole animals making art thing. That's for another time.)
So with all this against us, why do we take the hard road? We know that jobs are few and far between, we know that most people won't understand or be supportive of our choice and we know that no matter what we do, luck or no, we are going to have to work our asses off every second of every day. Does the idea of walking up hill in the snow with no shoes pulling a cart full of manure both ways sound familiar???
Answering my own question, I do what I do for many reasons. The first reason is that I have to. I am an evil, unsocial, unforgiving, nasty person when I am not creating. Those who knew me when I took a little time off from art can attest to this and have told me that it is most certainly true. I am not my truest self unless I am creating art, talking about art, helping others create their art or otherwise involved in the arts. Secondly, I love creating. It makes me happy. Every part of the creative process is something that I can get lost in from the ideation stage when I am just coming up with ideas and concepts to the sketching stage where I plan things out all the way through to completion. I can stand back and look at what I have made and regardless of how well I think I did, I have created something that exists outside of myself but is infused with my thoughts and dreams and ideas. I think that's something pretty darn spectacular. I guess the third biggest reason that I create especially sculptural works is because I have to keep my hands busy all the time. There is something in me that needs to build things, needs to have the materials in my hands working with them, molding materials into what I see in my head. It's just who I am. If I don't create I end up getting fidgety and I can't sit still. I can't focus on anything or complete a thought. So I guess doing what I do is a bit something like my own personal therapy or my own drug of choice. I'm completely OK with that.
So why do you do what you do despite all that is going against creative endeavors these days?
Comment here or on the YouTube video. I can't wait to hear/read what you have to say!
Until we Conundrum again!
Stacey 

Hello fellow questioners, risk takers, thinkers, creatives... in short, my awesome viewers/readers! You are most likely reading this here blog post because you saw my recent video on YouTube about Success in the arts. I am pretty hyped up because it is the second video in the series which means that I have now officially created a series! Also, it means that I am moving forward on an idea that has been knocking around in my ever crowded brain for some time now. I thought I would talk a little more about the question of Success in the Arts here, expanding on the thoughts that I shared in the video.
As I stated in the video, I was surprised to find that money didn't seem to be a big factor in the definition of success from the folks that I have talked to about it. Those that brought it up at all only mentioned it in almost in passing. It seems that money is actually only one of the many tools used by creatives to do what they do, it's not a driving goal or measure of success. There have been many times when people have told me that I shouldn't go into the arts because I can't make any money or I shouldn't be an artist because you will only be famous after your dead so what's the point. Yes folks, these are direct quotes. To me those are clear indications that money and fame are sort of bench marks, quantifiers if you will of societies view of success. 
In my personal view, while money is nice to have and I enjoy having enough to pay my bills, feed myself and in general sustain my low key lifestyle, I don't see it as something that I use to measure my success. Having more or less of it doesn't mean that I am more or less successful in my art. Same goes for fame. While a little recognition of my awesomeness is nice now and again, it isn't why I do what I do. I create because I have to, because I want to communicate to other people, share my thoughts, ideas, dreams, opinions, create a response in other people, get people to think about things beyond what jeans to buy and what celebrity is dating/breaking up with who. Money and fame don't come into that. I would still be making art even if I had no money and I can only hope that I would still make art if I was dripping with cash. As for fame, knowing me and how I hate crowds, have a hard time opening my mouth around strangers and get anxiety if there are more than 2 people in a room that I don't know, I don't think fame is for me. 
So those are my expanded thoughts on the idea of Success as an artist. Now I want to know yours! Comment on the YouTube video or leave a comment here. Let talk about this thing that we all hope to achieve in our life time and what it really means for folks who are creatively driven!
Here's to hoping that you all are having a fabulous time doing what you do! Keep your eyes peeled for more Conundrum to come!
Stacey 

Hey there you fine folks! I have a lot to talk about and it feels like so little time to do it so forgive me if this is a whirlwind blog post and you feel like you've been through a tornado when it's all done but here it goes.
I have finished another wonderful year of teaching here at Worcester State College. This past year included great students, new opportunities for teaching, meeting fellow professors that I hadn't met before, earning Tenure, getting the Alden Excellence in Teaching Award, going to commencement for the first time and so many more wonderful things that I just can't type it all out. It's been a productive, crazy, chaotic and fabulous year!
I have started a new body of work (along with my houses, luminaries, body landscape sculptures and stone carving) I have started wood carving and a series of mixed media paintings that I am pretty darn hyped up about. Pictures will of course come as I get the works finished and documented.

THE CONUNDRUM
I have also very recently, as in today, started an interesting You Tube project that I am really jam'n on right now. I have added a YouTube connection to my website (up in the right hand corner over there with the face book and twitter icons) If you are someone who has any opinions on the arts no matter if you are involved in them or not, please go check it out and subscribe and comment and share it with your like minded friends. 
As I briefly stated in the intro video to the project titled "The Conundrum" I am hoping that this video series will be the catalyst for a conversation on the arts that I think people are having in small groups, on the spur of  the moment as sort of a throw away chat but it has so much more potential and impact on our lives, society and the world at large. I hope that through these videos we can generate shared information and knowledge about the Arts, why they are important, how they impact us on every level and through every lens and why we have to continue to have the arts in all aspects of society and life. 
Of course, the first question that I ask is simply what are The Arts? I think that to have a conversation about the Arts we have to at least be on similar pages as to what we are actually talking about. I see the arts as so many different things from visual art to theater to dance to music to performance to movies to design to comic books to writing etc... Coming from a background where I learned craft skills and then took them and used them to create art, I see  some aspects of craft as also being art. When thinking of the crafts, I think of creating utilitarian objects like cups or chairs or rugs. In my thinking, anything that elevates the creation of a utilitarian object beyond it's stated purpose, like considering the surface of a mug or the form of a chair and changing it to make it something more than just it's purpose is what changes craft into art. 
In short, so many things can be/are art so it is impossible to think that there is any part of life that isn't directly or indirectly impacted by the arts in some way. 
These are some of my beginning thoughts on our Conundrum. I hope to add more to this blog and to the YouTube project started today. 
Come back often to check out what's going on and what we are talking about!
Have a wonderful and inspiring day and go do something great!
Stacey