Local artist facilitators Beau Leland, Robert Matson, Sunni Mercer, Michelle Moeller, Jerod Tate and Sarah Hearn and area topic experts to jointly conduct the eight-week program. These facilitators approach their careers in widely varying ways with a myriad of entrepreneurial pursuits and different goals.
Guest writer Erin Shaw profiled some of the facilitators to explore their artistic practices (which gives a hint why we thought they'd make good Artist INC facilitators!).
Beau Leland, Film and Video
Beau
Leland is a media artist working in film and video. Beau works primarily as an
editor on narrative and documentary shorts and features. Beau lives and works
in Oklahoma
City
Erin Shaw: What is an important
piece of your artistic philosophy, something that you feel is necessary to you
and your particular art practice?
Beau
Leland: In my field, a lot of attention tends to migrate toward the latest and
greatest hardware and software. While all of that is particularly
important, I find that being a storyteller is most important. My philosophy is
that it has to feel right. If I don't feel like it sits well in the gut,
it's not good enough.
ES: Describe a pivotal experience,
conversation or happening within your career.
BL: I think my career took a real turn when I
decided to leave the four-year program at the University of Oklahoma Oklahoma City Community College
ES: What do you feel is your unique
contribution to the OKC arts community?
BL: I
have been involved in the film community here in OKC for a while now, and I
feel very fortunate to have earned a reputation as a trusted editor and
collaborator. Much of the work I receive calls for come from the referrals of
other people who I have worked with. It's nice to receive so many endorsements
from the Oklahoma
ES: What is one piece of advice you
would give a young artist as they begin their career?
BL: As I
mentioned above regarding my artistic philosophies, I often tell young people
to trust in their gut. Don't let anything past you that you don't feel
right about.
ES: How have you resolved the
tension or relationship between making art and making money?
BL: From
the beginning of my career, it has always been about building my business
around my craft. I'm different than a traditional artist in that I don't
create multiple pieces in my studio that I then exhibit and sell. In a way, I'm
service-based. The majority of my work is spent on other people's
projects. So I don't really feel like I have to put my art on the back
burner while I work to make money to survive.
I'm
fortunate in that my art, or my craft rather, is how I make money.
Someday soon I may start producing more abstract
work that is truly mine, but I don't feel deprived for not having done more of
that kind of work.
ES: Describe unique aspects of your
artistic practice and how you have been able to make a life making art.
BL: I
think what may separate me from a lot of other artists is that I don't create
works for myself. I truly do collaborate with another person or more in
nearly everything I do. It's what I enjoy the most about my work.
And I've always approached it as a business.
Much of
my downtime is spent working on the business side of my practice, which is
almost an art form in itself. When times get slow, I start working on
ways to improve the business or how to grow my skills as an editor. I
think approaching my art in this way is one of the reasons I have been able to
stay somewhat successful…knock on wood.
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