Professional Practices for Artists: The Gift of Attention and Time

Written By Stephanie Metz

I’ve just returned from a weekend workshop for artists focused on professional practices in the realm of self-promotion, gallery representation, museum exhibitions, strategizing, and goal setting. At least, that’s what I went for. What I got was all that plus a new network of kindred spirits, a supportive community, and sense that I am heading in the right direction on this journey.

The event was held at the beautiful and tranquil Willow Pond SLO Retreat. Set in the lush countryside outside of San Luis Obispo, the birdsong, frog chirps, and breezy sunshine immediately provided a sense of calm. I felt pleasantly cut off from the world and free to focus on bigger picture questions— a gift in itself.

Willow Pond House at sundown.

The name of the workshop is ‘Kipaipai,’ and it is Hawaiian for “to encourage and inspire” (the first versions were held in Hawaii). The name truly says it all: while the focus was on setting goals and establishing tangible action items, the effect was greater clarity and a sense of real relief that comes with creating a doable roadmap.

Ducks in the eponymous Willow Pond.

Sixteen visual artists, known as ‘Fellows’ in the workshop, were accepted into the program for this round; a “Quick Grant” from the Center For Cultural Innovation helped fund my attendance. The application process involves some writing, images, and a fee. (Then next one, by the way, will be in Joshua Tree in June 2025, and applications for this round have to be in by February 10). Over two days we each met individually with eleven faculty members made up of professionals from a wide spectrum of the art world, as well as two mentors who had been through the program before. (I’ve listed the other Fellow artists and Faculty at the end of this post in case you’d like to check them out for yourself.)

The 2025 Kipaipai SLO faculty, fellows, and mentors. Photo by Osceola Refetoff (instagram @ospix)

I had heard of Kipaipai before and reached out to another past participant, Annette Goodfriend, who strongly recommended it as “a gift you give yourself.” The timing seemed right for me since I’m at a point in which I’m in a bit of a bottleneck with the business part of being an artist. I feel confident in the direction and execution of my work and my concepts, but (in case you didn’t realize it) my art form takes a ridiculous amount of time and labor to complete, and the administrative tasks take away time and attention from the making. I’d like to be able to pay someone to help with some of that, and although I show my work widely, I don’t sell much of it very often. I went into the weekend looking to expand my ideas on how to address the financial part of making this all work.

The Faculty included fellow artists who are further along in their careers, gallerists from both the nonprofit and traditional gallery worlds, an art critic and writer, an art consultant who places work in corporate settings, a coach on the storytelling aspect of selling, a social media expert, and the curator, consultant, museum professional, and huge-hearted founder of Kipaipai, Andi Campognone. She is the one responsible for assembling the Faculty, Mentors, and Fellows who come together to share ideas, triumphs, struggles, and vulnerabilities.

Over the course of the weekend I sat down with each Faculty member and Mentor for brief but focused discussions on their areas of expertise. The advice was frank, open, and targeted. Many had done prior homework on each of us Fellows; some I already knew going into the workshop. I made new connections, got fresh insights, learned more about the lay of the land and left with specific tasks. I’d like to think some of my own knowledge and experiences made a difference for others as well.

So why am I sharing this with you? I think there’s something here for artist and non-artist audiences alike.

If you’re an artist looking to make your practice be more financially sustainable and have an impact beyond all that creating does for you as a human, then you will probably have questions you and your current peers can’t answer. You may not even know what questions to ask at this point. It’s often a good idea to reach beyond and find the people with specialized knowledge who can help. The fantastic side effect of doing that with a cohort of other artists at a similar stage is that you can normalize the struggles and acknowledge the successes in the context of people who ‘get it.’ So many of us work alone for long stretches of time and, frankly, feel a little weird talking to non-artists about the business side of our profession since we’re supposed to do all of this for passion alone. Which, it turns out, doesn’t actually pay the studio rent.

But if you’re NOT an artist reading this, what is your takeaway? I think it’s twofold: first, you clearly have some connection to at least one human being who regularly makes art, shows art, and sells art. I think it’s worthwhile to remind non-artists that there’s a lot that goes into being a professional artist that happens outside the studio. When you participate in exploring, supporting, and buying original artwork you are helping shape your culture by giving a voice to the people called to translate their human experiences into forms others can share.

But the second thing is that there’s an incredibly thin line between what we even call an ‘artist’ and a ‘non-artist.’ We humans all have the capacity to express ourselves in a myriad of ways. We also all get bogged down in the day-to-day stresses of the news cycle, bills coming due, demands on our time and energy and emotions. Setting aside a time and a place to take a retreat, consider the bigger picture things you value, and interacting with a supportive community are important for all of us. Whether or not you officially call yourself an artist, nurturing the means to periodically contemplate and process where you are and where you want to be and who you want to be with is crucial— in a cultivated workshop setting or by turning off the phone and the TV to really connect with the people you care about.

One of the things I wrote in my notebook was spoken by writer Shana Nys Dambrot, who said, “Artists are trying to hold the line for humanity.” I took that to mean that the bigger picture survival of humankind has to do with connection. In chaotic times when people are scared and things are changing, the thread that runs through it is the way art and artmaking helps us express, process, share, organize, react, and survive.

We don’t know what we don’t know. But we can reach out to each other and teach and learn.

Here are the Faculty and Mentors who took part in Kipaipai Willow Pond 2025; some of them offer their knowledge as consultants. Below those are my fellow Fellows, whose work you should know.

Mentors:

Fellows:






Stephanie Metz http://www.stephaniemetz.com
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