Preston Craig - working his ass off
- Jun 6, 2016
- 2 min read
Do you encounter misconceptions about being an artist? God yes. Let’s see, a couple of my favs: What a great God given gift you have. No one gifted me anything. I’ve worked my ass off promoting and marketing my skills and talents as an artist. Luckily, I did have a supportive mom and an aunt but I’ve really had to work at this to make it this far and it ain’t over yet. That is why it is called art-work and not art-play.
One more: Artists have such an easy life. What??? While there may be a wealthy few who have had it easy pursuing their creative talents, I’ve never found anything easy about being an artist. Sometimes I think it’s a curse. Finding a balance with promoting, marketing and creating is not an easy thing to do and then, to somehow generate enough income to keep oneself afloat is a day-to-day challenge.
What do you think is the function of art in society? Do art or artists have a responsibility to do anything in particular? While creating beautiful paintings has its place, I’ve always felt that artists have a responsibility to be socially active with their art. To help create positive change in society through utilizing their creative talents to address any number of social issues and/or political commentary.
Have you had to make sacrifices in order to live your life as an artist? Where do I begin? The largest sacrifice I have made is not having a family of my own. I never wanted to subject a wife to the vagaries of income that comes from being an artist, and, let’s face it, women are attracted to money and security, neither of which I’ve been able to provide on a steady basis.
Is there something you are currently working on, or are excited about starting? Yes, I’m launching a line of socially relevant teddy bears called Twisted Teddys. At present, they only exist as illustration/paintings but my goal is to market plush and vinyl varieties. They serve a dual purpose. I set up the company to market my designs and concepts but also to provide an easy way or the average consumer to become an active/passive participant by having a portion of the proceeds from sales of my products, benefit the very organizations that address the issues my teddy bears depict; like Homelessness, Drug Addiction, Domestic Abuse, Child Abuse, Gang Abatement, etc.
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