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In this episode you’ll learn:
- How Gary has made a successful living as an artist
- How to adapt to cultural changes as an artist
- How community has inspired Gary’s art
- What Gary is doing today to promote his work
Gary Genetti has made a living from his art for over forty years.
In this in depth chat, we explore resilience and connecting with community as an independence artist today.
As someone who believes we all have something creative to give, Gary is a nationally respected artist, who’s work is featured in the permanent collection of the National Museum of American Art in Washington, DC.
Through his unique craft, creating contemporary classics in glass, hear how a feature on the front cover of the Smithsonian gave him the early confidence to embrace failure.
“I packed my Volkswagen Beetle and $500 and headed for the east coast…” – Gary Genetti
Items mentioned in this episode (quick access):
Crafting a career from glass
[00:41] Introducing Gary Genetti.
[01:24] How Gary sees himself in the world today.
[02:00] Gary describes what the ‘maker movement’ means to him.
[03:12] What Gary is working on today. Talks about his successful Kickstart campaign.
[05:01] Why community is important to Gary.
[06:40] How community has inspired Gary’s art.
“It’s that sense of being something much larger than myself” – Gary Genetti
Evolving as an artist
[09:30] The importance of evolving as an artist.
[11:20] How Gary got into glass.
[12:40] Beginning to make a living from his craft.
[14:35] The story of how his art appeared on the front cover of the Smithsonian magazine.
[16:23] How Gary’s art helped him with his shyness.
[17:12] How Gary scaled his craft. Embracing failure.
“If you haven’t failed you don’t know if you have done your best” – Gary Genetti
Credibility, adaptability and security
[19:18] How Gary has adapted to cultural changes during his career so far.
[20:00] Re-establishing value of something that is hand-made.
[20:24] Resilience as an independence artist.
[21:00] Art as a healing journey with his family.
[22:10] Finding an inspirational way to move forward with his life.
“Being an independent artist – a certain amount of resilience is required” – Gary Genetti
Crafting with the community
[24:00] Challenges for younger artists today.
[26:15] The benefit of selling your own work. Social media.
[27:05] Opportunities.
[28:15] The safest way to have a career in the arts.
[29:20] How a prison has become a maker space and art studios.
The true value of art
[31:00] Social enterprise and crowdfunding.
[32:10] Inviting people into his own studio. The value of art.
[34:54] How training inhibited Gary.
[35:40] Being open to change.
[37:20] How art has its own idea.
Marketing and selling art
[38:18] How the digital revolution has impacted Gary’s art.
[39:18] Amazon. Signatures and barcodes.
[39:57] How podcasting is helping spread art.
[42:00] Insecurity at kindergarden. What Gary is doing today to promote his work.
[45:00] Projecting a positive, inclusive, non-judgemental world.
Inspiration, disruption and innvoation
[47:55] What has inspired Gary recently.
[50:08] What Gary is grateful for today.
[51:00] What’s next for Gary.
[51:30] Inspiring kids from Harlem, New York.
[55:17] Where you can connect with Gary.
Links and Resources:
Quotes from this episode (click to tweet:)
- “I think we’re born with an innate sense of creativity”
- “I never had an agent”
- “Diversifying what I do is very important”
- “[The] safest way to try and have a career in the arts is to freelance”
- “In a certain way I had to let go of a lot of my training to keep doing what I do”
- “If you’re not challenged as an artist – you’re not doing your best”
- “I think it’s the making things that has really helped me learn how to communicate”
- “The real future to believe in – is within yourself”
- “It’s a little bit of a messy life in some ways”
- “You just have to tap into the right thing for yourself and you’ll find it”
- “It’s a conversation with the material”
If you enjoyed this podcast, you’ll also like:
- Living Your Truth with Ilyana Kadushin
- The Art of Crowdfunding with Ariel Hyatt
- Creating a Confident Living From Your Art with Anne-Laure Carruth
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