Take Your Artist to Work: Cindy Sherman

Even FAMOUS artists took their artist to work!

Photographer Cindy Sherman, known for her series Film Stills, where she took evocative photographs of herself cast in different "characters." She came into work one day as "The Secretary" when she worked as a (what else?) secretary at Artists Space in 1977.

KEEP THOSE COMMENTS COMING! I WILL BE DRAWING A NAME ON FRIDAY! ALSO, I LOVE KNOWING YOU EXIST!

Oooh la la! The Storque!

Etsy's The Storque has not only an EXCERPT from The Artist in the Office, but instructions by me for a GENUINE craft you can make at work! Check it out!

Office Supply Art Inspiration

I am awaiting the arrival of a Brazilian TV crew (insert Bossa nova music here), but while I'm at it, I thought I'd post something I discovered, something dear to my heart: EPIC art using office supplies!

Ladies and gentleman, I give you Larissa Brown and her gift for using envelope ties:

I'll never look at inter-office mail envelopes the same again! She's kind of like if Andy Goldsworthy never went outside, and found his muse inside the tin office supply cabinet in the mailroom while he worked as an IT guy:


And who said the office couldn't be inspiring?

The Artist is Out of This Office

Good-byes are lousy. Some people do well with them (meaning they don't care) and some people don't do well with them (meaning they do). Here are examples of good-byes I utterly loath:

Once, when I was dropped off in a cab by a man I had been getting to know all night (in the platonic sense), and who I seemed to have enjoyed a connection with, said to me: "Summer, good luck to you."

Another time, a woman I had sort of built a light friendship with stopped in to say good-bye to me before she moved somewhere. She hugged me and said, with warm affection in her voice, "Have a nice life."

Both are such a kind way to kiss off, but a kiss of is a kiss off. I LOATH these kind of good-byes. I don't believe in them. I guess I am the kind of person who is not so good at good-byes. Why make it so ICE COLD?

Today is my last day at a job, which is always a strange time. People share secrets with you. Affection is more likely. You may eat exceptionally better than you normally do. Tonight, I have my final so-long party. There are some people I will see again, and some people who I could say, "Have a nice life" to or "Good luck to you", but I won't. I've decided to say it in my OWN way.

Two floors, two bathrooms, ten tips of the hat.

What would my last day at this office be without some last minute guerilla art? It seemed only right.

This is Who We Really Are

One of the art projects/experiments that I've been trying to do at work is to collect pictures of my co-workers as small kids. I believe that if everyone knew what everyone looked like as a small child it would profoundly affect the way we interact. Most of us are coming from a little kid place anyway--especially during conflict. How would we change the way we interact with our co-workers if we saw them as small children. What if you looked at your boss and saw this:

If you were angry that someone lost a report or did something annoying or even spilled coffee:

What if you had observed someone having a bad day and was grumpy or they said something rude to you how would you react if you looked over and saw not how they look today, but this:

What if you said good morning to the man who runs the mail room, and this is who you saw:

And you knew that he saw you like this:

Because this is who we really are on some level--beyond the titles and the things we own. We started like this and somewhere this little person continues to exist, as we go out into the world and make plans or do nothing. What if we had to wear this image around our necks as a reminder? What would change? Who would you see and who would everybody see when they looked at you?

Things to do at work, other than work: the video

I took this video of Jose, as a practice to photographing his leap.






Jose's Practice Leap from Summer Pierre o

A New Discovery

I Wasn't Kidding

I am SO THRILLED about all the requests pouring in for The Artist In the Office. Now I know why Oprah gives things away--it feels AWESOME! There are still some left, so request away! Be sure to include your mailing address!

One of the things that has helped me immensely in coming into an office job is making my work life a series art projects. I will admit that this is a delicate balance. I do make sure to get my work done (it's part of the agreement I made when I came here), and as long as I take care of that, I allow small doses of creativity through my day. The key is SMALL. Don't do it so much that it becomes an issue, but do it enough that you feel the presence. The result is that I am happier to come to work, and I don't feel I am dividing my real life from my job life. Plus, once I started looking, there was SO MUCH MATERIAL!

I can be a technophobe, and was very reluctant to get a digital camera, but I can't believe how much it has created in my life. The beauty of its instant gratification, plus deletion capabilities, has led to me taking it almost everywhere I go. I do believe in (and ENCOURAGE) taking it to work and using it as a medium for creation. There are SO MANY things you can do that aren't disruptive or take much time. Even if it's a self-portrait every day at 9:33 am for a week--at the end of the week you have a series.

The above pictures are a series I want to do for the next year. I was so inspired by my photo series with Jose, I DIDN'T WANT TO STOP THERE. So I started to ask other co-workers, "Would you mind posing for a picture with a sign that says 'Hi my name is _______'?" After I read about the photographer Bill Waldman this week (at 52 Projects), who wants to do a portrait a day for the next year, I thought, I want to do the HI, MY NAME IS series with EVERYONE I KNOW. How cool would that be? It connects me with the world I live in, and it engages me artistically. All from a lunchtime lark I did with a co-worker!

So much of job life is like going to sleep--we lose days to activities that don't have much meaning to us. Suddenly 8 hours or 5 days or whatever time is gone and you can't account for it--and as a society we ACCEPT this. Don't ACCEPT this! I wasn't kidding! Take your artist to work! You will be a HAPPIER employee!

Living the Dream With a Day Job

The best thing I did while taking a break from reading was make a zine about something very close to my heart--being an artist with a day job. Almost a year ago, in a fit of frustration, I wrote a post about the very real (and often undiscussed) dynamic of being someone who is a creative (or an anything ELSE), but who continues to support themselves through a day job. I had wanted to do a zine about this, but of course, like so many things, I let the idea sit. It turns out, I think I needed another year to do "research" and to take note of a few things, because the night before my reading deprivation I suddenly couldn't sleep with the sudden rush of ideas about this little book. I saw exactly how to make it. So I did! In two days!

I consider this a little handbook to help us all feel a little bit better about the whole picture of our lives, not just the after five o'clock and on the weekends. Also, it's to acknowledge the time we spend MAKING IT WORK. The reality is, MOST of us have day jobs in addition to our "real work" or "real lives." Some people go to work and never think twice about it. Some people go to work at a place that they HATE, but can't think of anything different. I wanted to make something that honors the fact that most of us have two lives and that takes A LOT of energy. I also wanted to make something that could be an easy reminder that you are living your ONE life right now (not later)--why not enjoy it as much as you can--with a day job or not.

What you will find in here:

• Affirmation--with a swear word!
• Ways to bring your real self to work!
• Wise words from an unlikely source--my brother!
• Permission for time off!
• Resources!
• Ideas toward getting out of your job--or just changing your situation!
• A recipe!
• And so much more!
  

All illustrated and handwritten by me! I believe that this is something everyone should enjoy, so for a limited time I am giving them away FOR FREE. You want one? E-mail me your address at summer (at) summerpierre (dot) com. You gonna like it!

(UPDATE: The FREE part is EXPIRED, but you can PURCHASE the zine--here:)

(UPDATE: The Zine is no longer for sale--look for the book in February 2010!)

The Artist in the Office

This week is in danger of sucking me dry. In an attempt to keep my soul in tact, I started to make lists yesterday at lunch time of ideas, guerilla projects, things to MAKE MY MARK in New York. lately, I am fascinated by this idea of looking at work culture head on. I want to make a 'zine called "The Artist in the Office." You know who you are and you've been living it for years. You're the writer, who has sustained a dream life of characters, observations, and notes, sneaking in the occasional chapter, while you work on reports; You're the painter or illustrator who doodles constantly on stickies, and imagines your own work being duplicated as you make thousands of copies at the copying machine; you're the musician who hoofs your gigs to your co-workers, sneaks e-mailings to your mailing list, and makes fliers when the boss ain't looking.

I wonder just how many of us are out there. Seriously. Who out there is an artist in their daily life, living a double life, working essentially two jobs? I wonder at the daily frustration we all try to ward off. I wonder at how we try to creep in our REAL lives, into our days spent doing what we think we MUST do. I think we do it passive aggressively, by sneaking in computer time, copier time, office supply time. Do you ever consider consciously all the time and supplies you DO use toward your artful life, during your day job? How do you TRULY spend your days?

There are reasons we are here in the office. Maybe we can't imagine another way. Maybe it is only temporary. Maybe it's just a means to an end. What is it that you REALLY DO?

The office is the American symbol for JOB. There are people who work in an office, who love their jobs. There are people in an office who don't think about it much. There are people, who are raging in their seats everyday because they want another way, but don't know how.

I have felt an urge lately to put up fliers or chalk messages on the sidewalk, in midtown New York, that say things like, "Call in Sick" or "You don't have to go" or "This moment is more important than you think" or "Go towards the kindness." I dream of having a life that is spent doing what I want to do 100% of the time--none of it would be spent in an office. Yet, this is where I am. I have to begin HERE, if I am to begin anything.

Recently I met a writer who just published a book on creativity. I asked him if he was able to write full-time and he sort of sagged in posture, and said wearily, "Oh, no. Not yet anyway." And we both acknowledge wary smiles. Later, I couldn't get his response out of my mind--or my response to him. I feel there is this duality we live as artists with day jobs. We don't want our day jobs, but I do believe there is something in us that just LAYS OUR LIVES DOWN, that just says, "OH, WELL." I don't want to say OH WELL anymore. It made me think of him in his cubicle, and me at my desk, and the countless others out there who feel tired, who feel like they coast through that part of their lives in order to get to the "real" parts.

Having a day job doesn't make any of us less of an artist than anyone who is doing it full-time. Making art, makes us artists. What can you do consciously TODAY, where you sit, staring at this screen, that says THIS IS TRULY ME? Wake UP and begin where you are.

For Those of Us in an Office, Who Dream of an Artful Life

from my walk to work today

For those of you people who, like me, find themselves employed by somebody else and in an office, I offer these ideas to shake up your day:

1. Walk to work--either the whole way or a section of the way. Today is the first REAL SPRING DAY we've had here in New York, and I got off the subway early and walked the 15 blocks in total glee, with the sun on my shoulders and the world suddenly blooming.

2. Go get a cup of coffee outside. Offer to buy your favorite co-worker/friend a cup too. Take 15 minutes and go. (Alternative or additional incentive: drink your coffee in a CUP and SAUCER. I did this once, and I felt SO ARTY and GREAT)

3. Buy yourself flowers. I recommend daffodils.

4. Read a poem. It's short, it won't take up too much time, but the heart will remember wonder.

5. Make a list of things you LIKE about your job (I don't care where you are--there are SOME THINGS that you like). Mine would be something like this: the view outside my window, several people here light up my day (hi Chin!), breakfast in the mornings, less worry about money, music from Pandora.

6. Bring your camera to work and take pictures occasionally through the day. Here is one of mine:



7. Do one thing towards your "ideal life." I called and made an appointment at the Schol of Visual Arts and I am going for a walk in Central Park later.

8. Wear something that makes you feel good. I am wearing a pair of my purple dangly earrings my mom gave me for Christmas. They remind me of the artist I always am.

9. At 3:00, have a piece of chocolate.

10. Plan one thing to do JUST FOR YOU at 5:00. Sometimes I go to the Algonquin and write. This week I went to a bookstore and browsed for three hours.

For extra credit: keep a small notebook on your desk and either doodle while you are on the phone, or have it handy to write down ideas for later.

No matter where you are, who you're with, or what you're doing, you are always YOU.