Publication Review

Living and Sustaining a Creative Life: Essays by 40 Working Artists is a nonfiction autobiography of 40 narrative essays compiled and edited by Sharon Louden. Sharon Louden is an artist, educator and advocate whose work focuses on helping artists who are often unseen creative opportunities. Louden has also published books such as Last Artist Standing: Living and Sustaining a Creative Life Over 50 and The Artist as Culture Producer: Living and Sustaining a Creative Life, both of which were formatted as a compilation of essays. This book was published on October 15, 2023 by Intellect Ltd.
This book is useful for artists who are considering pursuing art as a career, as it shows various ways artists have succeeded in the past.

This review concentrates on an excerpt of 10 of the 40 essays. It focuses on each artist's unique perspective, the strategies they use in order to make a living off of their art, and the important role that community played when they built their artistic career.

 One of these essays, by Brian Tolle, focuses on his background in political science and how it eventually came in handy when he began to make art. He created “Witchcatcher” in 1997, which was an outdoor sculpture he made with the sponsorship of the Public Art Fund. Tolle created this piece with the help of his community, including his family members and those with skills in creating outdoor art pieces. Tolle’s story of resiliency and passion demonstrates that anyone can be an artist so long as they work hard and have the right connections at the right time. 

Another essay comes from Jenny Marketou, where she focuses on the importance of taking risks. She talks about how she came from Greece to New York and created her first published work, The Great Longing: The Greeks of Astoria, Queens, a collaboration between Greece and American artists. Through this she learned about the importance of experimentation, including learning about experimentation with administration work and working on long and short-term projects. Through her hard work and determination, Marketou shows how experimentation opens doors in the art market and allows for more creativity in artistic practices. 

Sharon Louden does an excellent job selecting the essays for this excerpt, especially in regards to the diversity of the lives that each artist leads and how they reached that point. Some topics that were especially interesting was how much each artist relied on their artistic practice financially. While some artists still worked part time jobs, others relied on their partners income to help them, and some relied entirely on their own art. 

What seems like the most important topics within this excerpt was the connections between artists and the outside world. Some of those connections came in the form of grants for their artwork, while others came in the form of the support from their friends and family members. It resonated with me, as it reminded me of my own connections both in and outside of the art world, and how important my friends and family members have been when they have encouraged me and supported my work. One thing which could have been highlighted more within this excerpt was how artists got into contact with interested parties, as it could be useful for new artists trying to get their foot in the door of the arts world. 

I would highly recommend this book to any artists interested in the stories of their peers, as there is likely to be an experience each artist relates to in some way. It is a fantastic compilation of essays that allows artists to learn about a variety of ways to live. It also allows an artist to consider the different ways they may choose to live in the future.