Dear Pepper is an advice column comic by Liana Fink. If you have questions for Pepper about how to act in difficult situations, please contact us at dearpepperquestions@gmail.com. Questions may be edited for brevity and clarity.
Dear Pepper
Throughout my adult life, I have bounced back and forth between art jobs. There was a time when I wanted to get a stable job, but in the end I couldn’t get one. Now I’m on the verge of getting insurance and I desperately need it. I just had a child and need health insurance for her. But the thought of having a set schedule makes me want to tear my hair out.
How can I avoid losing my cold completely?
Sincerely,
Wishy wassy
Dear WW,
I’m with you. People talk a lot about balancing a 9-to-5 job and raising children, but it’s clear that it’s not easy. However, balancing an art career and raising children is also not easy, and is not often talked about, especially among artists and parents. Dogs, but that’s another story.
Children seek stability. This includes regular bedtimes and regular meals, but also reliable care that doesn’t evaporate at the last moment when a parent is invited to fly to Los Angeles to have a portrait painted as an advertisement for a shoe startup. will appear. It would also ideally increase by a sizable increase each year to keep up with inflation and pay for everything the children need, including food, clothing, child care, swimming lessons, doctor visits, toys, etc. Ideally, a parent with a reliable income is included. A 25 cent machine you hand out, ice cream from an ice cream truck, birthday presents for all 17 toddlers at the preschool who have no decency to write “no presents” on their birthday party invitations, and space, lots of it. space. Health insurance is also a plus. (This is a huge understatement.)
Most of the time, artists don’t have that sense of stability. We don’t have that kind of tightness either. The people we work with are typically clients or patrons rather than employers. An employer is someone who offers you some protection in exchange for owning your body and brain for most of your waking hours, whereas a client or benefactor is someone who offers you a degree of protection in exchange for owning your body and brain for most of your waking hours. A person who provides. Available. And maybe that’s just what we artists like. Perhaps it’s even a way of life that everyone would want to live if given the chance. But it’s not stable. And in some cases, being placed in a box is safe, but being suffocated is not the worst option.
Balancing life and work as an artist can feel like trying to balance a living, crawling human child with Schrödinger’s theoretical cat. You’re not actually making ends meet at all. You are holding a child who is alive and in need. You never degrade him. After a few years, cats are even more likely to die than before. You hope and pray that it will suddenly come back the year your youngest child starts school. It might happen, it might not. The artist is well aware of Schrödinger’s uncertain future. Maybe I’m just describing what it’s like to make a living as an artist, unrelated to children. Maybe I’m just explaining life in general. I don’t understand. I’m very tired.
Many parents who are artists choose more regular jobs, such as in academia, advertising, or publishing, if possible. I especially envy academics. At least in my imagination, they have a lot of time outside of work, a gracious community, and good benefits. Of course, people who have regular jobs as academics or artists may be busy, but so are artists trying to work collaboratively in quicksand. That’s a difficult choice.
So what is the right choice for you? My opinion about rare opportunities is that you should seize them. (This is how I feel about cheese, chicken, and other treats as well.) You want a solid job, even if you always know it might not be perfect for you. , it finally fell into your lap. It will be difficult in many ways, but you can always make new changes within a year or two if your circumstances and options change. First of all, congratulations!
pepper
