Steal like an artist for your professional identity
"Good artists copy, great artists steal" is one of my all time favorite quotes, and it was said by Pablo Picasso.
I'm inviting you to steal like an artist for your professional identity needs, of course.
HERE'S WHY TO STEAL
Art is the GREATEST example of how to name things that defy categorization and combine different forms of media into something greater than its parts.
Essentially, artistic creations are the ultimate hybrids.
(Right next to food examples IMHO.)
Art is about invention that often doesn't make logical sense. As a result, artwork must be titled and artist statements must be written to help convey and help us interpret what we see, hear, or touch.
A couple weeks ago, I found myself magically in an outdoor sculpture park that was part of The Contemporary Austin collection.
As I wandered around with two of my closest girlfriends, we read the information plaques aloud. Strange iron beams, an African American mermaid, a towering stainless steel giant, a marble and soapstone tree stump, and spiky industrial shapes were some of the things we encountered as we meandered the forested grounds.
I'm a lover of art, and seeing these artworks installed in specific locations added another dimension to the experience. If you had seen these in a gallery, they would have lost the effect that nature has on portraying what they really are.
Each sculpture felt like it belonged exactly where it was. There was intention and purpose behind why each one was selected and put in its outdoor location.
(Does that ring any bells about your professional identity?)
Then, after reading the third or fourth information plaque, something sparked in my brain.
I started paying close attention to the language being used to describe each piece.
It astonished me!
I ran back to the previous sculptures just to take photos to share with you.
HERE'S HOW TO STEAL
The act of how to turn artistic experiences into clear language is where we need to steal like crazy for our own professional identity language and to communicate what our hybrid professional identity is!
Reading artist statements and interpretive panels teaches me new ways of how to describe hybridity, but this can be a teaching tool for you too.
For instance, to the right is a photo of a sculpture we saw.
What goes through your head when you look at it?
What is it?
What would you call it?
The name of this sculpture is The Stairs by Monika Sosnowska.
Yes, it's called The Stairs!
This is a familiar word (no hybridity there), but it looks nothing like your mind's understanding of stairs.
It's the explanation of The Stairs that opens your mind to what you're truly seeing.
To take it one step further (pun intended), I included a photo of what's written on the information panel:
I highlighted keywords and phrases to focus on:
"blending elements of Minimalism, conceptualism, Constructivism, and modernist architecture into disorienting arrangements."
"Combining the fantastical and irregular with logic and restraint..."
"...transformed into a twisting architectural form..."
All of these words signal hybridity is at play.
Imagine if you were to write something like this ABOUT YOURSELF!
How do you blend certain elements together in your work?
How are you combining opposite things to do what you do?
What are you transforming yourself into as a result of your combination of professional identities?
The power of hybrid professional identity is in unusual professional identities culminating into something entirely different.
The contrast and paradoxes are what make it fascinating, intriguing and valuable to yourself and to others.
Go write your new professional bio with THAT in mind!
I could have photographed and shared every information panel because each one contained unique keywords and phrases to express "collective invention" (the name of Magritte's painting I reference in my TEDx Talk).
Other words I noted include:
"interplay between spectator and spectacle"
"..what he calls the 'para-possible'"
"Overlaying personal narratives with political and social histories"
"Embodies a range of emotional and nostalgic associations"
YOUR HOMEWORK FOR STEALING
Go to a museum, gallery, sculpture park, or library and look at art. Find art that makes no sense to you and read what the artist has to say about it.
Notice the words they use to express what this creation is, especially if it's a mixed media, interdisciplinary or transdisciplinary work of art.
Heck, if you're in Santa Fe, Las Vegas, or Denver go to Meow Wolf to see the ultimate version of what hybrid art feels like. There is nothing in their installations that falls into the category of "normal."