The Artist needs a Side Hustle

I’m looking for a job.

Which feels like a funny thing to admit as an artist, because there is this strange expectation that at some point the side job disappears and the art becomes the job.

I’m not there yet. And actually, I’m not sure I want to be.

I need another job. Something alongside the paintings, the writing, the walking, the thinking and all the other little bits that make up my creative life. The problem is that I’m having absolutely no luck finding one.

I have a CV, but it doesn't quite translate.

I’ve worked on farms, volunteered on farms, lived in exchange for work, helped run a surf lodge, made pizzas, made hotdogs, delivered vegetables, worked in busy cafés, written columns, curated exhibitions and made paintings.

I can read a room. I can talk to almost anyone. I can put my head down and work for a very long time without needing much fuss around me. I’m also, somewhat inconveniently for the purposes of a CV, an endurance athlete.

I used to wake up at 3:30 in the morning on Mondays and Saturdays to swim for two hours before school. So when someone writes works well under pressure on a job description, I feel fairly confident I can do that.

But none of this seems to fit very neatly into the little boxes we're now asking people to squeeze themselves into. I can translate it, of course.

Adaptable.

Creative.

Strong communication skills.

Excellent time management.

Problem solving.

But somehow the translation loses the person. It doesn't tell you that I know how to notice when someone needs help before they ask. It doesn't tell you that I can spend a week pot washing without becoming bored, or a week making sourdough without needing to be told what to do every five minutes. It doesn't tell you that I can manage seven things at once in a busy café, then go home and spend the evening thinking about a painting. It doesn't tell you that I quite like work.

Proper work.

The sort where you put your head down and get on with it. And perhaps this is the bit I'm beginning to think about more generally.

Why do we talk about an artist's other job as a side hustle?

As though the painting is the real life and everything else is something slightly embarrassing we're doing until the real thing arrives. For me, the other work isn't separate from being an artist. It pays the rent, yes. But it also gives me people, stories, rhythm, exhaustion, routine and a reason to leave the studio and go back out into the world.

I just need someone to employ me first.

So if you happen to be looking for a creative, slightly overqualified, very adaptable, endurance-trained, good-with-people sort of person who doesn't mind getting stuck in...

Hello.

I'm Holly.

And I make a very good pizza.