What are your layers of community and how do you strengthen them?

​This is a question that I was mulling over with Laumee and Rachael in their podcast

Creative Explorers:
Layers of Community with Val Gilman

It was a fun conversation and I highly recommend going to check it out! I love these women- they are so honest and real in how they talk about their lives as artists. Their offering is truly generous and inspiring. I want to thank them for inviting me to participate and also for doing the work of creating this ongoing podcast series!


After that interview, I found myself thinking about the layers of community that create a supportive web for each of us. I am profoundly grateful to all the people in the various layers of community that I am part of. And just to be really clear- this includes you! The fact that you give me the opportunity to think about and talk about what goes into being an artist is a real gift. So thank you!

One of the great fallacies that artists live with is that as solo artists we not only have to do it all ourselves, but that being isolated and often lonely is part of the job.

Please do not buy this idea!

We are social creatures. It is not healthy to be isolated- and it is not good for your art either.


It is useful to think about  different layers or categories of community and ask which ones need to be strengthened, and how can you strengthen them?

I break it down into different categories below, but I want to give you the punch line: There are three things that will help you strengthen the web of connections and not feel exhausted with the isolation of being a solo artist:

awareness, gratitude and generosity.

It is amazing how the following steps can really help you feel nourished! Try it.
1. list out the connections to bring awareness to them, the more specific the better
2. sit with each of them and invite a sense of gratitude
3. find a way to demonstrate that gratitude- a simple card, email or phone call is often perfect- and delightful to receive in random moments.
4. invoke a sense of generosity when you sit down to do your work- whether it is making art or finding ways to promote it, or it is just doing the dishes. 

Creative energy flows through you- not from you. You are the lens, the shaper, but not the source of energy. The more you are aware with gratitude of the energy pouring into you from all the parts of your community and out through you with generosity back into the community, the less you will feel isolated and depleted. 



These are the categories of connection that come to me. I am curious what you would add to it.


1. Family and friends- really this is first. These are the people who love you no matter what. They may or may not understand your art/craft, but they affirm your personhood. They want to be there for you. 

After years of doing shows and then feeling isolated and lonely when suddenly the big push was over, the show was up, the event had happened, I finally got it that part of the preparation for the show had to include making sure that there was a post show event, a dinner date, or something small and intimate, to unwind with my core people and come back to being just human in loving connection with other humans.

Small acts of kindness and reaching out to them will help your stability and well being.

2. Self care- therapists, yoga, gym, restaurants, movie theaters, places where you walk or jog, grocery stores- what do you do to take care of yourself? Notice that you are being supported as a healthy strong human through these people and places!

3. Fans- Yes, it is helpful to have people who you know are interested and hungry for what you have to offer. It satisfies an essential human need- to feel like a useful member of society- that you offer something of value.

When this relationship is strong, it is not an empty ego boost for you. It feels like a two way living breathing web of connection. You are doing what you do from your heart, and offering it with humility and grace, and they find it useful and meaningful in their lives and they let you know that by buying, following, thanking and sharing their experience with you.

When the relationship is not strong- it can feel like you are needy of attention, you puff yourself up and then feel ashamed of wanting to have your work seen. You feel unworthy or like a fraud. It is painful and can actually get in the way of the flow of your creative work.

Try bringing awareness to the gift of connection, settling into gratitude and then offering your work from a place of integrity and generosity

4. Vendors and business connections- There are a ton of systems and businesses who support your work both in the creating and in selling or distributing it. It is like an ecosystem that you are part of.

It can be a great exercise to just list them all out so that you can see yourself as part of something much larger than yourself. And also so you can see how they are reciprocal relationships- there is need in both directions, and the ability to provide. Relationships of generosity and gratitude.

5. Circles of peers. Other artists and craftspeople are essential community. The important thing here is to be aware of the difference layers withing the circle of peers and to develop the connections that you need with a strong and supple personal boundary.

Imagine a bull's eye diagram:

5 a.  Outer circle peers. Artists and crafts people everywhere. Knowing that others are engaged in a similar pursuit is profoundly useful to your sense of belonging. Museums and galleries, podcasts and social media offerings, open studio event and arts fairs, and  other public forums are all a part of an ocean of creative engagement.

You don't have to engage with them directly to be aware that you are part of a larger creative community, but it helps to touch into it occasionally in ways that bring you pleasure.

5 b. Mid circle peers: These are connections of parallel play- each of you doing your own thing, and being nourished by knowing that the others are doing their thing. Maybe you have a studio in a building of other studios or you come to a co-working event or have a buddy system. I offer virtual co-working for artists and craftspeople because I work alone in my home studio and it helps tremendously to feel the presence of others.

5 c. Inner circle peers- these are the people you trust to really talk deeply about your work, and you care and are engaged with their work. This is where you can have the vulnerable conversations about the meaning of your work, the things that get in the way, the strategies for getting it out in the world, and all the challenges that come up emotionally as you work through it.

Having a safe container for this kind of connection is essential because it can be very tender.

Its important to note that, though your family and friends love you, they are often not the right people for the artist's inner circle. Family and friends often want to fix the issues, point you in the direction that they feel is right for you, and keep you from taking risks with your work for fear of you getting hurt. 

What you need is empathy, compassion, openness and non- judgement.
You need someone or some people who care that you are moving in the right direction for you and who hold complete confidence that you have what it takes to figure it out. 

When you have that everything becomes easier.
​Really- there is ease and pleasure, the struggle subsides. 

This is why I run my Taproot Artist Circle- which will begin fresh after the new year. And it is why I am a coach for individuals. It is not only necessary, but also deeply inspiring.

I am currently in a process of refining the design of the circle before promoting it  again. Your insights would be so helpful! If you would be willing to be interviewed for roughly 45 minutes, I would be more than happy to give you an hour of free coaching. This is not a veiled sales tactic- it is really more like market research. That said- if you find it helpful and want to know about what it would look like to work with me, we can also open that conversation. If not, that is totally fine- I will be grateful for your insights and I will do my best to make the conversation useful to you!

interview/coaching exchange

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