Tag Archives: artist coaching

Artist Mentoring

Posted in Community, Consultancy, creative business, Maker Membership, mentoring by

Support and guidance with your creative practice with experienced artist & mentor Ruth Singer

My 1:1 mentoring sessions are back! I took a break in August and September to get a few other things finished and to have time to figure out what I wanted to do with my mentoring practice.

I’ve been mentoring since at least 2014 (according to my oldest testimonial!) but I am sure I was doing it more informally before then too. And I really do love it! It’s so energising to feel like you are making a difference to someone’s creative practice and to see the change and growth in your clients.

The two episodes of this series of Making Meaning Podcast are with two of my recent mentees and both talk about how useful and nurturing it is to have support in your creative practice. Mandeep’s podcast episode is here and there will be a new one out 29th September with guest Gillian Lee Smith reflecting on mentoring.

Here’s what Mandeep said on Instagram

“Today involved a moment of reflection within my practice – looking back, looking at my present stance, and looking ahead. 

It’s been a few months now that I’ve been working with artist and mentor @ruthsingertextiles to help articulate my creative thoughts, and today’s session was as fruitful as always. I’ve come to think of each session together as a series of layers gently building towards the bigger picture. 

The biggest and most important factor in choosing to work with Ruth is her holistic approach – having the capacity to engage, listen, provide space and show a genuine interest in bringing out the potential of my professional practice in line with my own holistic way of working, through inner and outer care. I’m felt understood in my visual language; the exchange of conversation never fails to inspire or encourage my wider ambitions.

This isn’t a push to gather more clients for Ruth nor is it a paid partnership; more an open sharing of thoughts, of how the idea of togetherness contributes to raising one another, of how what we can learn from one another organically weaves into our individual practices. 

This linocut was a print I began last year which went miserably wrong, yet taught me a lot about technique and about myself. But most of all it invited conversation of all kinds to take place with printmakers and non-printmakers, influencing the developmental direction of my practice. It was an eye-opener, much like mentoring is – expansive; your hand held, with soft focussed guidance in finding your footing in your practice, and individual seat in the big art world.”

I’ve realised over the last couple of years of online mentoring that figuring out your creative practice isn’t something that can be achieved in one session! I now offer 3 or 6 session packages which give the mentee time and space to figure things out and move forward.

Find out more about mentoring here. If what you are looking for is community and a lighter touch of support then you might find my Maker Membership is the right space for you. I share loads of resources in the online space and we meet monthly on Zoom for group chats where you can ask for advice or feedback on your work. You can find out a bit of what it’s like by listening to Maker Membership episode of the podcast here.

What kind of things do you struggle with in your creative practice? What kind of support or help might take you forward into doing your best creative work? I’d love to hear from you, you can comment here or on my Instagram page.

Mentoring for artists and creative businesses

Posted in career, Consultancy, creative business, mentoring by

Book now for current mentoring prices before I have a rest from 1:1 and prepare a new support programme

I currently offer 1:1 mentoring and business support to artists, makers and anyone running or starting a creative business. Over the last 10 years or so this element of my work has grown and even more so during the pandemic when I was able to mentor via Zoom and work with people around the country. I absolutely love doing this work – talking to people about their creative practice is great, helping them find a way through the many challenges of creative practice is a privilege and a joy. But it’s still work, it’s work that requires me to be highly experienced and knowledgeable about the whole creative sector, to be reflective and open to learning all the time, to listen well and be perceptive, to be a good communicator and to be a supportive, welcoming and safe person to talk to. So although this work is joyful for me, it is tiring and requires a lot of input and thinking outside of the hours I spend talking to people. I need a break.

I’m winding down my current mentoring offer which starts with a single session at £60 so I can have a rest in August and then I’m going to relaunch a new programme of 1:1 support options in September. I’ll continue to take mentoring bookings until the end of June 2022 (or until I’m booked up) then that’s it until September, when I’ll release limited slots for 1:1 support and the price will go up.

The new programme will focus around longer-term mentoring about creative practice and have alongside this a more defined business support offer for people who need a more practical, skills and knowledge based input from me.

I’ll also be releasing a lot more of my workbooks and self-led development toolkits for your own reflection and development as well as some online short courses and ebooks. I’ve got loads of ideas but I need the time to properly plan and develop them. I already make my Gentle Goal Setting course available as a download workbook which you can use alone or alongside a 1:1 session.

So if you have been thinking about mentoring or business support from me, now is your time to book! I will keep the bookings open until 30th June (or until I’m booked up) but all sessions (regardless of how many you pre-pay for) will need to take place before 10th August to be within the old pricing structure. Just drop me a line if you want to find out more and check availability using the form at the end of the mentoring page. If you have already talked to me first and are ready to book a session or several, you can find the payment page here.