Professional or Hobbyist?

When I was a kiddle we had all the big board games — Monopoly, Clue, Chinese Checkers, Chutes and Ladders, Life, Sorry. There was one called, I believe, Who Will I Be. I can’t find it on line at all — maybe I imagined it?

The goal was to discover who you’d be when you grew up. Yeah, by playing a board game. 

If I’m remembering correctly, the options for girls were exactly what you’d expect from a mass marketed, mainstream,1960s product — stewardess, nurse, school teacher, mother, model, actress. If you rocked the lady bits, engineer, lawyer, college professor, journalist, scientist, police officer wasn’t in the cards.

Now that I’m all adult-like — who am I? Who did I become? The question presupposes that my profession defines me. I am, we are all, way more than our job title. Still, I wonder — at that big-ass meet and greet, that convention in the sky, what will my name badge say?

Can I accurately call myself an artist? 

It's funny, I never think of myself as a: 

• photographer (I manage to take a few lucky snaps here and there)

or

• sculptor (I enjoy building stuff in clay — it's fun. I get excited about it)

or

• writer (I blog — that's not really "writing" is it?. Sometimes I write ad copy, blurbs for work though.)

or

• graphic designer

or even

• painter (eh, I'm no Klimt. It's just what I do. You know, like breathing.)

Though I’ve never had full time/40 hour weekly gigs doing any of these, I’ve sold pics, paintings, sculpture, writing and design work. Is that the measure, the deciding factor on whether I'm a pro or not? Whether I get paid or not?

Eons ago, I knew a guy who always referred to his girlfriend as a dancer. I’d known some Pittsburgh Ballet Theater danseurs. Impressive AND fun folk. Intrigued, I asked — what type of dance? what company is she with now? where did she/is she studying?

Turns out she was dancing in the chorus of a production of Guys and Dolls that the business department at her college was putting on. The equivalent of a fun but not especially talented high school production. Elise also enjoyed kicking up her heels as part of the school’s folk dance club.

Was she a dancer or someone with a dance hobby? In order to consider yourself a dancer/artist/writer is it enough to just enjoy doing it or is getting paid a prerequisite?

T-shirt by Teespring

Devon Boorman, a Vancouver martial arts instructor and dancer has this to say: 

The real challenge here is being comfortable with answering the ubiquitous “What do you do?” question with “I’m a dancer” and knowing that for many their first assumption will be that you’re a professional. But how fun is that? — you don’t need to misrepresent yourself, simply shift their thinking. Don’t play your dancing down, play it up. If it’s something you’re passionate about and something central to you it is just as valid as your job — for many it is certainly more so.

Elise wasn’t a professional dancer — she didn't get paid to dance. Only she can say whether she was a dancer with a capital D or someone simply enjoying a hobby. It was her young beau who gave her the accolade. Why? I expect it pleased him to say that he was dating an artist, a performer.

Am I a professional photographer, artist, writer, sculptor, designer? Yes, yes, yes, sometimes and yes. Though it's not enough to pay the mortgage, I get paid for what I do AND these are enterprises about which I'm decidedly passionate. I guess I do get to lay claim to the artist title after all.

Waddya know!