In his book Keep Going, Austin Kleon talks about the problematic relationship between names and identities. He notes that “Lots of people want to be the noun without doing the verb. They want the job title without the work. Let go of the thing that you’re trying to be (the noun), and focus on the actual work you need to be doing (the verb).”
This is excellent advice, of course. If you are doing the actual work you need to be doing, no one can accuse you of being a poser — which is kind of a big deal, actually, especially for those of us suffering from impostor syndrome as we inch our way into really doing our art (which is pretty much everyone at one point or another, I would think).
To put it another way, I once went to a bar in the lower east side of Manhattan with a friend, and every other person there seemed to be screaming “Look at me! I’m an artist!” What we should want to say instead, I think, and what I wanted *them* to say, is "Don't look at me. Look at my art!”
Even so, as Kleon writes, “If you wait for someone to give you a job title before you do the work, you might never get to do the work at all. You can’t wait around for someone to call you an artist before you make art. You’ll never make it . . . If and when you finally get to be the noun — when that coveted job title is bestowed upon you by others — don’t stop doing your verb.”
Some years ago, my friend and colleague Jim Dubinsky played one of my songs — “Amends,” which I have just added to the Music section — on his radio show, “The New River Sampler,” on WUVT here at Virginia Tech. He introduced it — and introduced *me* — by saying “Here’s a song by *local artist* Paul Heilker.” I was beyond honored, flattered to the point of embarrassment, thought that I somehow did not deserve to be called that. But now that this site is up and running, now that I have made the commitment to really do my verb, I think I am OK with it. “Local artist” feels right.