Taking the Leap: Building a Career as a Visual Artist

by Cay Lang

Book Overview

Cay Lang's Taking the Leap has helped thousands of artists jumpstart their careers and make real the dream of exhibiting and selling their work. An internationally exhibited photographer and teacher, Lang offers the wisdom of experience, combined with enthusiasm and gentle humor, to guide artists through the ins and outs of the art business. Practical and inspiring, this revised and updated edition offers two new chapterson using the Internet and...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0811850935
• ISBN13: 9780811850933
• Release Date: April 2006
• Publisher: Chronicle Books (CA)
• Length: 251 Pages
• Weight: 1.16 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 7.4" x 9.3"

Customer Reviews

An awesome book when you're ready to leap!

Cay Lang is a working visual artist, whose works have been shown internationally, and an accomplished teacher. The book is based on an actual 6-month long class she designed for other students ready to leap. From the preface: "As my art career unfolded, from showing in nonprofit spaces, to national gallery representation and publication in books and magazines, and eventually to being seen in international museums and galleries, I picked up more pieces of the puzzle. By 1990, I had been teaching photography to university students for some time, and every new batch of students would ask me, 'How can we get our work seen and sold?' The answer was too complex for a ten-minute conversation, or even a semester's length class, so I started the Taking the Leap program, condensing ten years of information picked up in the trenches into an intense six-month practicum." "The class was designed to be effective. I didn't want to create yet another situation where students dutifully attended a class, took great notes, and then filed them away somewhere for future use. I wanted things actually to happen for the students in a measurable way. I wanted them to experience the thrill of metamorphosis from art student to professional artist within the time line of the class itself, and I wanted to be there to hear them come bouncing in to announce that they just sold their first piece, or got their first show, or won an award. I decided that the class should meet weekly for no less than six months, limited the enrollment to twelve, and interviewed the students ahead of time to determine whether or not they were ready to market their work. The class turned out to be amazingly affirmative, with a high percentage of the artists going on to international art careers." "This book is designed to recreate as closely as possible the experience of the class." Are you ready to take the leap?

Good sense, good business

Thanks to Cay Lang, I am now selling my artwork in the triple digits. As she states in the beginning of her book,artists would rather be making art than doing business.This book helps you do both without sapping your creative juices. A new perspective, a simple remedy.

Cay Lang, thank you for this program ... and the book!

This is a fantastic book that outlines what you need to do to set up and follow through as a visual artist. Every chapter is like a checklist. You can always use it as reference material later, but the book is great whether you read it for the 1st time or 51st time. Bravo, Cay Lang!

this book is a gem!

Cay Lang uses practical terms and FACTS to teach people how to make their way as visual artists... The book has lists of things to do, the ways to do them and the encouragement to help you follow through. I find myself quoting this book all the time.It was an easy read, not too technichal, inspirational and a great gift for people who are just a little bit nervous about taking the leap....i have lent it to people who have promptly returned it to me so they could buy their own copy....

It changed my life!

Last year I went out and bought every book I could find on marketing my art. Some of them were pretty good but this book just shone! It was so clear and funny that I decided to try to do exactly what the author said. I've had two shows of my work already and four more lined up for next year. And it was fun!