Meet Rick Steinburg | Artist & Musician

We had the good fortune of connecting with Rick Steinburg and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Rick, what is the most important factor behind your success?
To answer this; first you have to define what success is. This varies from person to person. For me, success is being able to express myself as a pure artist; being able to do good work that does not compromise what I am trying to express. Success is being able to fully use my experience and my artistic instincts when creating art or music. I employ spontaneity, physicality, openness, and spirituality in my creative process. The process evolves as I let the artwork determine a significant part of the outcome. Methods are bent and twisted to produce the results that I’m looking for. Sometimes that happens quickly and everything just flows along; other times it’s a series of stops and starts until I’ve found the answers I’m looking for and willed or forced the materials to do my bidding. Success is continuing to evolve and grow in your process.

Success is being unafraid and unpredictable in your process. Success is doing it as only you could do it; this is how your work remains uniquely yours. Though I know these ways well, I still have to constantly remind myself not to give into fear and insecurity; a creative process killer. Success is painting like a six year old you.

Now, I have an advantage here; plenty of time to create. I’m a retired fine arts teacher with 34 years of experience teaching art and music to elementary school students. So I can pursue creating art and music without the pressure of making a living from it. That allows me to pursue my vision of what I want my art to be. However, this approach may not help you to be successful financially as an artist. I do like to sell my artwork and I do like paying gigs when I play music, but I value my freedom more.

The idea of pure artists who create not for money or fame, but out of an elemental need to express themselves, came to me first from my father. He preached this idea of an artistic identity as both an artist and a teacher. I also encountered this approach in studying the work of artists who I admired from the past and present. Other teachers who I studied with reinforced these ideas as well. Though I saw and learned about other ways to work as an artist, I chose this approach and I believe in its merits.

One of the factors that has led to my personal idea of success, and has also been a logistical nightmare, is that I have been very prolific for the last nine years since I retired from teaching. I have worked my way through several extensive and ongoing series. I’ve created stories and characters through this body of work; Thought provoking artworks that still interest and amaze me for the range of possibilities that my imagination has created.

If I measured my success by sales, I could call myself reasonably successful. I would like to sell more artworks than I have, but I’m not willing to bend myself artistically to do so. I’ve had pretty good success in exhibiting my work; either by invitation or by acceptance by a juror. But these things are hit and miss; like many artists, I’ve had my share of rejection from juried shows, galleries who won’t look at my work, and sales that fell through. These failed results hurt, and can make you question your worth as an artist. In a way, just being able to get back up and get back to work after setbacks like these is a form of success on its own.

In the end, there are hard times and many challenges involved in being a creative; you have to love the work that makes art happen to overcome the obstacles you face. You have to search for the magic that can come from your work, and be ready to be moved by it when it appears.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
I have worked on developing a unique style for my art. Along the way, I developed these concepts about my creative process:
-See the possibilities in objects, words, ideas, sounds.
-Let the creative process determine part or all of the outcome.
-Employ different ways to apply paint and other materials to create a unique composition.
-Find beauty and joy in unexpected places/forms.
-Be unafraid of mistakes.
-Give objects and fragments that could easily be discarded a new life and purpose.
-Allow a narrative to develop organically from the pieces.

Key to my process is seeing all the possibilities that present themselves from the forming of an initial idea to the development and culmination of the artwork. Also important to my process is a certain amount of spontaneity and physicality that gives an immediacy to my work. One of the challenges in my process is how to transition from a very spontaneous beginning of a new piece to bringing the artwork into a fully realized finished artwork. One of the ways I deal with this is by introducing different materials and methods to flesh out the composition. Many times replacing a painted line or shape with a scrap piece of metal, wood, or a found object makes a huge difference in the feel of the piece; even to the point of introducing new characters or bringing new meaning to the composition. It is important to allow the developing artwork to take a leading role in determining what direction the piece should take. I find that this open ended approach creates a lot of interesting and surprising possibilities. I think a lot of artists, myself included, are trained to always be in control of the process of making art. As you begin to trust your artistic instincts, it becomes easier to let go of controlling everything. This is where it gets fun! The less I try to micromanage the process the more satisfying the work becomes. This is the part of being an artist or musician that is most exciting to me. It’s where you are making new things happen, and where connections are made that become part of a constantly evolving creative process. When I think of all the things I’ve read in learning about the great artists of the past, I don’t remember them being focused on marketing their work or putting their energy into making artworks that would sell more easily. They were focused on solving visual problems, and finding ways to express ideas and feelings through their creativity. There was a lot of wrestling with the subject matter and trying to get the media to do their bidding; always looking ahead to the next piece, hoping to use what they had learned to better express themselves. When I work in this manner I know I’m in good company, and I’m more likely to achieve a result that is in harmony with my expectations. However, this attitude of producing thought provoking art that pleases my personal sensibilities can be a challenge when it comes to the business aspect of the art world. While I’m pleased that the exhibitions I’ve done have been met with positive feedback and the people who have purchased my art seem to appreciate my approach, there are challenges in getting my art seen that are common to creative people everywhere who have a highly individualized vision. Again, though, I have to constantly remind myself that I’m in good company.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
We just moved to San Marcos, Texas, a small college town about 30 miles south of Austin. My wife and I are enjoying being able to ride our e-bikes downtown. It takes us about 5 minutes to get to the historic section of town. A few minutes later we are at the courthouse square and then a couple of blocks to the trail along the beautiful San Marcos River. Sometimes we stop at Cafe on the Square or Jo’s for coffee and breakfast tacos, before heading back home. Texas State University is also a part of the downtown area, as is the Price Center which hosts art exhibitions, among many other events, so there is a lot to do close to where we live. Also between our house and downtown is Jack’s Roadhouse where they have a Blues Jam on Wednesday nights. I’ve gone there several times to play some music. It’s not fancy but everyone is friendly so it’s a fun evening! We still get to Austin quite a bit. Some of my favorite places to go there are: Ao5 Gallery, who represent me in Austin, Strait Music, with two locations and a lot of friends on the staff there. I also love Austin Vintage Guitars. I try to only go there with no money; the only problem is sometimes I go back the next day with money. I can’t even begin to list all the good places to go to see live music. The Blanton Museum of Art is a great place to visit to check out rotating shows or their permanent collections. We are lucky to live in such a vibrant area

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
One of my mentors was Harold Boyd, one of my teachers from Illinois State University, who I worked with for an independent study in drawing long ago. He was a great teacher and artist; the time I spent with him was transformative in my development as an artist. He encouraged me to trust my artistic instincts and to let the artwork guide me in its development from start to finish. He would always advise me to let the artwork tell me what it needed and which direction it should go. This led me to see the process of creating art as an adventure; where I would react to the possibilities that the piece presented to me rather than controlling every aspect of the process in accordance with a predetermined outcome. This helped free me from a certain amount of anxiety of not achieving the results I had planned for. Instead, he lead me to become excited about the possibilities that would present themselves in sometimes surprising ways. I was lucky to share photos of my recently completed artworks and spend a few afternoons visiting with him in the last few years before his passing. Harold is one of the people I really miss being able to talk to about art. His observations and enthusiasm about his work and mine were always thought provoking and very encouraging to me.

Website: https://artworksricksteinburg.com/

Instagram: ricksteinburgartworks

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Youtube: Stonecastlemusic

Image Credits
Rick Steinburg, Deby Steinburg