For ten years, I made my artist documentary series called Beyond the Gallery. I'd drive out to artists' studios, set up a camera, and spend a full day with them doing my best to capture who they actually were and their "why" for making art. Not the polished version. A real, expressive one.

I filmed with dozens of artists. Painters, sculptors, printmakers, fiber artists...some halfway into a body of work, and others who felt uncertain about what to make next. And when I look back at the footage that I believe actually worked, the moments where someone dropped their shoulders and started talking like a person, almost none of it had to do with me filming it.

My point is that it wasn't the lighting, the lens, a clever script, or a shot list.

It was those first twenty minutes before I even tapped record.

I'd ask about the mug they were holding. The unfamiliar tool on the shelf. Or their dog. The work-in-progress in the corner they said wasn't working. I wasn't fishing for a soundbite. I was just genuinely curious, and I believe they could feel the difference.

By the time we actually started recording anything, they weren't performing for a camera. They could just continue a conversation with someone who cares and wants to listen.

That's the thing I didn't realize for years: the camera isn't the hard part. Being witnessed and seen is the hard part. And I've noticed opening up has more to do with when we feel safe than when we feel prepared.

...

So here's the strange part for me mentoring artists to self-record themselves now.

You don't have me in the room asking about your mug. You're the artist and the interviewer at the same time. Which might sound impossible, but it's actually a kind of gift because you already know what you're curious about in your own work. You're in it. Please slow down enough to ask yourself and reflect.

A few things I've carried over from those ten years making Beyond the Gallery:

• The first few minutes are for warming up, not necessarily for keeping. Let yourself ramble before you expect anything that you might want to use later.
• Ask yourself a real question out loud, the kind a curious friend would ask, and then answer it like you're talking to them.
• Go a little more slowly than feels natural. The pauses you think are too long almost never are.
• Safety first, polish later. If the phone setup makes you tense, simplify it until the friction lessens enough for it to feel better to record.

None of this is about getting good on camera. It's really about being with yourself on camera so that it's honest to you. Those are very different skills, and the honest one is the one people will actually connect with you through.

If any of this resonates, that's the heart of the Record Your Art to Connect workshop I'm running this Wednesday, Oct 21st. You'll write three prompts, one for each of three starter formats, so you can show up as yourself when you're the one holding the camera. And then we'll record your first take answering a collector question together, on a timer, kept private to you.

Early bird ($77 USD) available through Monday: https://readytorecord.com/connect​

Any questions? Reply and I'll be here to help!

-Zach

P.S. One of my big intentions behind Ready to Record is to reboot Beyond the Gallery and make it more with artists again one day -- this is my first time saying that here, and I'm excited to talk more about it soon enough.

But first, if you want to cultivate the relationship more with your people already signed up for your newsletter and following you online so you can build trust with them, do consider joining us for this Connect workshop! https://readytorecord.com/connect​