Herbert Katzman, Visiting Artist Lecture 1960

Herbert Katzman gives a lecture at Skowhegan talking to the participants about his experience being an artist. Katzman offers many words of wisdom to the participants, beginning by stating that the road of an artist will be rife at times and that artists will always be faced with problems. Katzman says that the thing of greatest importance for artists is their work, and the second greatest thing is to keep themselves going in order to keep doing their work. Katzman states that artists must be willing to struggle without any thoughts of material success or rewards, and that there are hundreds of thousands of ways for artists to reflect on the times in their work. Katzman says that the work that the participants create will be the result of their own experience and inspiration. Katzman states that artists should always fight with themselves for their own liberty, and they should be coarse and unperfected. There should constantly be an immense struggle within artists to free themselves of all rules in order to surpass themselves. Katzman goes on to say that it’s not necessary to hide suffering, mistakes and disappointment, and that artists should be guided by what they feel. While they should listen to the advice of others, they should follow only what they understand and believe, always trusting their instincts. Finally, Katzman ends his lecture saying that it is better to be nothing on one’s own terms than be an echo of another artist, and that any fleeting thought an artist may have will always be better than a borrowed thought.