We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Gae Polisner a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Gae , thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Can you take us back in time to the first dollar you earned as a creative – how did it happen? What’s the story?

As an attorney, then author/artist, I think a lot about the clash between art and business a/k/a money and art. One of the things I like least about my brain is how it equates my own earning capacity with self worth. In that event, I had most worth as a family law attorney, and less worth as a critically acclaimed writer published with some of the most prestigious and literary publishing houses in all of New York (and, I guess, the world). Even though I certainly made some income from my books. Still, you can see how I might find it extraordinarily difficult, then, to assign real value to my own art even though I have always valued art created by others. I suppose that’s why it was both astonishing and helpful when, during the pandemic, I posted some photos of my collage work to my very active personal facebook page, and people immediately started asking if they could buy it. Suddenly, my art had “objective” value — though I’m sure not going to pay our mortgage with my sales. The only thing more rewarding than selling my art (or, more accurately, there being an actual market for my art) is that my sons both appreciate it, my younger son, Holden Miller Music, so much so, he asked me to collaborate on his album covers with him — one of the greatest artistic joys of my life!

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I wrote and created all the time as a kid and young adult, and went to college to study advertising art, but followed college with law school, finding myself fond back then of telling people that law school sucked all the creativity out of me — not completely true, as I was a coveted writer of briefs in the several law firms I worked for, before turning my attention to writing full time after I finally sold my first novel to Farrar Strauss Giroux after years and years of rejection. As my fifth and sixth novels were about to arrive on shelves, the pandemic hit… with bookstores and libraries closed. It was depressing for an author already struggling to make a name for herself (to wit: sell more copies). Drained by the double whammy of the 2016 election and the pandemic, I began to immerse myself in collage-making, after admiring a collage on the wall of a local museum, glad to engage in a form of art that took me away from the computer and incessant doom scrolling. Many of my collages contain “found poetry” and I try to make work that evokes my own grappling with ideas of love, loss, hope, and longing, as well as expresses a sense of humor and whimsy.

As I completed each new little collage confection, I’d share a photo on social media, and people began asking if they could buy them. I did my first art show last year, and have more planned this holiday season. My sparkly and affordable “Manifestation Boxes” especially are a popular gift item, and I like that they, in turn, help to inspire other people.

But my most rewarding collage work is collaborating with my son on his song covers. A dream come true for this mother, for sure!

Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?

For many of us, our perception of our country shattered during the 2016 election. Suddenly, we were a country okay with crudeness, lack of intellectual curiosity, and, worse, blatant violence and hate. Many of us felt hopeless even as we found new areas of resourcefulness and political activism. One thing I think about quite often is how art has always reflected — and buoyed — us throughout history’s darkest times. Indeed, without initially realizing I was doing it, I wrote my bestselling novel, THE MEMORY OF THINGS, which takes place in New York City in the days after 9/11, as a way to cope with my own grief and, especially, to create hope where a feeling of hopelessness had crept in. Both with my writing and my art, I seek to do this — express hope, even through work that also evokes painful emotions like loss and grief.

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

I think all women who have children learn to pivot constantly. I, for sure, have done so. When I was a practicing attorney in NYC making decent money and had my first child, I thought I’d hire a nanny and return to work at the firm I was at… until I saw my son’s face. PIVOT. When I was published for the first time, and suddenly went from a completely private to mildly public persona I had to learn how to read in public without shaking, do school presentations, and keynotes and, of course, create a social media platform. PIVOT. I’m also an open water swimmer, and that was a huge pivot for me. . . to think of myself as an athlete. Now, I’m selling my art. I have to figure out how to show that work at festivals, even master the small things, like sealing work well, and figuring out how to package it. I am constantly pivoting, and feel it is the one thing that keeps me both relevant and intellectually sharp as I get older.

Contact Info:

• Website: gaepolisner.com
• Instagram: author: https://www.instagram.com/gaepol/?hl=en collage art: https://www.instagram.com/lyricollage/?hl=en
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/gaepolisnerauthor/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/feed/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/gaepol
• Other: TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@gaepol