Episode 161- Mason Currey on Making Art and Making a Living

Episode 161- Mason Currey on Making Art and Making a Living

From Emerging Form by Christie Aschwanden

March 26, 2026 · 31 min

About this episode

Mason Currey discusses the challenges and strategies of making a living as an artist.

What’s the secret to making a living doing your art? “There really is no magic trick … spoiler,” says Mason Currey, author of Making Art and Making a Living . But in this episode of Emerging Form, we talk with Currey about what he learned by studying how other creatives across genres, cultures and centuries have made it work. We also talk about his own relationship to creative practice–little tricks and attitude shifts, the importance of repetition and habit, developing trust in our own practice, and which compromises can really harm our creative energy. Mason Currey is the author of the Daily Rituals books, featuring brief profiles of the day-to-day working lives of more than 300 brilliant minds. His latest book, Making Art and Making a Living was published on March 31, 2026. Currey lives in Los Angeles and writes Subtle Maneuvers , a twice-monthly newsletter on the creative process. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit emergingform.substack.com/subscribe

People in this episode

Host: Christie Aschwanden

Guest: Mason Currey

Topics covered

  • creative practice
  • making a living
  • art
  • habits
  • repetition
  • compromises

Keywords

  • art
  • creative process
  • habits
  • Mason Currey
  • Making Art and Making a Living
  • Daily Rituals
  • repetition
  • compromise

Mentioned in this episode

Books & works: Making Art and Making a Living, Daily Rituals

Places: Los Angeles

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