Letters to a Young Artist

November 7, 2005
Actor and playwright Smith casts her reflections on the creative process, the artist's life and the acting profession as a series of brief letters addressed to a fictitious teenager. Defining artist
broadly, Smith (Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992
) shares advice not only from painters, dancers, writers and actors but from a bull rider, a boxer and a dentist. Her advice is often directly practical: how to deal with stage fright, face an audition, even keep well ("Stay hydrated"). Smith treats concerns of the spirit as well: how to cope with disappointment, depression and feeling alienated. The letters have the immediacy of a genuine correspondence, replying to an imagined request for information ("How did you find your mentors?"), remembering a special moment ("It was summer the first time I moved to New York") and reporting on the present ("I just got a call from my agent saying there's a job for me on a television show"). What emerges most persuasively is Smith's sense of the complex interrelationship between one's art and one's everyday life. With a pithiness that wards away the preachy, Smith succeeds in conveying the pain, the joy and the effort that characterize a life on the stage and in the world.

January 15, 2006
Given her experience, playwright and actress Smith (Fires in the Mirror) is certainly qualified to give advice to aspiring artists: she has won two Obie Awards and received two Tony nominations and a MacArthur Fellowship. This book takes the form of a series of letters written to a fictitious artist named -BZ, - whom Smith has been mentoring for five years. Some letters are short and snappy, others longer and more analytical. Some give advice directly, while others use the author's career as an example for BZ to follow (or not). Chapters include -Work, - -Relationships, - -Matters of the Mind, - and -Keeping the Faith. - Letters bear headings such as -Your Name, Your Fame, - -Fear, - and -The World Is Your Lab. - But all told, there isn't much new here, and the advice can be vague: -Presence, - Smith writes, -means you hold your own space, control the space around you, and sometimes welcome others into it. - The material involving her own career is probably the most interesting. Youngsters thinking of a career in the arts might find inspiration here. Recommended for public and school libraries." -Susan L. Peters, Univ. ofTexas, Galveston"

Copyright 2006 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

April 1, 2006
Adult/High School -From a role on the popular TV show "The West Wing" to a MacArthur Foundation Award, Smith has attained success as an actress, a playwright, and a director. Her letters are filled with anecdotes and stories about her own successes and failures, giving the book an accessible, conversational feel. While the author primarily focuses on the joys of an artistic life, she also points out how much hard work, persistence, and even luck are necessary to succeed. She gives especially tender advice for those times when progress seems slow or when the review is bad. The book reads breezily front to back but is also divided into categories so it can be easily used as a reference when needing inspiration in specific areas. The one glaring omission is the almost complete lack of attention to promoting one's work. But this is a small complaint for what is otherwise a witty and inspiring guidebook for anyone interested in pursuing an artistic life." -Matthew L. Moffett, Northern Virginia Community College, Annandale"

Copyright 2006 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

January 1, 2006
Nearly a century after Rainer Maria Rilke wrote " Letters to a Young Poet," actress and author Smith offers her own collection of wisdom, advice, and personal anecdotes, directed in letters sent to a young, fictitious painter. Loosely combined into categories, the selections speak with passion and candor about creating art and the realities of an artist's life, beginning with "the basics" of focusing and learning to live both "inside and outside" the world, overcoming procrastination, and caring for oneself: "In most circles of successful artists, there is a lot more health and wholesomeness than one is led to believe." Whether she is speaking about childhood memories, tough Hollywood situations, or finding inspiration in the work of others, Smith is generous, vulnerable, and perceptive. Readers of all disciplines will come away from these pages feeling opened, nurtured, and eager to follow Smith's call to action: "Everything starts with an all-night conversation. Find a spiritual twin to walk the city streets with, to waken the dawn with, to construct a world with."(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2006, American Library Association.)