artists have always been a vision of our society...the ones that would jump off a cliff to see how it will come out...a brave and unusual sort of person...perhaps a person that can't understand why you wouldn't jump with them...but as prices began to go up more than a year ago, artists were having to pay so much more for their supplies for their craft that they were forced to shut down...add suppliers closing too, just makes for added problems...costs of renting booths to sell your work is unaffordable in these times, stores that carry your work are closing...magazines that promote your work are closing....the promotions of 'the arts' in many states is falling rapidly...
yes, it is happening to the American artists....slowly and surely artists are closing...thinking that this is the time that they must fall into line and be a little practical with the future, maybe do what their parents had always told them to do long long ago when they announced that they were going to be an artist...go back to school, and add to the already huge market of people applying for jobs...
over the summer i saw a new site in my own area....a potter had set up a table in a parking lot selling her wares...this was the first time i had seen anything like this before, anywhere. a sign of what is coming i'm afraid...many artists have gone back to school for a future 'career', some have taken on 'regular' jobs of any kind...both being forced to end their craft altogether...many spouses of artists have lost their jobs and the art is all that is supporting their family today...
i would dare say that an artist lives month to month...or at best season to season...for they are not in the "creating" for the money, they are called starving artists for a reason...they go against the grain of what is considered 'practical, good common sense", they are doing it because they can - making a living on what their imagination feeds them...what has been done for 100's of years before them...what today is called an entrepreneur...
and as 'flighty' as an artist may seem, within that mind is not only an inventor but a researcher, an accountant, a web designer, a shipping company, a marketing person, a photographer, a writer, an office manager, secretary, chairman of the board, housekeeper and goodwill ambassador to all....a person who wears many many hats, no wonder it seems like they are confused...
so when you are out there shopping for this and that...take to mind the American crafts person...pick up that card to send to a friend that is handmade...buy that jar of honey on the side of the road instead of from the store....think in advance of upcoming birthdays and holidays and order a piece from an artist....good chance you are paying their electric bill...
and what about me? well i'm hanging in there like i always have and will...for i am a knowing dreamer with a strong mind of determination, things will always work out...but i do know, one day there will be less of 'us' and we will be harder to find...but we will never disappear altogether...
An update: sadly many of my artists friends have closed their studios, at least temporally in search of jobs...other 'to be' artists have put their dreams on hold, hoping that one day there will be better times and they can do what they love, adding their dreams to our American legacy...
1 comment:
You really have a grasp of the signs of the times, and what's in a true artist's heart. Things are changing here too, but I still have this desire in me to create, even if I can't sell it at some point in time, I'll still be here creating...
Love to read your posts Diane ~ maybe you should write an artist's column for CL?
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