Buy the Damn Earrings!
August 13, 2020 8:52 am Leave your thoughts
In my country there have been cuts to the “arts” over the years. I was effected first time by this after having an art exhibition cancelled. I wasn’t the only artist contributing to the annual exhibition but I’d done that for over a decade before the government funding was cut and it was scrapped forever. People were bitterly disappointed as it was all some people looked forward to. The exhibition invited patients of the mental health care wing in a hospital to participate too, and those people are the ones I feel bad for the most.
Art saves lives. Trust me on that.
I have an understanding I was born with; people are supposed to create. We have to do this or life is emptier and the world is missing something that maybe only you can do. When I showed MBF* my latest project he said something along the lines of how he appreciates that I’m always putting something into the world that didn’t really exist before. It got me thinking about a few posts I’ve read and my own attitude with local artists and vendors.
The other week a friend and I met for lunch and walked around some stores on a street that is known to be alive. There are cafe’s, restaurants, boutiques and a hub for a few things like schools/colleges etc. My friend currently lives out of town and without much access to anything but essentials so her trips home are occasions to catch up with friends and family and buy stuff that she wasn’t as enamoured with while she lived here. We ate and walked around, ending up in a boutique/shop that sold random stuff: a section for incense, soaps and perfumes, clothing on racks by the walls and jewellery in the middle. There were earrings and necklaces – mostly cute and gimmicky, made from plastic. I’ve made similar decades ago and it was great, making shapes out of thin plastics and giving them away.
I flipped the tag over, muttering to my friend, “K, I’m not in the position to spend that much on plastic earrings right now.”
I really wasn’t in the position financially, and I was being bitchy to get a laugh…HOWEVER, some thoughts did enter my head:
–This is local art. The label isn’t fancy, this is someone starting a business, from this country, probably this city, trying their next venture. It is not cheap to do this, packaging, materials, legwork, time, distribution, getting it stocked in stores…It’s fucking awesome that I’m picking it up right now to try and make fun of myself. This is a great product that I know took a lot of energy and brainpower to make and nearly all of these sets are completely individual…I don’t know who made this, but this is great, and I’m coming back after payday to get some earrings. This is brave this is cool, this needs local shoppers to show their support.
–Some art (not all) starts from a low place and a tiny sliver of support goes so far to encourage someone to keep going.
Many of my creative endeavours have come from desperately trying to rebuild a castle from the ashes, wearing a mud-stained dress and trying not to cry so I don’t have to force myself to see through tears. When someone has bought something from me, art, craft etc it’s a spike of happiness in a shit week sometimes. Sometimes even a month. And the small amount you might make from the sale is not what makes you feel good because (for eg) an indie author unless you write 50 Shades of Grey stuff, you ain’t getting shiiiieet. It’s the fact someone saw potential in the art you slaved over and thought they would give you a chance, support someone on the ground level. I don’t think you forget things like that if you end up making a name for yourself later.
There are some people I wrote about here, who choose not to support you until a lot of other people they don’t know choose to. I suspect this is also why you hear stories about local bands dropping their old friends as soon as they become well known. It probably happens, maybe fame goes to their heads, but part of it has to be that you showed them you didn’t believe enough so when they hit it big they didn’t really factor you in anymore either, they figured you weren’t interested.
Some of my creative projects have come from just wanting/feeling like trying something new, and having a circle of friends/community who are as excited as you is what you need. I am blessed to have people around me who believe in what I can do. And I have amazing and inspiring people to believe in as well. I know someone who is creating a comic, someone else who is in a successful band, I know someone who is on her way to be starring in some of the biggest broadway shows that will play in Australia. I went to a local art exhibition years ago to support a photographer friend and bought an amazing print from another artist who is now painting murals for businesses. (This woman is phenomenal.) I have a friend who has just started a Vegan Leather business. This guy found out he was unable to get a specific item he needed and CREATED IT. *check this stuff out! I literally found out about it last night when we had a chat.
Always create, you can inspire others, give yourself some much-needed focus and self-esteem for a finished product.
Artists and authors don’t die.
TLDR
* Support local because you are supporting someone’s potential or dream.
*Always create stuff. It will make you feel better and it will inspire others too.
*Artist and authors don’t die.
*check out the people I’ve linked in this post or I’ll hit ya!
(*MBF , My Biggest Fan – Tongue in cheek nickname assigned to an old acquaintance who has always supported and wanted to know more about anything I tried my hand at, ill-fated music projects, dramatic performance, songs, artworks, books…all of it. And this person creates his own comic art and projects, has done the whole time I’ve known him. He is into the offbeat, the fledgling and grassroots toilings of local artists and unknowns. That’s why his opinion means a lot to me, the way he looks at things inspires me to never stop creating.)
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Tags: 50 shades of grey, art, arts and crafts, australia, create, creative, earrings, enterprising, indie author, leather, loca, local art, MBF, my biggest fan, perth, sentient vivendi, support, talent, tankateo, vegan, vegan leather, wallets