Oh wow, we've been so busy that no blogging has been happening for a while~ but this topic is important to artists and all people. What comes back to bite the business person in the butt? A stingy, stiff, lazy or unfriendly attitude. Thats not all, but seems to be the major
The benefits of sharing... so much to name!
Festivals are like days or people, no two are ever the same. We've been at the Peter Anderson Festival and have, so far, had a good time. At most of the festivals, we will put out a table in the "flow" of people traffic and set up face painting. Our face painting profits come from donations only and those go to the Gulf Coast Women's Center for Nonviolence.
This time, John Rhodes, the vice president of the Biloxi Art Association, is going to allow us to face paint off to the side under a shelter :) GO JOHN RHODES, thank you so much. The spirit of giving and acceptance is a beautiful thing to see.
We ran into a potter and his wife who give workshops to children about their ceramics and after telling him about Art with Heart, he was on board for offering his knowledge and outreach to the kids. Wow, they seemed moved by the spirit of Art and creativity to further the goodness they've recieved. The feeling and connection was evident in the looks on their faces and the passion in their voices. What soul! It was contagious and I left feeling full.
Ah, but I had been rejected in a few places and had my feelings hurt by another brand of artists. Commercialized and guarded- bordering on, and sometimes personifying, paranoia. Ego too big and art marketing education too little.
Anyone who knows me knows that I am a sharing person. When most kids got into trouble for not wanting to share their toys, I got into trouble for allowing other kids to "use up" my stuff. "Then you won't have any anymore" Mom warned me.
I didn't grow up rich by any stretch of the imagination and we had to scrap together the things to make other things (which has helped my creativity out in ways an enriched environment wouldn't have), so the characteristic wasn't created because I had much to spare. Seeing other people experience joy has always given joy.
But not everyone is like this~ and some are very, very much NOT like this :) So, Denise Williams, Mom (Carol Roberts) and I are running around talking to people-- appreciate the art, immerse ourselves in beauty and innovation, inhale the wonderfulness, and invite local artists--- but--- we run into a bummer.
The bummer was someone from our area whom I was delighted to see and meet. But what a let down! I didn't really admire her art, but I respect it because it has value to someone else, so, I offered her a free space on AwH website and she declined because she has a website- (guess she's never heard of Alyson B. Stanfield's "Magnifying your online presence").
I don't agree with this artist, but I respect her position.
Ok, not quite "getting it" yet, I then offered a link from my website to hers (as I always do to others who have their websites going). I'd have loved to give her a link from my website-- in effect directing traffic to her art because I can't paint for the whole world. This is networking and according to Art Marketing genius, Alyson B. Stanfield, this is the way to go- share and share alike because the biggest and best asset you have is your people and your admirers.
So afraid she was that I would somehow steal something of hers or "elevate myself" with the use of her name that she went into a story about making this local Bed and Breakfast take down one of her images on their site. Geesh. I was just offering a link. Besides that, she shouldn't have flattered herself. I don't steal ideas or credit.
But about the B&B, I thought, "Darn girl, there went some potential costumers, commissions and at least some admirers. I bet you ticked off those people and they took your art out of their bed and breakfast, too. You'd been better off sending them a thank you card and gushing at their appreciation of your art because it was a genuine compliment. Besides the sales you could have made, you hurt those people's feelings and I bet they flat out don't like you anymore." That makes two of us.
She missed out on a great opportunity- make a new friend and fan. People are the most important thing about your art! They are the reason for your art, no matter if you're an intellectual only after profits or an emotional/spiritual (like me) whose more interested in the connectedness it brings. Karma comes back no matter how you roll.
But this artist really lost a fan and a potential advocate. Even before this, my artistic opinion was- which normally I'd keep to myself-- that her work is marketable kitsch, local regurgitation of bad Norman Rockwells without people. But the disposition makes the art look worse now.
We walk around and ran into the awesome potters... (I'll put their names in later, I forget names, sorry-- gotta find my book), who was so wonderful!!! These people are da bomb. When I can afford it, I'm going to get some of their pottery.
So, we walk a bit further down and Denise exclaims "Linda, there you are! That is YOU, honey, right there!"
I stopped dead in my tracks.
It was a breathtaking piece of wall-sculpture pottery and I fell in love with it. It was one of my paintings in sculpture form!
I walk up to it and start to think about Jungian Archtypes and how that worked within the theory of universal conciousness and I admired the artist's way of putting this at the heart of their art. The message was exquisitely captured. This artist ROCKS.
I did the same spill~ and after being refused a second time- I'd had it, so I told him point blank: "I do my own art and I don't need yours." He proceeded to explain that it may not be me that copies them, but other people do. (I'm thinking that would be a compliment to me, but I get it.)
Too late. He hurt my feelins... DOOMP-DOOMP-DOOMP- Another one bites the dust! He lost a sale and three admirers- Mom and Denise were peeved and took off, too. Denise had a few other words for him on her way out, too.
I don't think I'm being unfairly judging here. I realize they've probably been burned in some manner before, I'm sure that is quite the case and there is much more here than meets the eye. However, to even look jaded into a paranoid and stingy ogre has cost them not one sale, but what that person could have brought.
Moral of the story is: I'm in the majority, people don't like rigidness and hurt feelings--- and one person represents much more than a single entity.
It looks about like a Verizon wireless commercial... They are representative of their families, friends and may have other assets yet unseen-- I am the multitude of my address book and readers of this blog.
Thing is, the tighter you grasp your art- the less you let your art breathe air, the suffocation keeps people away.
Sometimes art business IS a popularity contest. Can ya hear me now?
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