I'm not even a little bit sorry
The divine-cosmic-serendipitous timing of it all
Hello dear friends,
In that divine-cosmic-serendipitous timing kind of way, I woke to a memory in my Facebook feed, that once again reminds me that there is something bigger than me, operating at once outside of me, and within me, at play when I really stop to pay attention.
Today’s post was written two years and two days ago in my marketing email and subsequently shared two years ago today by artist and beloved online curator Robyn Gordon1.
It is an essay about how much I abhor the marketing side of what I do, how it is viewed as so taboo for an artist to actively pursue being paid for the work we create, and yet how essential art is, and how desperately the world needs its artists and truth tellers now more than ever.
"Most people go their whole lives without answering their own questions: What am I, what do I have within me?"
~Raynor Winn, The Salt Path
(Essay written February 27th, 2022): In my last email, I confessed to you all how much I abhor the marketing side of being a working artist. How much I was aware that the need to get the word out about all of the classes and events made me feel a little like a carnival barker. How desperately I wished there was another way.
There is an unwritten rule when it comes to selling our work as artists- we aren't actually supposed to acknowledge that's what we're doing. Artist's are supposed to play it cool. Pretend we do what we do for purely altruistic reasons and the income that comes our way is almost a nuisance if we are called to create anything meaningful.
Somehow the unspoken rule is a message to be silent. Acknowledging that we indeed anticipate earning a living from our work earns us the label of sell out, or maybe it makes us look desperate, or manipulative in some way.
It's kind of ironic for an artist who feels their call includes telling the truth. Calling attention to issues that resonate, looking for deeper meaning, creating work that holds both personal and universal messages.
Artists are way pointers. Truth tellers. Artists invite conversations that can lay the groundwork for change. In stitching together disparate elements into one cohesive composition, we illustrate the common unseen bond in our humanity. Our work begs the viewer to join us in asking bigger questions, challenging the status quo.
In taking a step back and looking at why I am so uncomfortable with the marketing side of what I do, I recognized that the thing I was actually resisting was the part of that process that required me to hide certain truths. Here is my class, my art, my offering. I want you to engage with it, while I pretend I don't really need you to.
But I do. I need to sell my work in order to keep developing more content - yes, absolutely this is true. But also, I know that what I do when I teach or make art, isn't just for me. I need you to open to the deeper truths contained within you. We all do.
When I allow my full self to show up and be seen in my work and my words, messy and imperfect, awkwardly, or with the fullest confidence, and usually somewhere in between - I am allowing the viewer to imagine a life in which they can show up without the need to be perfect too. To honor their own path, their own work, and words, and experiences, in much the same way.
It all matters. It all paves the way to create much needed change, in our hearts, our homes, and our society. The world desperately needs its artists and truth tellers to show up and speak truths now more than ever. If I can impart that to you by telling my truths, then I'm not even a little bit sorry.
Rereading these words and all the comments on the post in Robyn’s feed was such a balm, a much needed lift in the midst of the unknowing of my what my next steps will be, a gentle reminder of why I do what I do, and how far I’ve come through it all.
Not only did it strike me in the timing after what I shared in my last post,2 but all three of my teaching offerings this week were connected to the images Robyn selected two years ago today!
And so I will take this gentle cosmic nudge as a reminder to share those offerings with you here. Because yes, “I need to sell my work in order to keep developing more content” as I wrote in that post two years ago. But more truthfully, like anyone who works for living, I need to pay my rent and eat this week.
Check it out here and if you don’t already follow Robyn, do yourselves a favor and do so. Each day for, I can’t even tell you how many years, Robyn curates a collection of art and pairs it with artists words, quotes, and inspirational book excerpts. In the words of one of the comments on this particular post, Robyn is “a beacon that weaves so many artists, poets and writers work together for others to experience”. Seriously could not have said it better.
It was exactly what I needed when I woke this morning. And sparked an idea for a new work that I happily started almost immediately.
Thank you, Crystal for bringing this up about selling our art.
I used to have difficulty years ago doing so, and now the older I get,
I can throw away those worries of feeling awkward about letting people know that rent,
food, medical bills need to be paid. We all need to be proud of what we do and
deserve to be paid fairly. I think many of us were never taught that it's ok to speak
up and sell our art. I have begun to despise the phrase "starving artist" which is unacceptable.
Our culture doesn't help, either. In the Netherlands, those who purchase artwork get
a tax deduction. That would be laughed at in the U.S. Time to change that.