UNITED WE STAND
Some favorite art people: Cree Scudder, Theresa Vandenberg Donche, Alison Paul, Maite Agahnia, Brenda York, Judy Berman Silbert
More VIPs: Kevin Greeland, Nancy Plank
Lately, it has come home to me how isolated this making of art can be. Artists spend the vast majority of their time in their own heads, thinking, visualizing, designing, and imagining. Then there’s all the work hours alone in the studio with the radio. And all the computer hours spent blogging and posting and tweaking photos and nudzhing reluctant websites into life. Sometimes I am surprised we do not all grow strange and inward, like some deep jungle vine that shuns light and other flora. But… We don’t — because of our artist communities. Each of us has like-minded friends, totally un-like-minded friends, local and online fellow artists in our own media or completely different ones, who share our creative struggles and urges and “get” us. Thank goodness. If we didn’t, our poor spouses would lock us out of the house! Our artist discussions can be uplifting and consoling: priorities resettle, fears are allayed, motivation is restored— because often we get the tools we need to go on. I happen to have had a few of these sessions recently, and boy howdy, they’re not necessarily easy, but they are thought-provoking and a source of strength. The very best therapy (besides just painting) that I know of. I wonder if brick-layers and cosmetics clerks and university professors support each other like this? I know moms do; those meet-ups at the park while the young‘uns ingest sand and run amok yield the same kind of note-comparing reassurance and encouragement—no, you’re not crazy, yes you're way too focussed on the nonsense, yes you have most of it right except for that… Thank you, thank you, my artist friends and acquaintances. I so appreciate your generosity and your willingness to share and speak up and be there for each other. I love your Facebook posts of your work and your comments encouraging each other; I love seeing your work in person and hearing your supporters rally; I love meeting you face-to-face and on the phone and sharing ideas and experiences. You make me smarter and happier. Keep reaching out. This stuff’s important.