money? art?

I know some of us make a living making our art.
but the truth is most of us don't.
Yesterday at my studio open house, a friend told me of a writer's conference she attended. The strongest message she received there?
If you are a writer, you will need to earn your money another way.
Yesterday, I had my year's work on display - paintings, collages, printed cards and labels and a bumper sticker, the book I wrote about journaling, and lots of collaged cigar boxes. I made the cards to have affordable items available to buy. I know most people won't buy a $200 painting or be able to have me do a $500 commmision.
Many people cannot buy a $25 book.
So, I greeted and chatted, and it was a fine day.
and I sold $22 worth of cards.
$22.
It was just enough for the tip for the lovely dinner my family had after the open house.
So the waiter at Chutney Manor who served the 6 of us for one hour earned all the money I had made that day for the art I had for sale in the studio . . . .

So, I know it is not about money.
There is no money in art, and certainly no art in money.
Money is something else.
It can't be the reason.
It is just a reality that there needs to be money in your life to create your housing, give you food, and maybe a bit of security. I know that art and money aren't really linked.
Not in my mind, anyway.
Otherwise, the weeks of work to make cards, the hours of work to set up the studio, the time spent talking and chatting and sharing would only have a value of $22, and I know in my heart that is not the value of what I do.
So, off to make some pages, write about them, and try to live artfully.
money or no.



"It is a sad fact about our culture, that a poet can earn much more money writing or talking about his art than he can by practicing it." --W. H. Auden