by deb Ewing, Layout and Design editor
Today we’re talking about what can be attained in the arts: What do you get out of it? For me as a child, art and music were framed as being somewhat elitist: “You could be an artist.” I also heard: “Why are you wasting your time?” “You need to make something of yourself.”
…as if there is only one thing you can be when you grow up, and it had better pay the bills. This is the mindset of working-class America, especially in places where everyone’s been working-class for generations. Their kids won’t go to college, and nobody will die from lack of achievement. Be productive and follow the rules – those are our values.
Here’s an example of values, quoting a friend: “I knew a woman from West Virginia who wrote a book about Memphis music. Her Dad had been a union leader in coal country, but eventually the family ended up living on welfare. Living on welfare was considered normal for the local residents. As an adult this lady was also living on welfare. In my family, living on welfare would have been extremely shameful, so I couldn’t understand how this lady considered that acceptable as a permanent situation.” THESE ARE BOTH AMERICA. How does art fit in?
If your family has nothing to look forward to but living paycheck-to-paycheck, art does not fit in. This is time and energy you should be using to do something people will PAY YOU to do. Art is frivolous. It serves no purpose.
Look at our hourly-wage system. People clock in and make sure they do something for every minute they’re on the clock. It’s assumed that once they’re off the clock they can have their own lives, but there’s commute and wardrobe, kids, pets, household maintenance, dental appointments, lawn care… all things set up by community expectations, but whose? Who are these Joneses? Our economy is specifically set up to run on the labor of people who can’t afford to do anything but work.
What does all this have to do with art and creativity? Tell me: do you read books? Watch movies? Listen to Music? Hang pictures on your walls because they make you happy? How did those things get made?
There is an industry for creating each of these things. “Industry” means we figure out what most people will spend money on, and then supply it at a cost that creates surplus. And people like to create. Being a creator means people expect you to invest in your craft. As far as the market goes, you’re on both sides now.
Investing in art comes from two directions: purchasing something that may increase in value (after the artists dies) and investing in the creation of arts. Let’s pay attention to that second one. Organizations exist who help create space for artists to have community. These organizations are incredibly important. They usually focus on children, believing that to kill the creative spirit ruins the human.
Kids need to be shown that it’s okay to create.
I want to take this a step further and show that you can have two jobs and one can be creative, because that’s what it will take in today’s economy. It can be done. For your sanity, it must be done.
Realize that having two jobs (if you’ve done this, you know) takes additional resources to maintain both jobs. More uniforms, more time, more transportation, less sleep. Please, if you do anything, find a job that helps your soul. And when you create, realize that this is a job that could pay for itself if you’re careful. You will probably not be famous.
My mentor & founder of Igneus Press, Peter Kidd, always told me not to count on poetry paying the bills. “But keep doing it,” he said. And guess what? Creating poetry does pay some of the bills.
So what do we tell the kids we’re teaching how to write poetry?
a. This is how you make good things with words.
b. You can choose all your best words and submit it as a book to be published.
c. If an agent thinks they can sell your product, they agree to find someone who will publish your book. PLEASE NOTE that marketing is no longer handled by the publisher unless you’re already famous. Just let that go.
d. at least 12 people will find your book on Amazon or in a bookstore and buy it.
e. If you’re lucky, you’ll meet one of those people. They’ll tell you how much your words meant to them, AND THAT IS EVERYTHING. That’s why you’re doing it.
You go through all these steps to support an industry that allows several other people to have paychecks & maybe go home to create instead of doing laundry, or playing with their kids, because this is the real sacrifice of art.
The sacrifice is your loved ones not understanding that you HAVE TO DO THIS THING or your soul will melt. If you’re lucky, some teacher saw it in you and knew what you were inside. Hopefully someone still encourages you.
And this is the third way you can support art: when you see it in others, SUPPORT THEM. Let them know that you’re willing to take their kids out for a day at the park so they can make art. Bring them a sandwich. buy a CD. Wear the t-shirt. Let others know.
If you’re doing this because you want to be famous…that’s a potential side effect, not raison d’etre. Attainment in art can equal paying the bills with your hard work. It is hard work. Attainment in art at another level is going into someone’s house and seeing your painting over the mantel (or the toilet…who knows?) But I think it’s important to realize – for the sake of artists and creators in your family – that another sense of attainment is the same as with any other trade: when someone approaches you because you are the person who can best do the thing they need.
When someone asks for your help: That’s really the coolest, and yes – it can and does happen in art, poetry, or music.
