The Best thing an Artist can do…

For the majority of my professional life, I’ve had a difficult time looking past my own work. I felt like supporting other artists would somehow be diminishing to my own projects. Even though this outlook is completely ridiculous, thus is the voice of ego.

My entry into accepting other artists came from teaching my first class. I taught a summer camp program with middle schoolers and they were really able to open my eyes. After doing anything for a certain number of years, it’s easy to get stuck in a groove without thinking about alternative options. The kids I taught asked questions like “why?” and “what about this way?” I realized I had become jaded in my methods and these fresh eyes reinvigorated my thought process.

Even more recently, I was working with 14K Media on a big project. They are an excellent and well-established company already. They just haven’t been in the industry as long as I have. It was the owner, Logan, who turned me onto the multicam feature in Adobe Premier. It’s ok if you don’t know what that means. The point is, his knowledge ended up saving me countless hours in editing. My older ego would not have been receptive to the advice.

Supporting other artists can go further than just listening. I’ve been fortunate enough to be able to collect several pieces from artists I enjoy.

Most recently, my wife and I spent New Year’s in the San Diego area. While there, we ran into David B. Cuzick @circlesandsquaresart. I absolutely love his work. We walked away with a couple prints, a few t-shirts, and stickers. His work is clever and creative and metaphorical. It will make me happy for many years to come.

One of the prints I purchased from David. Click the image to check out his website.

I’ve been allowing my impulses to do the work for me. If my eyes get stuck on a piece for any length of time, I should probably buy it. Unfortunately, I do have limits. While in Santa Fe, NM over Thanksgiving, I found many incredible pieces that I would love to have in my home. However, it doesn’t make much sense at this point in my life to have art that exceeds the value of my home.

It also helps that I was recently the benefactor of impulsivity. At the beginning of the pandemic, just as everything was shutting down, but after some stimulus checks were distributed, I stumbled across a Facebook post. A local woman posted in a group that she did not need her stimulus check and she would like to buy from a local artist. Two things worked greatly in my favor: 1, I was one of the first people to view the post. 2, I just happened to have a photo inventory I could send her with all my available prints. She ended up buying two fairly expensive prints from me. It truly helped me during a time when most of my work was halted.

To sum it up, I feel the acceptance of other art has given me inspiration that I certainly couldn’t attain on my own. While it does feel good to support other artists, it feels even better to have something on the wall that I love and happened to find during some adventure.

It’s really really easy to support your favorite artists. Even if you don’t want to spend money on a piece, we all appreciate a like, comment, or even share of a social media post. Even though most artists do it for themselves, it feels great knowing a piece resonates with someone else.

Thanks for reading.