abandon studio

I walked into my studio.........it seemed like a ghost town.......once a place that I spent many hours and days.........had been abandon for far too long............projects unfinished............supplies out ready to be assigned a new home..........empty boxes ...........filled with air.........glue inches away from it's soul mate-paper.........Scissors opened. my heart in the middle of the organized chaos.

I know what its like to create and what its like to do something just for yourself.........but now being on the other side of the art world.........i also understand the difference between art and craft..........I know what its like to create for the sake of creating............for the love of finding homes for things..........but I also know about integrity of art.

the respect for the finer things in life........the appreciation for time, knowledge and experience...........

as an artists you will find everything you do is art because of your mentality and how you view the creation process is completely different than the average person............creating a thanksgiving dinner, creating a seductive moment, changing the oil to the car all of a sudden becomes similar to the process of dreaming up an idea, gathering materials, applying the elements and principles of design, critiquing,  framing or signing your art work and finally exposing the art work to family, friends and strangers.

You will find the word art in many books to simple grab the attention of the consumer that there is a technique behind the process of cooking, mechanics or playing an instrument.
*the art of seduction
*the art of changing the transmission in your car
*the art of playing the recorder
*the art of meditating
*the art of organizing
*the art of cooking roast beef

The list goes on and on............

This past week Mom and I went to Target and saw this really fancy table decor Christmas Trees with glittery gold and red balls. I told her I could do that, let's go to Michael's. So we did! We bought three Styrofoam trees (different sizes), four bags of red and gold glittery  balls, 1 large bag of glue sticks, two bags of mini Christmas flowers and a large platter to place the trees. Total cost not including my time $50. It would have been cheaper to have just bought the decor at Target. Crafts are fun, mindless and not original design but an outlit for the person who needs to be making things with their own hands. This is something I did for my own house but would never think to sell because it is not my original design, it's to expensive for me to make and I don't have time to make more than 3 trees.

I worked at the Modern Shop from 2007-2010 and I would hear time and time again...."I could do that! $50 for that?! It's easy to make for cheaper!" No it's never cheaper or easier to make and you dont have time to make whatever it is your don't want to buy because according to you it is easier and cheaper to make. What I love about the Modern Shop is how the buyers find unique items that relate to the permanent collection while supporting great organizations from Women groups around the World, To indeginous groups in Central and South America, to student Studios in the States. Plus it's a non-profit organization and the ones who benefit from the cost are the Students that enter for free when they attend with their schools. Not like when they go to the Zoo which they are charged at least $5 while attending a school trip.
 Integrity of Art, the organization and the individual that make things happen is why I live for in the art world.