I started this column today with the title, "Saying No".
I meant it to be about saying no to certain things that are taking me off my path lately.
But it took a twist. And now I'm back to saying "yes".
I got to where I am today--making and selling my artwork full time--by saying "yes".
I said yes to almost every opportunity that crossed my path. From a call for entries for a rubber stamping projects book to a small area art show, I met every opportunity to show and sell my work with an open heart and what I hope was a professional manner.
Each step seemed huge at the time. I would think, "I can't do that!" Then--"Yes, maybe I could..."
Looking back, these "huge steps" seem laughably small. But I'm still amazed at how bravely I faced them.
I had nothing but the courage that comes from believing my art needed to be out in the world. Well. And the ability to ask questions about what I needed to do next, every single day.
Every single day, I would ask myself, "What can I do TODAY to move myself forward?"
Today I have a lot more resources at my disposal. I have a wonderful studio with an office. I have money in the bank from my most recent sales. I have friends and contacts in the industry I can call when I need help or information or feedback.
I also have more on my plate. I have stores who are breathing down my neck because they need my work in their stores ASAP. I have an order for a catalog that needs to go out this week. I have an article in the works, and need to nail one more interview for it. I need updates to my website, and work to be photographed. I have a collaborative press release campaign I need to get started on.
And I have more fear in my heart.
I took on some things I need to put down. It's become increasingly clear they are not paths I should go down anymore. They were good paths once, but no longer. It's scary to put aside the familiar and the tried-and-true. But it's time.
These are tough economic times for American craftspeople. Reliable shows are sliding, orders from retail stores are slumping, our heretofore reliable audience is aging and downsizing in their homes. (Translation: It feels like no one wants our stuff anymore.)
But my general anxieties are made puny by others' realities. A friend's home and business was threatened by a hurricane this week. Fellow artists at a recent show dealt with sickness and cancer and ailing children. Another friend is recently divorced and adrift in the biz and looking for her next career step. I realize my current solid ground could shift under my feet in a heartbeat.
As I sit in my studio this morning, I want to send a silent prayer for us all. But what do I ask for?
It finally comes to me.
I ask for us all to have courage in our hearts. That we all have the courage to find what is truly in our hearts, and bring that into the world.
Our market is changing. We may need to change, too. It's easy to angrily demand that OTHERS change. We want a show to "be different", or our buyers to "buy more stuff", or the weather to change.
But none of this will happen.
It's US who has to change.
We have hard choices and hard work ahead. It's up to US to make something people want to buy—or go find the people who want what we make. WE have to decide how much we want this, and if the changes we have to make are worth it.
WE have to decide what our lives will look like. In spite of what life throws at us.
Or BECAUSE of what life throws at us.
I look at some of the choices people are making to face these hardships, and it's not a pretty sight. I see some people becoming angry, insulting, manipulative, whiny, complaining, confrontational and belligerent, trying to force things their way. That's who they are. Good times covered that up. Bad times reveal it. It's a strategy, and maybe it works for them.
What lifts my heart are the other people who are meeting REAL hardship with hope, and courage, and laughter. Who see this whole life mess as a journey to be embraced, not a game to win.
I choose to follow their example, and do the hard work. To do some soul-searching about what is really important to me. What WORK is really important to me. And follow that no matter what.
If it gets hard, so what? No one said it would be easy. Or logical. Or fruitful. I WANT it to be, of course.
But I gotta do it anyway.
I'm saying YES.
Mark, I hope your studio is still standing. Carrie, my prayers are with your niece. Mary, I hope you find true love and good work. Barbara and Suzanne, it was wonderful meeting your little granddaughters and seeing them safe and sound after a harrowing year-- budding warriors they!
