Art and Economics: A Personal Struggle for Balance

[Mister Jellyfish Mister]

It's seems tougher than ever to make the money necessary to set us free to express ourselves through art and human interaction. For those of us that don't want to be starving artists that can only paint cheeseburgers, this is a place to talk about how we find balance and freedom in our lives.

As for me, time management is getting to be more important, though the elusive Muse has a habit of showing up when she knows I'm busy-- enticing me into her lovely world resulting in neglect of what allows me to spend more time there... i.e. money.

Please tell us of your struggles and how you overcome them to achieve peace, expression, and a life worth living.

[C.f.M.]

Gladly.

...as soon as it happens.

[AntiM]

I am fortunate. I get to be a stay at home maker, with some disposable income. Therefore I have only my own inner demons to fend off when it comes to art.

[C.f.M.]

I am fortunate. I get to be a stay at home maker, with some disposable income. Therefore I have only my own inner demons to fend off when it comes to art.

Expletives cannot describe how fortunate you are, in that respect.

[Ugly Dougly]

My inner vision specializes in art that is cheap and can be presented without a grant. This year, I visioning something lightweight that does not require the assistance of power tools or anyone to carry things around.

Okay, I am lazy, it's a fair cop.

[littleflower]

i suspect we'll see more struggles than solutions on this thread!

sadly, i get so discouraged thinking about it that it stops me from doing....

yeah, i know, that's stupid ....

[LeChatNoir]

Creating on my own terms (aka the non-paying jobs) really is freedom to me. And tools help me do that, therefore tools are the primary implement that allows me to attain freedom and they, more often than not, cost money. Some can be made, but unless the raw material is scrounged, it too costs.

Parts for projects cost, but can be scrounged, too. I’ve found that some very creative results come from not being able to just purchase a specific item. On the flipside of that, I’ve also come back and replaced homebrewed items with properly manufactured ones as well.

How do I handle the Muse/Work balance? Hmmm….

I guess I fight with it all day, every day. Staying on task doesn’t always come easy for me. I can walk across the shop to get a wrench and get back three hours later. Having the “Art Projectâ€

[Ranger Genius]

Sometimes restrictions can actually make the creative process more interesting and fruitful for me. That's the reason I like the annual themes; they give me a framework within which to work and upon which to build. Budgetary, weight, and space restrictions certainly limit what I can do artistically, especially for BM (hence the linocut prints). One nice thing about my art is that people can take a piece of it (and simultaneously the totality of it) home with them. In fact, I forgot to keep a 2007 green man print for myself. D'oh!

[Roberto Dobbisano]

the strong live off of the weak, and the clever live off of the strong.


2010, the year of the Clever.

[thisisthatwhichis]

2010, the year of the Clever.

Would that be June, or the Beaver?......

[ygmir]

Ward

[Bounce530]

Word

[LeChatNoir]

Word to June?

[Ugly Dougly]

What do you do if your grant gets denied?
Sell your tickys?
Scale back?
Just camp?

[Simon of the Playa]

sledge hammer, ATM.

[cowboyangel]

I started painting again. Will post when finished with one.

[littleflower]

can't wait to see it, cowboy!

maybe we need an "artist? post it!" thread.

[ygmir]

seems there was something like that, somewhere........I remember posting some of my stone work somewhere.....

[Mister Jellyfish Mister]

What do you do if your grant gets denied?
Sell your tickys?
Scale back?
Just camp?

That was me last year. I put on a fundraiser and scaled back using less expensive materials. Things did not start to fail until the very last day. The time and love you can put into smaller projects if I'm all ramped up to make a large one is precious and sublime.

I also keep a spreadsheet going and enter every little piece of material I purchase as the shoebox method had me spending way too much.

[flatlander13]

People who want balance and freedom in their lives are pussies………

As for me……I work at I job that I dislike to make the money to create the art that I like……..don’t mistake this for pussy balance…….it is in no way balanced……….I can’t think of a thing I want less than balance………except wearing Ugly Dougly ass as a hat…………

[Mister Jellyfish Mister]

People who want balance and freedom in their lives are pussies………

As for me……I work at I job that I dislike to make the money to create the art that I like……..don’t mistake this for pussy balance…….it is in no way balanced……….I can’t think of a thing I want less than balance………except wearing Ugly Dougly ass as a hat…………

Of COURSE I'm a pussy. I look EXACTLY like my avatar and girls that say "It's not you, it's me" really mean it. You are everything your mind tells you that you are. I love you. You're so.... dangerous! Call me!

[theCryptofishist]

I have a job. I have vague artistic leanings. I don't have a good space. And what space I do have is fill with other people's crap. Oh, and my own crap.

Time v. Money. Cross-fertilization v. concentration.

I don't know what I'm talking about, plus 've had a headache all day.
Poof.

[littleflower]

that darn lack of space + too much crap problem plagues me as well... not that i couldn't find more space if i tried a little harder .....

hope your head feels better, fishy ....

[Dustdevil]

I too am fortunate. I have a job that allows me support my family and create weird fire art devices. I can take time to assist others in creating art and I have a shop that has plenty of inside storage and is fully equipped to fabricate most anything. Naturally I still scrounge for unique items to work with, but the nature of what I have built often prevents the use of sub standard parts. I spend a lot of time volunteering for BM. And the best part, all my employees attend BM and we work together on the Playa as a team. We simply close the shop for 3-4 weeks.

[Risky]

Can I come work for you?

[theCryptofishist]

dustdevil contributes to the event in many ways, large and small.
Thank you