Regarding the Creative Pinellas Emerging Artist Grant, it feels a little funny being called an emerging artist, especially after 25 years of creating artwork and selling it to the general public ( starting as just a hobby and placing my artwork in local galleries on consignment to selling my artwork at art festivals for the last 15 years)
I believe there is a difference from just making artwork for self-satisfaction and creating artwork that you would like to sell to others.
I believe that one of the rewards of creating artwork is when someone likes what you created enough to want to bring that artwork into either their home or business, or to give as a gift…and they’re willing to give you money in order to do that.
That is how we working artists can sustain to exist. Certainly, never having to be a “starving artist” is a reward for all the working artists in the world.
Personally, as an artist, I find it rewarding to be able to watch people’s reactions when they see my glass artwork (especially for the first time) . As I stated in my previous blog…I’ve done lots and lots of juried art festivals, where I sit in my “directors” chair , somewhere adjacent to my booth, and I watch untold masses of people pass by, and I’ve watched thousands of them stop in their tracks, look in to my booth, and go “Wow!”
It’s the sound we humans make in response to a feeling of awe and surprise… and I always try to make it a point to respond back with ” Wow is good, I like to hear Wows!”
After which, I commonly hear people say ” I’ve never seen anything like this before.”…and my reply is ” That’s because I invented this whole new form of modern glass art. Every piece is a unique, one-of-a-kind, work of modern glass art. That way, when you have one in your house, you know you have the only one in the world…made by the only artist in the world creating them.
I call them “EnergyWebs.”
