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creativity (5)

"Filled up" your art fair schedule yet?

Posted by Connie Mettler on November 3, 2013 at 11:30pm

o-JOYCE-CAROL-OATES-570.jpg?1&width=450As the season changes from fall to winter and art buying changes from "collecting" to gift shopping, what are you doing? Filling up your schedule with shows because that is how you have always done it?

Or will you use this seasonal change to stop and reconsider and think about creating something you've always wanted to create rather than filling the show boxes with "product?" The challenge is to make our lives meaningful. The greatest gift of being an artist is to exhibit creativity in all facets of our lives.

Photo from the HuffingtonPost.com.

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"One thing the financial crisis shows is that the United States is in trouble because Americans have stopped making stuff"-CSM

Posted by Connie Mettler on November 30, 2008 at 7:48pm
My thanks to Michael Solomon who forwarded me this thoughtful article from the Christian Science Monitor: "It used to be that we made a lot of stuff: televisions, clothes, washing machines, radios, typewriters, shoes, telephones, and furniture. And we also used to make the stuff out of which stuff was made: steel, aluminum, plastic, rubber, glass, and electrical components. Today that's largely made overseas. They send us their stuff and we send them our money. It also used to be that Americans liked to make stuff. Think of all the things Thomas Edison invented. Or consider Henry Ford, who made the car affordable, perfected the assembly line, and paid workers a decent wage. Countless others, such as my grandfather, worked as toolmakers and machinists because they liked to work with their hands. Today we rely on people around the world to do that innovation for us." What's up with this? Aren't you making "stuff?" Yes, I know YOU are, but one of the reasons art fairs are so popular with the public is because they all have stopped doing things with their hands. How many times has someone stood in your booth and envied you your creativity and wished to be standing in your shoes? Lots. How are you feeling about creativity? In what other country would you have this opportunity to stand in the streets on weekends and have people tell you how wonderful your work is? "Today's schools must help teach our young people the value of manual labor and help us take advantage of the greatest place to be for innovation. A Japanese neighbor visiting a US factory told me once that he envied Americans because they did not accept cultural limitations in improving the way something is made. He said that you could never go against the grain like that in Japan." Need some food for thought? (I know you had enough food over the last week) Read the rest of the article at the Christian Science Monitor.
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America Needs You, Really! Creative People as Civic Leaders

Posted by Connie Mettler on November 30, 2008 at 7:28pm

artwork-tomhuck.jpg

etching by Tom Huck A couple of years I attended an ArtServe conference in Lansing, MI, where I heard Tom Tressor, the "Creativity Champion", exhort us to Art the Vote. Tom's mission is standing up for creativity, and encouraging creative people to seek public office. We've just been through this tremendous political activity. I know many of you were inspired by it and aren't quite ready to go back to things as they were. Are you ready to run for public office? You know someone who is? When asked what qualities people wanted to see in a leader, the responses included: - Vision - Accountability - Real leadership - Interest and knowledge of the arts - Inspiration - Problem solver - Someone who can create and share new resources - Creativity and resourcefulness - Compassion - Intelligence This post is a "heads-up" to explore this concept. Intriguing, isn't it? Visit Tom's website and see what a difference you can make, America Needs You, Really! www.tresser.com
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