I am not a very religious person, although I have a great deal of respect for faith. Do you often have people come into your booth and tell you that your talent is a gift from God, that you are blessed? Artistic talent is a wonderful blessing, but sometimes these conversations can be a little uncomfortable for some of us. In my booth, I also display drawings of historical figures, including our current president. This seems to be an open invitation for many visitors to share their very negative political opinions, too. While we're in our booths, we can't escape the conversations around us. How do you navigate that kind of thing?
In my blog today, I've shared some stories about this kind of thing and the religious birth of one of my very favorite portraits.
http://pencilenvy.blogspot.com/2012/05/holding-my-ham-hostage.html
I'm a little nervous about broaching a very personal, complicated subject. As artists we all express ourselves differently and we're very different people. But when our talent is on display for everyone, the subject of God can come up a lot, can't it?
Have a great week!
Comments
I like it Deborah. I do something similar with kanji.
I manipulate Hebrew letters into different shapes - so the word 'ahava' - which means love - is made out of hearts -- but it's also a letter. So, people see the Hebrew and say 'I'm not Jewish.' I always try to explain that these are universal spiritual messages - love, light, peace, hope. When a person 'gets' it, then there's the 'wow' or 'aha' moment. And then sometimes people start to tell their story - on what they see in the piece. That's terrific -- the way we want it to be. My kids want me to think in English and put English words into the shapes - but Hebrew letters are much easier to manipulate and form into different objects. DorLDor.com
Wendy you do write very well. I also enjoyed reading your other blog about Gilly.
BTW, the title is "Words We Live By". Have never had any problems.
I display this image in my booth, and though I don't sell a lot of them, it does have a high pointing factor.
Wow! My favorite part of the art world is the stories... how people became artists and we all have the best war stories. That one's a doozy!
"How do you navigate that kind of thing?"
Heh, at one time I embraced it whole heartedly, not so much any more. Back about 21 years ago I was doing an independent graduate art project with the photo department head at Ball STate University. He wanted a series on war toys, toys of violence , and the effect on children's psyches. About week 11 of the semester, nothing was working out, and it dawned on me he had no kids (I did) and had no idea how kids really play. They'll turn a pop bottle into a bazooka with their imaginations, they don't need a plastic replica. Anyway the moment of realization turned the entire project around and I started using GI Joes and Barbies as stand-ins for the battle between the genders and by themselves for social and political satire. I took swipes at televangelists, politicians, religious attitudes, gender conflicts and so on. There were 17 or 18 pieces that came out of the project with a dozen that were commercially viable. They solld quite well for a time, and they still sell even now although in smaller numbers.
The first few years the pieces caused much havoc. In Ft. Wayne, IN I had a fair goer yell and scream at me with spittle flying because I had blasphemed his Lord and Savior. No amount of reasoning would settle him down and he finally walked off. The same piece he was complaining about I had sold to a priest in Chicago the week before who told me I had visually represented a theme he had wanted to write a sermon about for several years. Same piece, totally different takes. Even some of artists around me asked if I would move those pieces to the back of my booth. I declined.
I had the same pieces at a Howard Alan show in Skokie a few weeks later, and Debbie was quite adamant about moving the work further back.
In retrospect, and I wish I was quick enough to think of it at the time, would have asked the screaming guy if he would like to burn the piece if I took it out of the frame and I could take photos of the burning. Afterward, the question would be to ask what the difference was between what he just did and the Nuremburg book burnings?
Luckily I don't have that sort of response anymore, but the work did and still does draw people into the booth.
My work, because of its very traditional style (mostly) tends to have a more conservative customer. Since I might easily be called a flaming liberal by most people who know me, I often endure some very offensive (to me) political remarks by my customers or potential customers. I just have to smile...well...grimace, actually, and move on, changing the subject as fast as possible. It's just not worth getting into it as much as I'd really like to slap 'em silly!
FYI, Wendy: Be cautious about portraying living (and even many well known deceased) famous folks--sports, acting, etc--in you work. They often have their likenesses protected (not sure I want to call it 'trademarked' but it's the same thing) and portraying them could become an issue. Politicians usually aren't among those folks.
Actually, there's a whole group of historical figures with quotes that are on notecards. It's something different that not everyone offers and some people have really loved the cards and the quotes, Obama and Reagan included. My hope of course, is that someone will buy the card, send it to someone who will recognize the likeness and then maybe hire me, in effect, a little paid advertising. Everybody likes something differernt and I enjoy offering a variety of things, which is probably a rookie mistake. What really floors me is that people will make their comments as if I'm not even there without knowing how important the drawings are to me. The political ones really aren't, but boy do those nasty comments stick in your craw!
It's your decision but do you really need a picture of Obama, Reagan or any politician in your booth? Sports teams do not invoke quite the same hatred that politics seem to do these days. It is just the one picture isn't it? If you are trying to demonstrate your proficiency at portraits, why not a movie star?
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