Sunday, April 23, 2017

Maybe I am an artist?

I met this woman, Emily, on the light-rail platform on the way to the March for Science yesterday. I looked more closely at her beautiful, double-sided sign and asked her,
"Are you an artist?"


 I was pleased that she simply said, "Yes."


I told her the question baffles me, and she said it did her too, that she says yes, but feels uncertain because she doesn't make her living off it...

I decided I was just going to say Yes too, if anyone asked me at the March if I were an artist, which, in fact, several people did.
They mean what I did:
This isn't your first rodeo, is it?


And it's absurd to let money define the matter, when so few people who make art have the business acumen or even the desire to make their living on their art.

Better to use this as an indicator:
I was impressed with the opaque white Emily used on her sign--she told me it's a Pitt marker by Faber & Castell, and I want to run out and buy one.

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