be dazzled

I bought this little (3" x 4") collage, or "small encrustation," from Bobbi, who sells her art at Etsy*: reconstructed art & design and blogs at Cobaltika: Visual Journal, which I discovered through Thinkery. I chose this piece because it reflects the dazzle I feel for outer space and language
(words as aliens that live symbiotically with us.)

Bobbi's art is, frankly, cheap. This piece was $8. Being employed only in the vaguest sense, I really appreciate that.

I have mixed feelings about art prices: on the one hand, I know how much life energy goes into each creation. Even something that took minutes to make reflects hours of searching and musing, so if artists were paid by the hour, everything they made would rightfully be very expensive.

OTOH, the elitism that privileges "art" as something vastly superior and therefore way more expensive than other things humans create puts art out of the price range of average people. Worse, it sets it apart as something only special people do; whereas creating stuff--beginning with humming while we scratch a pattern in the dirt with a stick, and then telling someone about it--is our birthright.

It bothers me that I too easily slip into the inertia of consuming hollowness instead of creating or seeking something filling. People like Bobbi (or the musicians who made Once) give me momentum--a push--to make art.

As Ratatouille says, not everyone can be a great chef; but everyone can cook.
Or as the riot grrrls movement put it: "Don't fall in love with the guitarist, be the guitarist."
Or as Blogger.com invites us: "Create a blog." Do it here.

*Etsy is a site where artists sell their handmade work, of all sorts. (Sal buys a lot of clothes.) You deal directly with the creators, so you can ask questions, make comments, etc.