{"id":781,"date":"2016-08-18T17:34:21","date_gmt":"2016-08-18T21:34:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.sallybsedgwick.com\/conversation\/?p=781"},"modified":"2016-09-08T10:03:07","modified_gmt":"2016-09-08T14:03:07","slug":"support-artists","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.spiritmoxie.com\/conversation\/support-artists\/","title":{"rendered":"Support Artists"},"content":{"rendered":"

Last night I trekked across town to listen to my friend Brianna<\/a> sing soulful, original songs <\/a>at a place with the wonderful name of The Listing Loon<\/a>, a \u201ccraft beer & wine bar\/bottle \"Briannashop.\u201d I also unexpectedly heard her play more \u201cupbeat\u201d stuff with another guitar player and a drummer, a side I\u2019d never seen before. In the process, I met people and, yes, talked about Spirit Moxie, supported the local economy by buying a couple of drinks including one for the musician, and for the first time, was betrayed by Uber. As result, I also had a perfect, unexpected, and beautiful midnight bus ride home. Great evening.<\/span><\/p>\n

I also started thinking about how we support artists and why it matters. I was going to write a Conversation piece about going to art fairs, and I still might, but today the broader scope seems more crucial. <\/span><\/p>\n

It truly is through art that the world is changed. The impact of writers is fairly obvious. Look at the writers, especially novelists and playwrights, in closed and violent Communist countries who told the truth of what suppression did to people. Think of Madame Defarge,<\/a> in Charles Dickens\u2019 Tale of Two Cities, <\/i>who has now become an icon for revenge, who used something as innocent as knitting to secretly keep records. As Samantha Bennett <\/a>says, \u201c\u2026the only thing that ever changed the world was a new story.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

But today I\u2019d like to put in a plug for the visual and performing arts similarly changing the world. And I\u2019d like to add our support and participation, since I know some of you are artists, for changing it, too.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"PeopleAt it\u2019s best, art makes us see things differently. We see an ordinary object from a different perspective. The \u201ctruth\u201d of a song, any still life, a great portrait, that weird piece\u2014whether visual or audio\u2014where you can\u2019t figure out where they are coming from. Look at the fairly recent popularity of flash mob performances. Just having our regular routine \u201cupset\u201d by art seems to speak to us. <\/span><\/p>\n

A New York City friend recently posted on Facebook about someone taking over her subway car: \u201cThat moment when your train entertainment is so good you wish you had money to throw at them. Sorry man, you totally deserved my absent cash money. Hope to hear you again soon with a full wallet.\u201d (For the record, for non-New Yorkers, the people who\u00a0<\/span>choose to interrupt the anonymity of subway travel are usually terrible.) The only money I give out on the street is to performers who are worth it, sharing their talents and trying to make a bit. <\/span><\/p>\n

\"BANmovie2\"You might already support multiple artistic endeavors. Your children\u2019s school performances. The garage bands started by friends and family that get real gigs in bars and restaurants. I still remember the ska band Nice Guy Eddie<\/i> that was the creation and obsession, for awhile, of my younger son\u2019s friends, who are now my friends. And then there was the grand red carpet opening (and only showing) of my son’s almost complete film, which also featured his friends, Bitch\u00a0Ass Ninjas: the return of Fatty<\/i> which we attended in faux fur\"BANmovie1\"\u00a0and a tuxedo.<\/span><\/p>\n

And of course, when you attend an event you are also supporting the bars and restaurants that have these groups play, which also helps the world.<\/span><\/p>\n

When the \u201clittle things that can change the world\u201d piece on Dance<\/a>\u00a0<\/i>came out, I talked about my friend Misa\u2019s work. She\u2019s now on to bigger things, so if you\u2019re anywhere near Los Angeles or Santa Barbara you might want to look up TURF<\/a>. My drummer friend Lance, who critiqued that same post, now has his own band Free Speech, based in Cincinnati, which unfortunately I\u2019ve only been able to see a couple of times. And I\u2019m just using this as an\u00a0example. What are yours? What excuses are you using for not going? They\u2019re playing too late? I don\u2019t go to bars? How dare they charge when they\u2019re amateurs? If you\u2019re playing that last card, I don\u2019t suppose you\u2019ve considered buying their new CD either.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"PaintingAnd how do you support the visual arts. I can find time to attend events, but I only have so much wall space. Well, artist have events too. While you might not buy, there are openings, receptions, and, yes, shows. My regret is that my awesome friend Jeri\u00a0<\/a>is regularly winning pastel honors and being featured in shows, but the closest I ever got to attending one was trekking to downtown New York to see one of her miniatures on exhibit. I\u2019m just not in that part of the world at the right time. My friend Kim<\/a> has reinvented \"paintingherself into a successful encaustic artist who is featured in various Colorado galleries. But I can \u201clike\u201d the pieces these artists share on Facebook. I can tell them I\u2019d like to be there for the opening. And I can cheer when one of their pieces is the perfect piece for an award or show or, gasp, just because I love it. <\/span><\/p>\n

The beautiful cover photo that was on the Spirit Moxie Facebook page<\/a>\u00a0through August 2016 (you can see it in the notes below)\u00a0is by my friend Su \"WhiteYork of Suzanne York Photography<\/a>\u00a0who is frantically launching a business with her gorgeous photos (she’s also winning awards), while she continues to be one of the best hair stylists in Cincinnati. Sometimes one can just cheer. I’ve met the incredible Roxana Ramos Cueva<\/a> — and “liked” the paper installations she’s done throughout South America. Etc.<\/span><\/p>\n

So who are you supporting and how? Every like, every dollar, every purchase, every\u00a0 <\/span>puzzled \u201cwhat were they thinking\u201d or pure moment of simple enjoyment , helps change the world. Trust me on this one. Report in. We can help the world see itself in new and creative ways.<\/span><\/p>\n

Are you in?<\/span><\/p>\n

__________________________________<\/p>\n

Illustrations from the top:<\/p>\n

Brianna Kelly<\/a> and Friends \u2014 Spirit Moxie
\nEzra Croft<\/a> quotation \u2014 Spirit Moxie on Canva
\n20th Century Theatre<\/a>\u00a0marquee\u2014 Spirit Moxie
\nMovie Opening \u2014 Spirit Moxie
\ntrack 2\/train late \u2014 pastel by Jeri Greenberg,<\/a> used with permission
\nWater of LIfe \u2014\u00a0encaustic monotypes by Kim Roberts,<\/a> used with permission
\nInstallation in paper by Roxana Ramos Cueva<\/a> \u2014 Gabriela Morales Gonzales<\/p>\n

The August 2016 Spirit Moxie cover photo by Suzanne York Photography<\/a>
\n\"view<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Last night I trekked across town to listen to my friend Brianna sing soulful, original songs at a place with the wonderful name of The Listing Loon, a \u201ccraft beer & wine bar\/bottle shop.\u201d I also unexpectedly heard her play … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-781","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-main-conversation"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6DJHl-cB","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.spiritmoxie.com\/conversation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/781","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.spiritmoxie.com\/conversation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.spiritmoxie.com\/conversation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.spiritmoxie.com\/conversation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.spiritmoxie.com\/conversation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=781"}],"version-history":[{"count":16,"href":"https:\/\/www.spiritmoxie.com\/conversation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/781\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":807,"href":"https:\/\/www.spiritmoxie.com\/conversation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/781\/revisions\/807"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.spiritmoxie.com\/conversation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=781"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.spiritmoxie.com\/conversation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=781"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.spiritmoxie.com\/conversation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=781"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}