Satisfaction

Stream of Consciousness Saturday – April 27, 2024

Next weekend, I’ll be showing my work along with other local artists in the Cultural Council’s spring art exhibit. As a result, I am going through boxes of stuff left over from the last actual show I did two years ago. There is a range of goodies – spoons, spatulas, forks, cutting boards, bowls, signs, small boxes, and boat portraits. That’s right! There are some odds and ends, like wooden combs from when I made a small batch of those last year. 

Although I see myself as a maritime carver, I’ve never stopped doing other things. I’m interested in the lives and works of carvers like Bellamy and McIntire, so I’ve read their biographies and found that they, too, dabbled, sampled, and worked in many areas. My conclusion is that putting your creative interests into a harness, bridle, and a set of blinkers is a mistake. People may desire or appreciate one aspect of your work above the others, but that doesn’t mean you have to produce only one thing.

That raises the issue of whom are you pleasing as an artist. The public that purchases? You? or each by turn?