Sunday 30 November 2014

1000 Flowers for the Planet - #369 Support Artists

1000 Flowers for the Planet - #369 Support Artists


Being an artist can be a very difficult occupation. It’s hard to get known and it’s hard to get support. Artists work intuitively. It is a need they have to express themselves through creative endeavour. It is a life that calls them from deep within, one in which they find ways most others would never be able to imagine to express thoughts, feelings and ideas.
When governments need to tighten their belts the first area that usually has its funding cut is the arts. Somewhere along the line we forgot how important art is and people decided it was of little value. Let take a look at history and what do you see? Of course! You can only see history through ‘art’ – painting, sculpture, literature, architecture. These are all things that are studies under the banner of the ‘arts’. During World War Two one of the first things many countries did was hide their portable pieces of art and a special task force was created to find masterpieces that had been stolen. It has also been proven that art is a valuable tool for beating depression in individuals and communities. So why would we think it a sensible idea to reduce our support?
Instead of going to a department store or chain store to buy a piece of cheap art mass produced in some other country, decide to save up and buy a piece of real art from an artist. Support someone whose work you really admire. When you go looking for them you will find many artists living nearby who are struggling for recognition and support, having to work at jobs they don’t enjoy and are probably not well suited to in order to put food in their mouths. When you discover them, you will find something that makes your heart sing, and it will be so much better than the cheap garbage you could buy at those other stores.Value art, and support an artist.

No comments: