January 10, 2010 – I’ve learned a lot from my first art show. People who consider themselves artists need to be flexible, creative, aggressive and keenly aware of the need to sell their work in different ways.

People do want art, and they do appreciate it. But they can’t afford much of it right now, as the recession has cut deeper into people’s confidence and options than any of the others in recent memory. There is a market for art sold in conventional ways, but it is shallow and fragile. Learning how to listen to people is difficult for anyone with their own sense of independence and fixed notions of art and creativity. Nobody wants to downgrade or undervalue their work. But the function of art at the moment is not, I think to offer $10,000 photographs and paintings to people, but inexpensive, functional and mobile representations of work – potholders, notecards, smaller simply presented prints. I am loving the notecard idea. I want to do a “Dogs Of Bedlam Farm” series, a “Lot America series,” on on flowers, farmscapes, farm trucks, barn cats, and about 100 more I thought of last night. I’m going to add text and story lines to the notecards as well. Make them into a series.

There is not a lot of money in that, but there is some, and it is a great use of the photography.

My motto in the past two years has been this: when things get difficult, creative people get creative. Or not. We can’t do business the same old way. I was nearly in tears at the messages from people – heartfelt and piercing – thanking me for the opportunity they now had to buy my photos as notecards. They don’t have to feel excluded from art, or from my work. Art touches them, and they need it, and like any writer or artist, I need to have my work out there, touching people, telling my story.

From my perspective books are already inexpensive, relatively speaking. I do not have much sympathy for people who say they can’t afford a $25 hardcover book or a cheaper paperback. That’s their choice, but I don’t feel it’s the same issue as with an expensive painting or photograph. So I am committed to continuing on this course and offering my photos in cheaper, more portable ways. I’m excited about it. Took me awhile to get here, but I’m here.