I said to someone the other day that, with all the time people are now going to spending at home, we are likely going to see a lot more babies born come December.
It was meant as a joke, but it got me thinking…
What if those of us who aren’t so inclined to produce human babies over the coming weeks or months produced art babies instead?
What if we gave our ideas time to germinate and flourish?
What if we used the next few weeks (or months) to indulge those projects we’ve had in the backs of our minds but haven’t had the time to do?
In my last post, I mentioned some productive things you can do to make sure your business is in shape amongst all the uncertainty happening right now.
But I’ve talked to at least a few people who just aren’t super comfortable doing a ton of promotion for their businesses right now. Which is fine. Of course, if you depend on your business for your income, you should feel zero shame in continuing to sell and promote your work, as long as it is safe to do so. But it’s also ok if you want to hunker down and focus on the art making side of your business instead.
Now is the perfect time to dive deep and really explore those new ideas that have been kicking around in your head.
And if all the chaos is making it hard to think about big picture art, start with something low key. Doodle. Collage. Throw paint on a canvas. Smack some metal with a hammer. Start with some low pressure making, and see what develops.
For those of you with kiddos at home, think about how you can invite them into the art making practice. It can be a good way to pass the time, and could give you some much needed creation time as well. Now is the perfect time to start instilling the creative spirit in your kids. (Imagine if we birthed an entire generation of children who saw the value in making and supporting art?)
I’ve seen so many posts talking about how our civic duty right now is to stay home and watch Netflix. Now, I don’t know about you, but I can’t imagine a bigger way to waste the next few weeks.
For those of us who are creative, I think it’s our civic duty to stay home and produce art. It’s time to channel all this anxiety and stress and uncertainty into something productive. To pour ourselves onto paper and canvas and metal and fiber and see what comes out the other side.
And no, art making isn’t frivolous in a time like this. It’s exactly the balm we need.
So whether or not you’re choosing to keep selling and promoting (and don’t feel guilty if you are), now is the time to get into the studio (or the kitchen table) and start birthing those art babies.
Our collective spirit will be better because of it.