By Paul Hendrickson \u2013 <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Every year my family looks forward to attending one or more of\nthe many summer art fairs held near our town. The artists are typically\nresidents of the surrounding towns and cities, and a few are from other nearby\nstates. Their artistic mediums are as diverse as their backgrounds, but they\nall have one thing in common \u2013 an intense desire to create. Their creations are one-of-a-kind and bring a\ntouch of uniqueness to a world that often rewards conformity. We all want to\nsee our communities thrive, and supporting the local art scene is one way to do\nthat. For that and many other reasons, artists deserve our patronage and our\nencouragement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Get to\nKnow the Artist<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n During our\nlast visit to a local fair, I decided to slow down and speak with a number of\nthe artists. The vast majority of them were more than willing to converse about\ntheir artwork and what inspired them to create the different pieces. They\nappreciated someone taking time to ask questions and make observations versus\ndiscussing whether or not their art would match the sofa or wall color in the\nliving room. I found that most of them were not good at selling, which did not come\nas a complete surprise. Their energy was focused on creating art, not marketing\nit to would-be customers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Learn the\nStory Behind the Art<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Every\npainting, sculpture, drawing, and photo has a story. Learning the story behind\nthe art from the artist that made it adds value to the piece. It is something\nyou cannot find at a retail chain that sells decorations. Something drove the\nartist to create the work, and it reflects some part of them. It may mean\nsomething different to you, but knowing the original intent or emotion behind\nthe art gives it more life. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Much of the\nart at the various fairs is incredibly expensive, but deservedly so. Artists\nspend hours upon hours creating their work and honing their craft. Some of the\nmaterials can be expensive as well. The artists I met seemed uncomfortable discussing\nthe price of their art. They never pushed their wares on me or tried to give me\na coupon to buy their art. There were no point-of-purchase displays with flashing\nlights, but since I would drive the purchases home in the back of my car,\nshipping was free. <\/p>\n\n\n\n I find if\nyou search long enough, you can find a piece that speaks to you and fits your\nbudget. When my wife and I were first\nmarried we found an artist whose work really spoke to us. We were on a tight\nbudget and could not afford any of his sculptures, so we bought several colored\nglass pull-chains he designed for ceiling fans. They still come with us every\ntime we move into a new house, and many people have asked where they can purchase\none.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Encouragement\nWelcomed<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n If you\ncannot afford a local artist\u2019s work, there are other ways to support them. Find\ntheir website and share the link online with friends and family. Take a\nbusiness card or two and share it with your business associates or someone that\nmight be able to move the artist\u2019s career forward. You can pay them a\ncompliment or share your impressions of their work and how it impacted you. Most\nartists are working other jobs to support their craft and need all the help\nthey can get to take it to the next level. Hearing your feedback and\nencouragement adds fuel to their creative fire and gets them through to the\nnext fair or showcase. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" By Paul Hendrickson \u2013 Every year my family looks forward to attending one or more of the many summer art fairs held near our town. The artists are typically residents of the surrounding towns and cities, and a few are from other nearby states. Their artistic mediums are as diverse as their backgrounds, but they Read More …<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":397,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_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},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-396","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paBBVc-6o","jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/paperbackdragon.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/Artist.jpg?fit=1280%2C720","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/paperbackdragon.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/396","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/paperbackdragon.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/paperbackdragon.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/paperbackdragon.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/paperbackdragon.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=396"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/paperbackdragon.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/396\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":398,"href":"http:\/\/paperbackdragon.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/396\/revisions\/398"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/paperbackdragon.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/397"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/paperbackdragon.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=396"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/paperbackdragon.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=396"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/paperbackdragon.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=396"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nQuality Art is Not Cheap<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n