AUTHOR: Alisha TITLE: Ideal Careers and Bad Days DATE: 9/29/2004 08:17:00 PM ----- BODY:

I had a bad day today. I won't bore you with the details (Actually, I won't bore myself with the details!), but it wasn't one to write home about. On my drive home it occured to me that I was being ridiculous. Childish, really. For goodness sakes, I spoke to an artist yesterday whose studio was ruined by hurricane-induced flooding. They have nothing left! Ideas of the 'starving artist' aside, today there remains to be a glamorous appeal in living life as an artist or craftsperson. People assume your day is spent in a large studio flooded with light, fresh flowers, great music, and endless inspiration. Any negative reactions to your career choice are truly more likely out of jealousy than any other emotion. If making art is your day job, surely you have noticed these stereotypes. And, if this is your full-time career, I ask you... is your life "glamorous"? Would you call it "romantic"? Would you say it's an "easy way to make a living"? No. I didn't think so. These aren't words that would spring to mind. So, here I sit. My bad day is behind me. A new day is in front. Meanwhile, as I dwell on myself, there is more than just one artist who had an equally dismal time in their studio today. More than one artist made work they weren't happy with and stormed out in frustration. More than a handful of craftspeople received calls from retailers who cancelled orders or needed another 14 days credit. Sadder still is the very real fact that today unknown numbers of creative careerpeople were unable to visit their studios, make new work, call customers, or ship out work due to a long string of damaging hurricanes. It's not just a tv news headline. It's real. Please consider donating to The Red Cross or The Craft Emergency Relief Fund today. Your $10, $30, or even $200 donation will go towards helping someone else (And, in CERF's case, certainly a craftsperson) who is guaranteed to have had a worse day than you.

----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: Anonymous DATE:9/30/2004 09:04:00 AM Alisha, Thank you for your posting and mention of CERF. The more folks getting the word out, the more we can help craft artists during these crises (the viral effect I describe on my own blog: http://cvnp.typepad.com).

Thanks again,

Sonny Cloward
Information and Communicaiton Director
Craft Emergency Relief Fund
sonny at craftemergency dot org ----- --------