June’s Jams Spoke to Me

November 19, 2009 in Journal with 2 Comments

My friend, John Farkas, invited me to join a small book discussion group that’s going through The Gift: Creativity and the Artist in the New World, by Lewis Hyde. The book is about the value of creativity among a culture built on consumption and commodities.

Hyde lays out a case that has got me thinking more about the tension artists feel every day, especially those who want to make a living through their craft. I’m a man who lives in the two economies, creative and commerce, that is publishing so I’m always asking questions like Which is it? Commodity or art? Is it both? Can it be both? Do any real artists do both well?

Someone stop my head from spinning, please.

Occasionally, I catch a glimpse of the answer and run across an artist who seems to have figured out how to live in the thin space between the two economies like some sort of creative squatter. And I find them in the most unlikely places. Places like June Taylor’s kitchen.  What can a jam maker teach me about doing what I love and surviving without compromising? Apparently, a lot.

  • http://www.facebook.com/beccajcampbell Rebecca Campbell

    I think the best art comes from one’s own inner self without concern at how it will be received. When I think of my own art (painting, photography, knitting, writing), I find that it brings me personal satisfaction, regardless of whether or not I decide to share it with someone else.

    If I decide to share it, and if someone else likes it, or if by chance many others like it, then it might have the potential for bringing financial gain. But in the end, that all depends on supply and demand in this sense…there must be a demand for what I supply (my art). If there is not a demand for what I create, for who I am, then creating for myself is enough.

    If people have the desire for what you create, they will spend the money. But what you put forth must be real, honest and genuinely your own.

  • http://nightofgrace.blogspot.com Meghan Silva

    I think I could learn any lesson from someone with a lovely British accent