Indulge me this week if you will…
The news of the day can be depressing. We see the riots in the streets of London, wars all over the planet, corruption, greed, environmental degradation. We think to ourselves, “what can I do?” The answer that keeps coming to me is get up and do what you do. Make art, create, write poems, share your visions of a better tomorrow, do the work, work for yourself. Engage your mind, your heart, and especially your hands. Celebrate the artist in each of us.
Celebrate the artist in each of us. Lithia Artisans Market, Ashland, Oregon.
The anxiety that we are all feeling is not new. I remember coming out of college in 1991 and wanting nothing to do with this country any longer. I was fed up. The first Iraq invasion, the first President Bush was in office, I thought the shit was hitting the fan. I wanted to apply what I had learned in school to my new “career”, but I refused to go out and get a job. In fact, everything I had been taught told me a job was the last thing I wanted. Unfortunately for me, I had studied Neo-Marxism. Oops… Talk about your critical look at the world. Anyway, I needed to find something to do that would sustain me in a manner that felt right. Good work. Work that hurt no one, did no damage to the environment, and helped my soul become enriched with experience. I needed to work for myself. Watching the hippies and indigenous folks throughout Mexico and Central America sell their wares on blankets made me understand there was a simpler way to manifest the energy necessary to survive.
“The Revolution introduced me to art, and in turn, art introduced me to the Revolution!”
—Albert Einstein
Nicole and Gerardo were traveling vendors that stopped by Lithia Artisans Market in early July. Their motto is to live simply, honestly, and courageously.
So here we are. Each of us have our own reason for becoming artists, artisans, crafts-men and women. However, I think if we took a straw poll of our membership some common world views would start to emerge. Artisans tend to tread lightly on the earth. We are frugal in our needs. We support one another and live by the motto “live simply so that others may simply live”. By selling our wares locally we don’t use much gas and oil. Art and craft marketplaces are green economy solutions. We make our art and craft with our own two hands, our mind, and our spirit. We touch the Earth and the Earth touches us, daily. In real simple terms, we are each doing our small part as creative revolutionaries, refusing to give in to the paradigm that tells us to “get a job”. It is my opinion that nothing is more fundamentally revolutionary than living outside the grip of corporate mainstream America. The less you buy from outlets that support sweatshops, the less energy you consume, the less you empower the structures you oppose. The more you support local agriculture, locally produced art and craft, local musicians, the more you empower each other, your family, friends, and neighbors.
When you support your local artist, musician, farmer, you are supporting family, friends, and neighbors. Lithia Artisans Market, Ashland, Oregon.
As we go forward we should be ever mindful that waking up in the morning and taking our creations to market is a peaceful revolutionary act in itself. All of you who make a living with your hands, who work for yourself, or who work for an entity that treats you and the planet with respect, are doing your part to make a better tomorrow. Everyone who uses their purchasing power to support local artists is doing their part to manifest a better world.
Support Local, It Matters!
Cantrell Maryott, singer-songwriter, at the Lithia Artisans Market, Ashland, Oregon.
Here is the weekend music lineup
Saturday, August 13
11:30 – 1:30 Martin Vee
3:00 – 5:00 Shybo
Sunday, August 14
11:30 – 1:30 Tim Church
3:00 – 5:00 Cantrell Maryott