You’re totally right… I guess I’m really just articulating capitalism 101. I think that’s one of the problems with musicians and appreciators of music, is that they somehow think they’re outside such things, but last I heard, I’m pretty sure John Lennon accepted money in exchange for his art.

I intrinsic-ly appreciate the quilts, largely due to their history, which I do not depend on to feed my family like your art does. So, I think it’s like apples and oranges…

I was thinking about this thread today, as I posted a Facebook rant on a church that I work for on a monthly basis that is seemingly incapable of paying me in a timely fashion. I’d finally just had it today, as today was the day that they, for the sixth consecutive month, failed to pay me in the time period that we’ve allegedly agreed upon.

I thought about it on my run, and my thought was this: a significant factor in the “Why money is important in the artistic endeavor,” discussion is that it forces the artist to simply get better at their art, or someone else will steal their gig. The economic realities actually force the artist to excel and grow.

Conversely, in my situation, it’s about to force the artist to lay it on the line, and force the patron to decide if they value the art provided enough to make payment a priority.

The more I think about it, the more I think money and art are totally important bedfellows.

Speaking of bedfellows, those are REALLY cool quilts, so what the hell do I know?

http://www.auburn.edu/academic/other/geesbend/explore/catalog/slideshow/index.htm

http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewAlbum?i=50234065&id=50234050&s=143441

There is no doubt that the presence of money does not art make. I think my point is that the engagement of a dollar amount in the artistic process guarantees that SOMEONE is serious about what they’re doing, and it accelerates the completion process, which was the original root of this discussion.

2. Yes. Absolutely.

However… to quote Heath Ledger’s Joker, “If you’re good at something, never do it for free.”

1. Do you consider everything you’ve been paid for doing to be great art?
2. Have you ever made/wrote/crafted anything that you thought was excellent or beautiful but never made any money from?

Just wondering.

::staggers, takes a pull off of a Ralphs-brand whiskey bottle::

However, I will push back and reiterate that creating art is all about making choices, and living with those choices. Deadlines force choices, and so on and so forth. I would go so far as to suggest that deadlines actually create art. Art, IMO, captures a moment, or a season, so deadlines are inextricably tied into the equation.

And, yes, when there’s a dollar amount attached, you start to gain additional clarity on this reality. Time is money, and money changes the game, and not in a bad way. If there’s money involved, that means that someone is serious.

I would agree that MOST people who aren’t selling their art are usually crappy artists who have some crazy notion that it’s ONLY art if they don’t take money for it. Or, they have a martyr complex.

I believe there also exists a handful of people that enjoy crafting EXCELLENT art with no intention to sell. Not to make a point, not to be glorified as a suffering artist, but as a gift, an act of worship, or just to please themselves.

Yes. It means your art sucks. Duh.

I do not disagree. I took 2 years to write an arrangement once, and part of that was because I was given a lot of leeway. However, your follow-up may as well have been “people who disagree strike me as people who have freckles.” So? Is there anything inherently bad about not making money for your art? I think that if selling your art is your primary source of income, then you’re foolish to wait for the Universe… but for those of us who have a day job and write as a hobby (and occasionally earn a little something extra for it), I don’t see what’s wrong with letting the creative process move along at its own pace.

Go on, call me a hippy-dippy! You know you want to!