Saying "I Love You" With Art

Nothing quite says "I love you" like something handmade. It holds within it the spirit of the maker, the breath of the artist, the soul of the imagineer who found a new way to express themselves.

To buy from an artist helps support them in what has become a most trying time. In doing so, you are also helping keep alive the 'can do' spirit that built this country. You're keeping your money alive in the U.S, buying American made art and craft and not buying imports. You are supporting another human being.

I sell my work on etsy.com and at art fairs accross the country. On any given weekend there are hundreds of my friends and I selling what we make in 10' x 10' white tents. Sometimes set up in parks or parking lots, we are there.
We are not a traveling circus- though we know most of our fellow artists.
We are a family of another kind- we help and look out for one another. Kindred spirits some would say.
We jury for each show one at a time and are granted an opportunity to show based on the quality of our work. If the weather and crowds are good, we hope to sell. If we sell, it means we too can contribute back into the economy.
This is our job.
This is not a hobby we dabble in.
This is what we do for a living.

We need your support now more than ever.

I say this not as begging. I say this because we are part of what makes the fabric of our culture.
We are the makers of art that is being made now.
We're the artists that can inspire tomorrows artists to follow their passion.
We are the ones that bring an esthetic quality to people who understand the importance of living among work that is
handmade, not generic soul-less 'stuff'.

We are the dreamers you read about.
The 'different drummers' you may have secretly admired.
The kid who ate glue and doodled incessantly in the corner of the classroom.
The odd girl who got picked last for volleyball teams but could draw amazing clouds.
The kid with mismatched socks that was mesmerized by what they saw out the school bus window-
The kid who had a million thoughts running inside their head-yet sat alone twisting their hair.
The one who didn't fit in then is the one whose work you may admire now.

This is who artists are.

Their ideas fill journals
paper napkins
sketchbooks
post it notes
the backs of their hand
canvasses
bits of paper
-the walls of their minds.

We make what you love.
We love to make what we do.
We love it more
when you love what we make enough
to trade
what is valuable to you
for
what is vital to us.

This is fair trade.

This is the process of buying art.
Investing in passion.
This is necessary
and this- in essence -
is love.

Patricia Hecker

Featured in the photo, The Artists Imagination Box
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=35401858

Feel free to fall in love with something in my on-line shop.
Throw passion to the wind and toss it into your shopping cart and
painlessly pay with Pay Pal.
Your life will thank you.
Your soul will smile!

Artists Dirty Hands

Jon stumbled upon a most interesting post on a design blog he reads daily (blog.2modern.com). The post highlighted an artists hands while making their jewelry. Apparently their hands were in a photo showing their work. Comments grew and so did the concept of sharing the working hands of others. What resulted was a compilation of hands and submissions were being shared on her blog. Jon submitted my hands and here they are.
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What came to mind when he shared this with me and while he was taking these images in our studio yesterday afternoon was a poem I read many years ago. The author escapes me, but the context of the poem was about how 'the trade enters your body'. Whatever trade you pursue, it becomes part of you.
The sentiment resonated and too the work these and millions of other hands and what they do on a daily basis. Our minds and our hands are our most basic tools. How we use them is often reflected without saying a word.

Why do we do what we do?
I can only answer for myself.
I make art because to do anything other than that feels odd and displaced.
I make art to stay sane in a world of insanity.
I make art to settle the chatter which runs like a non-stop soundtrack in my head.
I make art to find peace within myself.
I make art to expel the millions of ideas that fill my head.
I make art to share and sell and derive my livelihood.
I make art because I need to.

To quote one of my favorite musicians, Dave Matthews from the "Big Whiskey" album, Why do I make art? --- because it's "why I am"!


Patricia Hecker

To see more hand images, the blog I referenced is:
http://www.cutpasterepeat.blogspot.com/2009/11/by-our-hands-we-live.html

To see what my hands make:
http://HeckerDesign.com
http://TattooDreams.etsy.com
http://Artfulsmiles.com

A tribute to our road family.......

This is a brief tribute to those of you who look after us while we're on the road.
You call us, email us, leave messages on Facebook, or hug us as we
wallow in disappointment
clean up after a rainstorm
are grateful our work and tents and display are not damaged.
You pray for us
and hold us in your thoughts
on our travels
for our sales
in our despair and in our achievements.
You are our re-connect to the world going on outside our 10'x10' booths.
The world of inclement weather,
of flu pandemics
of hope.
You gave us pause to realize
this is what we do
in the face of very uncertain and scary times
Because this is who we are!
You travel the unknown roads we travel
and journey with our own fragile selves as
we do what calls us.
We create.
We make art in a fragile economy.
We make art in our fragile selves.
We are are fragile
We make art.

We appreciate you.
Thank you!


Patricia