An ode to you artists and creatives out there

This post I'm just talking broad spectrum, how creativity enlivens, uplifts and sometimes, if we're lucky, gives us a lot to look forward to.  

I have a wide-ranging background as many of us creatives do.  My formal education mirrors my interests in life...So many of them!...But is only a smidgen of what I'd like to deep dive into.  When we cross paths with another creative soul or one of their creations that move us, it's like a long-held recognition lights the room and that's all that you can see.  I've felt it many times, and I'm sure you've felt exactly what I'm talking about at least once in your life.  When I met my partner in life and crime (who just happens to be the other half of Rare Prints and Posters), that beautiful recognition couldn't be clearer than a looking glass straight from Alice In Wonderland. 

It's the same with art or music, I feel.  Why does the Mona Lisa draw us in like she does?  Why do I go back to watch Blade Runner over and over again, finding something new each time?  Or immediately get transported to the moment I first heard Amon Tobin's Supermodified in my friend's living room, jaw dropped and ears wide open? It's like a moth to a flame, a magnetic pull unresistable. 

I was once in Taos, New Mexico after a lovely, spicy meal that I can still taste in my mouth. On a table in the square outside of the restaurant was an jewelry artisan hawking wares. There was this necklace. I couldn't take my eyes off of it. It spoke to me, and it wouldn't let me go. I tried to walk away and just couldn't, no matter how many times I tried. One of my backgrounds is in metal-working/jewelry-making, and I could have gone home to make myself something similar. But that's just what it would be - something similar, but not that exact thing. THAT thing, THAT necklace, THAT piece of art. I still wear it decades later after having restrung it multiple times.  Each time I look at it or wear it, I remember that moment in the square, speaking to the artist outside the restaurant. And I'm so grateful for it. It's a connection to another creative being through their medium, one that they bravely chose to share with me. 

So thank you, all you artists and creatives out there who choose to put your hearts on your sleeves when you share your creations with us, the world. It's not easy, and I love you for it. 

With Cheers and Aloha,

Stacy