I finally did it. I’m on Patreon!
If you are someone with an interest in my work and a few dollars to put toward supporting it, Patreon is where you can do that. You are a generous human, and I am grateful.
If you are someone with an interest in my work and no dollars you want to put toward supporting it right now, that is also fine. You can still read and engage with all my online work right here. I have no interest in putting my online work behind a paywall. Art should be free to all.
Everything should be free, generally. But. Currently we live in a world where the major way a human’s work is validated and affirmed as important is that other humans—or, more usually, organizations of some sort—pay them money for it.
Artists, you may know, tend not to find steady income actually doing their art, because organizations (corporations, non-profits, etc) don’t tend to value it.
Art is a human need and a human right (“beauty is not adventitious but essential“), but corporations and non-profit organizations are not human. We have a disconnect here between payment and value.
We can fix the system, but it takes all of us and it takes time. It’s a long-term value. Paying artists for their work directly is one way I personally try to support my values in the short term.
If you are in a position to do the same, I invite you to consider becoming a patron of my art. You’ll support my ability to spend time making art that is thoughtful and slow and provoking and comforting and beautiful—and also the ability of other folks to enjoy that art free of charge. You’ll be distributing some of your personal good fortune in a direct and effective way to your (online) community. I think that’s pretty powerful.
Thanks for asking, Tara. I value your art.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Iris. Thank you so much. <3
LikeLike