Artist Connections

When I was a Collectible Teddy Bear artist I found it to be no problem to connect with other artists, even made one of the small handful of most significant friendships of my life so far with one of those artists. But, now I'm doing glass and mixed media. In my everyday life I know no other artists, I haven't found any ongoing connections in person or online and I certainly haven't found anyone who actually *Gets* my work in my limited encounters. Now I know the latter of the two is much harder to come by, I mean, not that many people actually get me so it's no surprise that my work be considered 'out there' too, but I do feel a disparate need to connect with other artists.

I am a bohemian at heart. I'm a non-conformist by nature-I am irritated by rules that stifle rather than guide, I dislike the clock setting limits on my life, and I embrace all that is original, thought provoking and artful in life. Growing up my Dad told me all the time that I was a hippie which he meant as a derrogetory label but it's something I've always embraced. I know he'd have a problem with the fact that for my 38th birthday last month a friend of mine dyed my hair pink. Fortunately, the man I married loves my quirkiness and my off the beaten path tastes, he accepts me and revels in the fact that I'm not ordinary. I'm not mainstream, I am bothered by the hypocrisies of daily life and my ability to see two sides of the proverbial coin at the same time has gotten me into trouble at times. I'm a person who gets riled up by current events, media, politics, religion and injustice to the point that sometimes I have to push them aside to embrace happiness because the depths of my soul feels the damages they all invoke on humanity. I feel.. I feel deeply for the smallest ant I may accidentally step on to the latest genocide humanity sits aside, witnessing and is unresposive to once again. It's recently come to light that my oldest son and I are gifted learners which does explain so much about how I think and why close friendships have always been difficult for me to find but that doesn't satisfy a fact I've always lived with-that sometimes I feel so lonely for someone to just 'get' me. I must say I am sad that I have given my son (and possibly the other 2 too) this legacy but they'll know that I 'get' them and that's more than I had growing up.

Reading others blog posts out there, I have a few rays of hope that there are others out there that will 'get' my work and possibly even me! I want to meet them, I want to chat and laugh with them and get to know them but how. I'm emotionally starved for intellectual conversation, art talk and exchanges of ideas. I need to connect with those that live and breathe art as I do, but don't know how that will/can happen sitting here infront of my laptop. I don't want to send someone an email via their blog and sound like a needy groupie. When I was a bear artist it was easy, I joined mailing lists and just emailed but that was before the birth of blogs. Maybe someone will find my blog and say 'hey, I know her, she's me!'. I won't hold my breath though.

Meanwhile, I sit and wish, hoping to connect with other artists...