“Legacy. What is a legacy?
It’s planting seeds in a garden you never get to see” – Lin-Manuel Miranda, Hamilton
What will I leave behind? This is the most important work of my life. Not because I think I’m important, but because how can I not plan to leave something that outlives me?
I have many questions for me, and for you.
I am a fiber artist. When I’m required to list my occupation, like on tax forms for example, I list fiber artist. It is who I am, but really, that’s not all I am. It’s how I get paid, but it’s not my final, most fullest calling.
My job? My real, honest to goodness purpose for being here? It is to INSPIRE YOU.
My true superpowers are twofold.
One: I build community. That’s well documented, and I’ve done a lot of community building in my time. My communities aren’t necessarily big ones, but they are solid and they’ve outlived my direct influence to become their own living, breathing beings. I am proud of the communities I’ve helped to build, because they are beyond me.
Two: I encourage. I inspire. I cheerlead. I facilitate breakthroughs and exploration and breaking out of ruts. THAT is my real job. THAT is my purpose.
My job isn’t to tell you how to do things. It’s to show you the possibilities.
In alignment with this, I am going to be shifting how I present myself to the world from now on. You may have noticed that I have been talking less about “here is this thing that I made that you can buy” and more about “here’s my philosophy about creating and being in this world as an artist and human,” and that’s purposeful.
I don’t feel aligned with the idea of selling my work as a commodity anymore. The concept of hustling to get sales is, quite frankly, anathema to my concept of actually being a working artist. It diminishes my willingness and excitement to create new work when I feel like I need to hawk the latest yarns and fibers to you, the reader. I am sure you’d much rather read something inspiring without feeling like I’m just here to sell you something!
So I’m going to trust that if you see something you like, you will go buy it. I am going to bank on the idea that the people who really want my products will find them and buy them and love them. And I will instead foster my community and offer opportunities to get inspired and encouraged by me. And I will trust that the value of that will inspire you to support me there, too.
I have several options for you to offer support – Patreon and Buy Me A Coffee are the two easiest to use. You can also help just by sharing things that I post with your friends and your community! That’s a huge help and it expands my reach so that those who might be looking for what I’m putting out there can find me.
I also am going to ask for one more thing from you: because I trust you to tell me what you most need from me, please let me know what topics you are most in need of exploring! Do you need and want more inspiration, more techniques, more business insight, more potential project ideas? I have endless topics lined up, but knowing what YOU are looking for helps me pare down potential future posts to what’s most needed.
So please hit reply! I am so open to these conversations – in fact, that’s exactly what I am here for. Let’s get to talking about what you need and want from a teacher and co-conspirator!
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