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My Website: Ashmae.com
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Friday, September 25, 2015

Maybe I'm not a business woman?

Of all the projects I've done, I think the one I think back on most often is a funny, hand-sewn sign that I made almost a year ago and strung up between two trees while taking the kids to school one afternoon.  I felt sure that someone would take it down quickly, or that it would fall in the wind, but nearly a year lately, I pass by it every so often when we take that path to school and it's still there.  It's not exactly as I left it because someone tied curly ribbons all around it, the dye I used to color the fabric is faded and the letters are a weather-worn white, another person took glow in the dark paint and painted over the letters and another part where I can see that someone stitched together a part that had torn.  Once I mentioned that I was the one who put it up on a social media platform and I had five or six people respond and talk about how meaningful the sign had been in their life.  This little sign is certainly not the makings of a strong business model.  I will most likely never make a penny from its existence, and for almost everyone, it is completely anonymous, but I love this project.  I am moved as a maker by this project.  I am not compelled to make 'be brave' signs and sell them on etsy, I like that it remains apart from the marketplace, and I think that distance is what makes it meaningful to the people who experience it.  It is not beautiful, skillful and consumeristic, it's just what it is, a hand-sewn sign that says 'Be Brave'.   Walking that line then, the line between being a creative and growing your creativity into some sort of business with financial or social gain, is an interesting place to be.  For me, right now, I am most compelled to create without thought of the business that my creation will generate.  I want to take time to follow the stream that has already been carved for me, and that requires a lot of listening, a lot of quiet space, even space outside of the social media realm.  I'm taking a break from even the thoughts of business and what my place might be as an online presence, and I'm using my hands and body to create and move through the physical world that is nearby me.  I have hope that in doing so, I will better be able to merge the two world (business and creative) in a way that feels peaceful, productive and generous.  How do you walk this line?