Dear Reader,

What I want for you, what I have dedicated my whole career to, is to pursue your artistic efforts. Not just going after them with all your might, but sharing them, marketing them, and selling them.

The past few weeks I have seen and heard peers and beloveds say things like “I’m sorry to be selling my courses during fascism” or “Wish I didn’t have to be looking for new clients during a genocide”

These are worthy desires, to want to opt out, a sentiment that could really be read as — I wish I had enough savings or was wealthy enough to not add to the noise of the world right now, when so many others need resources more than I do. Or to have a traditional paycheck, grant funding, or other resources that don’t involve the need to market publicly.

But for most of us who are working artists and creative business owners, this isn’t an option. And the public apologies of showing up for marketing and selling have lead me to be curious about how I see my own work and that of others.

"This is precisely the time when artists go to work. There is no time for despair, no place for self-pity, no need for silence, no room for fear. We speak, we write, we do language. That is how civilizations heal." - Toni Morrison 

One might ask though — is this the time when artists sell their work and what does that look like? I would like to vote yes. Not from some moral standpoint or a deeply researched angle. But from my own desires as a consumer and artist.

I want to see you sell your paintings so you can pay your bills and so people who are really fucking sad have a painting to look at. I want to buy your knitwear pattern so I can knit my girlfriend a scarf that keeps her warm and gives me something to do with my hands when the grief is too much.

I want you to sell your courses so that we may be in community with each other, not navigating the hellscape alone. I want us to touch in with your herbs and your medicine and your psychic magic and your tarot readings because when we know ourselves better, we can fight like hell together.

There will always be something in the news cycle that feels more pressing than this work we’re doing, and rightfully so. But this does not take away the important role of the artist. To make sense of the mess. To weave it into everything. And to offer it back out to the people.

My questions remain - Who gets to take a break from their job during crisis? What circumstances need to be in place to do that? Savings? Less spending? Less debt accumulation? And is it even appropriate to expect these breaks, these bouts of silence or only reporting back the news cycle?

I do not have answers today nor do I expect you to. But I am deeply asking myself What is the role of the artist right now? What is the role of the artist who sells? How can we use our work and our channels of communication for good? How can we participate in strikes, in walkouts, and still get our basic needs met in order to survive and show up?

The journey continues, nothing to solve or fix, continuing to notice what emerges.

→ Looking forward to catching a screening of All That’s Left of You downstate sometime soon. (From the website) ALL THAT’S LEFT OF YOU follows a Palestinian teenager who gets swept into a protest in the Occupied West Bank and experiences a moment of violence that rocks his family. The film unfolds as his mother recounts the political and emotional threads that led to that fateful moment. Spanning seven decades, the film traces the hopes and heartaches of one uprooted family, bearing witness to the scars of dispossession and the enduring legacy of survival.

→ Listening Hotline

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→ This weekend January 24 + 25 I am teaching Mapping Your Creative Business — a two day class full of list making and visioning the next four quarters of the year. This class is perfect for artists and business owners just taking the leap, or seasoned entrepreneurs who want to deepen their planning.

If you related to today’s newsletter, we’ll be getting into writing out our values and core beliefs in business as well.

This class leads into Fieldwork and it is recommended you take MYCB first or have a fluent understanding of running your own business. Fieldwork is my three month peer support co-hort for artists, writers, and creative business owners. Registration opens tomorrow. Join the waitlist here.

→ Rabbit Island Residency Open Call (Deadline Feb 22)

→ ABC A Bookkeeping Cooperative is hiring

→ ICYMI I have a brand new stunning website by New Shapes Studio. I’m excited to talk about websites in class this weekend.

Stuck at a creative crossroads? This FREE live event helps you reconnect with your intuitive vision & make progress with ease, pleasure, and self-trust.

Sunday Scaries, made manageable. Monthly online gathering with Pilates & yoga movement plus reflective writing. Start your week lighter. Use CODY20

Go analog with craft classes and creative retreats to support your breakup with big tech. Make in community, persistently bloom in your art.

Artists with a day job? Keep your practice thriving! Join Artist Admin Hour to get admin done with support & community

Want to book a classified ad for next week? Read all about it here

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Consider becoming a paid subscriber of this newsletter if you love it. A portion of this month’s paid subscriptions goes to this go fund me for a family in LA where the dad was detained in an ICE raid.