
It feels like school is right around the corner, now, and there is a lot to do before then...including...drumroll...
Launching my Patreon! It might end up looking like an artistic Girl Scout Cookie stand, but I am aiming for authenticity, and am trying to develop "art things" that patrons would actually like and be able to use. It is challenging to know what people might like to receive in return for patronage, and I am sure the tiers will develop over time to be more varied and appropriate. My biggest challenge is making a welcome video as I am not gifted with moving images (!) and abhor my own appearance on film of any sort. If this is created, expect to see lots of animals moving around, and lots of still images of my work. I am sequestering myself to Caffe Nero almost daily to work on this and am optimistic that it will be a fun sandbox to for me and others to play in.
One big part of the Patreon will be an exclusive Facebook group for members to share their work, their ideas, their creative problems, and find support for their creative ideas (and lack of therin.) I can not teach much more in person due to the physical limitations of Arthuritis, so am hoping that a "Virtual Classroom" might work as an adjunct to my artistic life. I will be posting ideas and resources to the page and hope to cultivate a community of like minded artists, textile and otherwise. Other tiers include monthly calendars featuring curated sets of links to artists' work and/or creative ideas to try, digital art images, and more. Maybe even the occasional webchat or webinar lesson. The biggest challenge I have so far is finding ways of getting images of my art on the Patreon page itself. On my "to-do" list.
I was shooting for an August 1 start, but it will be more likely be September 1, if I want to make sure things are ship-shape. As always, I expect life to get in the way. It always seems to do that!
I would LOVE to hear from people about the types of things they would like to see as Patreon "things" from me -- what would be meaningful to receive for pledges? Physical things? Digital Things? It is new territory for me, and many artists.
Amanda Palmer, Queen of Patreon, has written about finding that place in yourself where it is ok to "Take the Donut" -- accepting things from others -- and finding value in what you do as an artist. I find this very hard to do, so starting a Patreon is extremely challenging in this regard. We shall see...
Cheers!