There is hope
This weekend, I was honored to be a part of the festivities at the 47th Hyde Park Street Fair in Boise, Idaho. A couple of years ago, I wrote a goal list of things I wanted to do, and one of those was to sell my art at a large art festival. I've done some smaller ones, but this was my first bigger, three-day one. I can check that off the list!!!!
In my mind, I've set the expectation bar pretty low when it comes to my measure of success for these events. I have two criteria, which have always been met up to now, and was met this weekend as well. 1) Make back my booth fee. 2) Have some great conversations with people about my art, their lives, how to make the world more loving and peaceful. This weekend I easily made back my booth fee with three days to sell my wares. And I had AMAZING conversations with so many great people!
I talked with a lot of teachers (most teachers vibe with my stuff), a lot of older hippies (I've been accused of being an old soul hippie since I was a kid), a lot of younger people (teens to early twenties), and just fantastic people who seem to generally care about the world. If it isn't evident, my work is done in a graffiti style with messages of peace and love. It doesn't attract everyone, and that's fine for now. Do I want it to attract everyone? For sure I do. The world needs more love in it. At the least, the world needs less hate, less divisiveness, and more curiosity.
One of my most recent works is the picture at the top of this post. I set it out front at my booth so everyone walking by can see it. Thousands of people read those words this weekend. I could see them do it. Some came in because of them, others agreed and walked past, and still others just walked away. I have refreshed hope in the world because of the conversations I got to participate in this weekend, and the life stories I got to hear. I had one man in his mid-twenties come in with his wife and he was moved to tears by the messages on my work. If that was the only interaction I had over the three-day market, it would have still been worth it. It wasn't the only one. I had tons and know that there are people working for more love, more hope, more understanding, more creativity, more art, more of the good stuff in life! Thanks to all who came to visit me at Hyde Park! You give me hope!