Art is for everyone, but it's work. Work deserves compensation. It's a pretty simple equation! —ian stevens
yesterday i received an email asking me to contribute images and writing about my work for a proposed book about shifu. the writer’s email misspelled an important related vocabulary word which was bad enough, and indicated little experience in papermaking, shifu, or weaving. they had written books about fiber arts. i would receive no compensation, not even a copy of the book. the writer was doing this for free. i suppose having a book published was seen as compensation enough. i questioned them regarding these issues and said i would not participarte in a project that did not compensate the artists or the writer. i was bothered that they considered this to be perfectly acceptable, and i endeavored to explain my thinking. i found it puzzling that my anger about the inequitable system they were participating in was understood and accepted. accepted as the norm, even appropriate. i can only suppose this is because they do not need to make a living, or that they devalue art, fiber or writing. i found these assumptions upsetting and said so, which was seen as bad manners and a personal attack. i had pushed back against an acceptance of the way things are, the system.
an aside: if you don’t know me, i’m a white woman, 65, mother of two, now retired from teaching 21 years in public school. i’m fortunate enough to have a small retirement income. i live modestly in a place where i can do so. i make a kind of shifu that supports my work in book arts. my work is not japanese shifu, but i acknowledge and deeply respect that cultural tradition, as well as related papermaking/fiber traditions.
so i ran this whole thing by two dear ones, both making a living with their hands. both of them understood and validated my thinking. one, my son ian, is quoted above. if we make art it’s because we are skilled, want to, need to, it’s what we do and we work at it. the art deserves to be paid for. the nasca weaver(s) above, the spinner(s), the dyer(s) were much respected as artists in their time. should we not also be?