Inspiration for Artists

Over a long weekend, I tagged along with my husband on a business trip, venturing to cool and green Boston. There I visited numerous museums and galleries, filling the well with amazing treasures that will surely influence my output in the future. It made me reflect on inspiration for artists. While the kernel of our work may be based on historical influences, conceptual theory, or natural sources, there is something amazing about seeing the best of the best from other artists. Whether it is something that is near to our own work or far afield, the artist's core recognizes the spirit in a special piece.



Seeing world class art makes me want to step up my game, to stop making the mundane things that have filled my days to this point. I feel emboldened to take the leap to the grand ideas in my head, to give up the notions of small pieces that don't cost a fortune in materials or result in gut-wrenching price tags. I want to produce work of my very own that will give me that same breathtaking thrill that accompanies my discovery of new work by artists I admire and pieces known from photos finally beheld in person. There evidently is a buyer out there for Mariko Kusumoko who spends unknown hours constructing the metal sculpture equivalent of a doll house, with a myriad of amazing movable and wearable jewelry parts, all meticulously crafted by hand, and carrying a price tag of $20,000.

Perhaps it's time to believe that if I make it, that piece of my dreams and heart, that a buyer will appear.