I obviously love this. It makes me think about what the principles of a Good Art Friend could be, because it's mostly about heaping love on people, but it's also about showing up consistently and caring enough about the work to be constructive, too. Being a Good Art Friend feels different sometimes across racial and class lines, too, something that's come up a lot in my friendships. Are you making art just for the hell of it? Or do you need to make some money? Do you have lots of contacts and a well established platform, or are you struggling to get those things--and how does that feel to be navigating among friends? Is the person giving feedback mindful of the limitations of their own POV? Just so much to think about. I know it can also just be fun and loving, but thought I'd add on some of these layers. Because GOOD ART FRIENDS!
Thank you, GAF, for complicating my thinking here. I definitely see that piece about who can do art without thinking about money and who can take risks without thinking about cred, and who is mindful of those differences and not. Sometimes I definitely give someone advice that is purely based on my own situation culturally and financially and not in their best interests. I also think being a good art friend sometimes means being the right voice needed for a certain moment, and that can change.
Thanks for taking the focus off of gossip and shit-talking and onto Good Art Friends...and congrats on having a long-standing group of Good Art Friends! (August 2020 was forever ago!) But how important is the "Art" here? Do you need something creative that's both personal and public to convene about? Or is it more about just convening intentionally with Good Insert-Endeavor-Here Friends? Or does there even need to be an endeavor? Is there a lesson here about just how to be a good friend? Is being a Good Friend irl the same as being a Good Friend on a text chain/social media space? Ok I've spun out of control and into my own current struggles...but thanks for getting me thinking!
these are great spinnings. i think this is in some ways about just being a good friend - though sometimes even when you don't know someone that well, i find that your art creates intimacy, and that can be a path to having closeness and obligation that is different from other casual friends, though of course not deeper ones. the questions about IRL versus text are so interesting. in some ways, i think you can get away with being a worse friend on social media and it's harder to be a good friend. i'll be thinking about this now....
Let it be known that this is the first moment I have ever felt compelled to spend *more* time on texting. Here's to good art friends; I sent this to mine immediately; may we prosper and flourish together.
I obviously love this. It makes me think about what the principles of a Good Art Friend could be, because it's mostly about heaping love on people, but it's also about showing up consistently and caring enough about the work to be constructive, too. Being a Good Art Friend feels different sometimes across racial and class lines, too, something that's come up a lot in my friendships. Are you making art just for the hell of it? Or do you need to make some money? Do you have lots of contacts and a well established platform, or are you struggling to get those things--and how does that feel to be navigating among friends? Is the person giving feedback mindful of the limitations of their own POV? Just so much to think about. I know it can also just be fun and loving, but thought I'd add on some of these layers. Because GOOD ART FRIENDS!
Thank you, GAF, for complicating my thinking here. I definitely see that piece about who can do art without thinking about money and who can take risks without thinking about cred, and who is mindful of those differences and not. Sometimes I definitely give someone advice that is purely based on my own situation culturally and financially and not in their best interests. I also think being a good art friend sometimes means being the right voice needed for a certain moment, and that can change.
Thanks for taking the focus off of gossip and shit-talking and onto Good Art Friends...and congrats on having a long-standing group of Good Art Friends! (August 2020 was forever ago!) But how important is the "Art" here? Do you need something creative that's both personal and public to convene about? Or is it more about just convening intentionally with Good Insert-Endeavor-Here Friends? Or does there even need to be an endeavor? Is there a lesson here about just how to be a good friend? Is being a Good Friend irl the same as being a Good Friend on a text chain/social media space? Ok I've spun out of control and into my own current struggles...but thanks for getting me thinking!
these are great spinnings. i think this is in some ways about just being a good friend - though sometimes even when you don't know someone that well, i find that your art creates intimacy, and that can be a path to having closeness and obligation that is different from other casual friends, though of course not deeper ones. the questions about IRL versus text are so interesting. in some ways, i think you can get away with being a worse friend on social media and it's harder to be a good friend. i'll be thinking about this now....
Let it be known that this is the first moment I have ever felt compelled to spend *more* time on texting. Here's to good art friends; I sent this to mine immediately; may we prosper and flourish together.
Phew! Thank you sooo much for this exorcism! That story haunted me.
Great word choice Elke!