This is why you need to go to art festivals and buy art from artists, directly: because you can have a direct impact on their lives. This is the same reason to go and support live music, as much as possible. Artists…they often don’t make a lot of money. And they represent the best part of our lives. Go support them. If you have any type of a corporate or sustaining job and you pass a group of musicians you enjoy listening to and don’t tip them, or pass an artist you love and don’t buy their visual art, you are hurting our world. I firmly believe that. It takes major guts and love and vulnerability to make art, to sell art, to put your heart out there. Support your local artists.
It is officially April which means it’s officially art festival season in most cities across North America, and so many festivals are happening near my home in North Texas. This is my favorite time of year. I love art. I absolutely love and admire artists, of all kinds. I’ve purchased art my entire working life. My first two pieces of art I bought when I was in high school while working at the Wet Seal in Dallas. It was not a slutty store back then, it was way more hippie, way bohemian. I saved all the money I could. And an artist came to present at a funky little gallery in Dallas on Knox Henderson, which has since closed, called The Nest. He made metal outdoor sculptures, and I bought two of them, two musicians, a guitar player and a sax player for a total of $600, in 1996, when I was making $9 an hour. No way could I afford them. But I did it anyway. Because you should support art. Art is life. And that’s how I’ve lived my entire life. These metal musicians are currently sitting in my backyard, and have been in every backyard I’ve ever lived in, ever since. Art is life.
Main Street Fort Worth Art Festival is in a few weeks. It’s a big deal here in Fort Worth, and it’s one of the best rated art festivals in our country. I’m a huge art fanatic as I grew up going to every single art fest within a 50-mile range of Dallas, with my mom, and in the past 12 years, we’ve traveled around to art festivals every summer, just the two of us. We’ve hit the best, from Ann Arbor, MI to Madison, WI, to Denver, CO, to Seattle, WA, to Asheville, NC, to Austin, TX, to Hanover, MA, to La Jolla, CA and Laguna Beach, CA, to Houston, TX, to Nashville, TN, to Atlanta, GA, to Santa Fe, NM, to Louisville, KY, and back again. She loves art just as much as I do, and I fully understand she’s the reason I have this drive.
My mom is a teacher; she’s taught early childhood (kindergarten through 2nd grades) her entire life. She’s 68, and she’s nowhere close to retiring. She’s fascinating and energetic and has a huge admiration for children’s book authors and illustrators, and all kinds of art. She’s the most creative person you will ever meet and if you have a 5, 6, or 7 year old in North Texas, you are doing a disservice by not putting that child in my mom’s class. She’s the teacher you want all teachers to train from.
One summer, when I was visiting home from college, I went with my mom to a Dallas Home Depot store. A man came up, pulled my mom aside, and said, “I just sent my daughter off to college. In her dorm room is a picture of me, my wife and her, and a picture of you and her when she was in kindergarten.” This is a girl who’s now 18 who has kept a photo of my mom, from when she was 5, framed and at her bedside, all these years. That’s my mom. She’s incredible. She has changed the lives of hundreds upon hundreds of children in Dallas. She has sparked creativity and passion and imagination. She’s taught child after child that there’s more than one way to come up with the correct answer and that creative thinking always wins. And she supports art. On a teacher’s salary. She gets it. And she passed that passion on to me.
So every summer, we travel to art festivals to meet and support artists. We thank them and we remember them. We share stories. We learn their processes. And we take home a piece of their soul, whatever we can afford. For the rest of my life I will never forget these memories: the trips, the artists, the organic cafes, the hiking trails, parks, and random little towns we explore along the way. The long conversations about life and dreams, about education and nutrition, the stories and the laughs. I am so, so lucky.
So, it’s art festival season. If you live in North Texas, go to Main Street and buy some art. Even if it is $20, you are changing their lives. Believe me, anything you can do to help will positively impact an artist’s life. And while you’re there, stay for the live music, and tip the bands. Buy their CD’s. Sign up for their mailing lists. Art is life. It creates our communities. We would be nothing without it. Go support it.
Art Festival Acai Bowls
Ingredients
For the Smoothies
- 2 c. almond milk unsweetened
- 2 bananas frozen
- 1 c. blueberries frozen
- 2 tbsp. acai powder
- 1 tbsp. chia seeds
Toppings
- 1 c. strawberries sliced
- 3/4 c. granola
- 2 tbsp. hemp hearts
- 2 tbsp. coconut shredded
Instructions
- For the smoothie: put the bananas, blueberries, almond milk, chia seeds, and acai powder into a high-powered blender and blend on high for a few minutes, until all ingredients are well blended.
- Pour the smoothie into bowls, and top with your favorite toppings. I prefer sliced strawberries, shredded coconut, granola and hemp hearts.
- Serve immediately.