by Michael Winters
In my experience, artists are some of the most generous people on the planet.
I recently received an unexpected small box in the mail. I love receiving mail and when the return address told me it was from Gene Schmidt, my excitement doubled. Gene was the first artist we showed in our current gallery space when we opened in 2012. It was an exhibit documenting his project Lovetown, PA.
And now here was this generous gift of a box in my mailbox waiting to be opened. As I unwrapped cardboard and tissue paper, a curious small object emerged.
It’s an old fabric measuring tape wound around some unknown core, in total larger than an egg, smaller than a baseball. The measuring tape is aged, and I wonder where it has been and what it has measured. For some reason it reminds me of my grandfather. The tape lies surprisingly flat to itself. It’s tight and seems to have no chance of unraveling. It seems like it must have been glued down but there’s no evidence of glue. And, I think meaningfully, there seems to be no chance of this object functioning to measure anything again. It has left the world of simple utility and now lives in the realm of art, where there’s generally no standard unit of measure.
Mini-Measurement by Gene Schmidt, gifted to the author.
Gene started his art career measuring pretty precisely, though poetically, in his first major project, Manhattan Measure. Manhattan Measure was what it sounds like: Gene measured Manhattan. He walked the length and width of Manhattan with thousands of red yard sticks, laying down one yard stick at a time, never using the same yard stick twice. Since then he’s continued the measurement theme, but moved towards things impossible to measure.
Documentation of Manhattan Measure, 2006-2008. Photograph by Alicia Hansen.
In Lovetown, PA, completed in 2010, Gene laser cut hundreds of floor tiles to spell out the entire text of 1 Corinthians 13: “Love is patient. Love is kind…”. With just one letter on each tile, he laid the tiles out as he walked through the city. When he got to the end of the passage, he’d pick them up and start again. Coming after Manhattan Measure, his project Lovetown, PA can also be viewed as a city-wide measurement, though the means of measuring is no longer bound to the clear calculations of yardsticks. In Lovetown, PA the unit of measure becomes a letter, which becomes a word, and then a full declaration of love, or at least a declaration of what love is.
Documentation of Lovetown, PA by Gene Schmidt. Photograph by Alicia Hansen.
Installation view of Lovetown PA by Gene Schmidt at Sojourn Arts, 2012.
Now that Gene is making these Measurements sculptures, of which my gift was a mini-measurement, what does it mean that these measuring devices can no longer fulfill their function? I’m not sure exactly, but it makes me think of things that can not be measured precisely—the true value of art, generosity, grace, gifts.
And there are things better left un-measured. 1 Corinthians 13:5 tells us love “keeps no record of wrongs.” Love doesn’t keep the score on wrongs. It’s not worried about measuring.
Measurement by Gene Schmidt
In my work with artists over the years, I’ve been impressed over and over again with the generosity of artists. Gene’s a good example, but there have been literally hundreds of other generous artists pass through our community too. They don’t seem concerned about keeping record of all they’ve given. After over a dozen years of arts ministry at Sojourn, the generosity from artists has been one of the biggest encouragements and one of the most common observations.
One of my hopes for the coming year is that we would witness as much (or more!) generosity going to artists as coming from artists.
Below are some ways you might consider being generous towards an artist whose work you admire:
Buy art. An artist needs to make money in order to keep producing their work. The pricing of art is notoriously obscure, and often wildly fluctuates, but to support an artist don’t just wait until you can get a steal of a deal. Buying directly from an artist is great, but galleries or other retailers selling for an artist are part of the support system and are worthy of support as well.
Send an artist a gift card or buy them lunch. If it’s someone you know or have a mailing address for, send them something to say thank you for the benefit you’ve already received from their work.
Ask what supplies they need and provide them. Making art is often expensive. If you’d be willing to front some cost for an artist to make something, that would blow their mind.
Give a monthly contribution. Some artists, like Andy Cenci and Kelly Kruse, have Patreon accounts so you can support them in a small dollar amount each month and receive perks for doing so. But even if an artist doesn’t have a Patreon account, you could suggest giving a particular dollar amount monthly and agree upon some sort of arrangement where you receive an artwork at the end of 12 months.
Be generous with encouragement. If you like an artist’s work, find out how to get ahold of them and tell them!
And tell others. Online or in person, be a fan and share what you appreciate about their work.