I just put my few patio and garden ornaments out. I’m not a gardener, though thanks to kind, generous, garden-loving friends I have some nice flowers around my patio now. Last year I bought some decent patio furniture – not expensive or fancy, but not the cheap plastic junk from the grocery store. While I like my new table & chairs and pretty umbrella, it’s the little things that really make me happy. Tibetan prayer flags, a glow-in-the-dark gazing ball on a stick with stars orbiting around it (it’s the earth, you see), two new sets of wind chimes (thanks, Ellen! thanks, KJ & Trish!). And the cranes.
Last year I went to an art fair with my buddy Diane (yes, another Diane). I was on the hunt for a birthday gift for someone I was dating at the time and I found a great necklace for her. But then I stumbled upon the cranes as we were getting ready to leave. You know those paper cranes the Japanese make – origami cranes – often made by the hundreds. Well these are origami cranes made of Tyvek – you know that stuff they put on houses they’re putting up? It’s weatherproof, you see. And colorful, as it turns out. So this clever artist made some Tyvek cranes and strung them together on a weatherproof chain with a hook from which to hang them.
I love them!
And – they were $50. There are 5 of them on the string.
I paid the lady. Told her I loved the cranes. She said she did too – that’s why she made them. I was as thrilled with my gift for me as I was with the moonstone necklace for my then girlfriend. Happy Diane!
I proudly showed my buddy my find. She said “yeah, that’s pretty cool! What did you pay for something like that?”
Uh oh. She’s not an art fiend. Not even close. “uh, $50” I said.
“What?! You paid FIFTY DOLLARS for that??? The material probably cost FIFTY CENTS!” While the “what are you, NUTS?” wasn’t spoken it was very much implied.
My buddy and I are very good friends and we laughed about it. She really DOES think i’m nuts to ‘overspend’ on art.
And in this case I would have to say, the artwork was most definitely “overpriced” by objective standards.
But I have a longer view, I think. Art and books and people are what make me happy – so for one, I had just purchased not just cranes, but happiness.
But it doesn’t stop there. The woman who made the cranes was a bit younger than me and had said she had escaped a dumb and boring corporate job and LOVED doing her art. So I had also purchased happiness and right lievlihood for someone else.
That should be enough – but wait! there’s more! I voted with my wallet for art as a concept, for artists as a species, for beauty. I voted for the delights of handmade things. I voted against monotony, chain stores, corporitazation of life.
And I helped perk up my least favorite season (Summer) by making my south and west-facing (code word – TOO DARNED HOT!) patio with beauty and delight.
If I can figure out a way to post pictures I’ll post the cranes. For those who are personal friends, you’ll see them in my photo album on Facebook from last summer.
How about you? What do other people see as extravagant that you see as more than sensible? Where do you “overspend” but get way more value than cost would imply? how are YOUR values evinced by where and how and with whom you spend your money?
I’m serious – I wanna know these things!
I like the Cranes! I love Birds, especially cranes and herons!(not to mention eagles and hawks)!!!
Yes! Art is so worth it, saving someone from the corporate blahs is another boost for this artist! I love to create!
More people should see the value and worth and the not so long road to happiness by even participating in Art Shows as an observer! We love feedback, and really dig it when people see the beauty in what the process is all about! To take a recycled material and make it into art is my all time favorite, although my medium is grown, it is an organic transformation!
This is wonderful, I think the cranes are fabulous! Love the photo and also must say that it is well worth the money!!!!
Love your story about the cranes. $50 worth of happiness for at least two (and probably more) people is money well spent!
Michelle and I have acquired two pieces of original art in the last couple of years — a large vase and a small statue of a woman. They each cost in the $100-200 range, an amount I once would never have considered spending on “just art.” However, my perspective, and my discretionary cash flow, have changed. I love having these beautiful works of art, supporting the artists (the sculptor of the statue is a friend of a friend), and spending money on things that bring me joy and beauty to my home is worth every penny.
My niece and nephew (lovingly/teasingly) call us “The Spoiled Ones,” because we travel a lot. That is an area where we spend, but we don’t have children to support, and it’s something that we enjoy doing together, and we get a lot of joy and pleasure from our trips.
Julia – agree! Just going to art shows is a treat!
Kathy – art and books are my passions so I have mostly original art up in my house with a few reproductions of famous art (Georgia O’Keefe, Matisse, Van Gogh).
And I’m with you on travel, too – another excellent way to spend money!