Unsolicited Advice to Survive as an Artist:

Build a community out of love and friendship. I make art to unite the people, to heal the family, to create friendships, and to cherish the land. Art is not just about aesthetics—it's about survival, connection, and giving people the courage to love themselves. Below is a collection of images depicting the artists I met in Phoenix, Arizona. I invited them to my house to share stories, food, love, and wisdom. This was profoundly beneficial to the evolution of my existence. I feel more connected emotionally to the things and people around me. We healed each other’s wounds by expressing our concerns about reality. These concerns were personal, social, environmental, spiritual, and financial.

I want to continue this act of service, but I have no idea how to sustain this practice financially. [YET]

I began to get overburdened with opening my house to 10-20 artists and curators every first of the month.

I need to start including buyers. People like to consume art. I want to consume art. Everyone consumes art. A lot of people pay for a streaming platform. It's only a matter of time until I’ll be streaming and profiting from a television show rooted in the artistic production of Phoenix, Arizona.

Phoenix isn’t a major hub for content production, but it will be. I see artists collaborating to establish a foothold on something new and planting nutritional seeds for future generations. I know these artist are challenging and incorporating ancestral lineages into their art. I want the world to see the reality of Arizona present in the magical world of our illusions, television.

Life feels better with a little more cushion. I am not a starving artist; I attract and get everything I need. And now, I have the things I need; it’s time to space travel. Which is to say, I’ll be traveling in the infinite space between the black screen, the black mirror, the human unconsciousness, and the dream world by uploading my consciousness onto the internet.

Within those months of Show & Tell, I was processing a breakup with someone I loved. Hope you’re doing well.

That was part of the spiral and my need for community. I destroyed everything we had together to make room for new memories. I’m old-fashioned; if this were 1822 BC, we would part ways without all the baggage. I have a few pictures of you, but everything else is gone. The furniture, plants, bed, and table… gone.

Living without adequate furniture lasted for months. It was uncomfortable sleeping on the wood floor after spending 8-12 hrs standing on my feet at the Phoenix Art Museum (PAM). I now understand the value of money, aka food and comfort. So, I quit. I quit that role because I deserve more; I deserve the altruistic fulfillment of supporting an artist community, starting with supporting myself first.

It’s time to get to the bread, and now I know a group of artists who share a similar ambition. To make powerful, captivating, connecting, and profitable art, here in Phoenix, Arizona.

If you’re an artist in Phoenix looking for community, Serving the People has weekly gatherings at Afternoons Studio.