Hillary Monahan: There's a bevy of posts circulating of famous sculptures with the question of WHY DON'T WE SEE THIS KIND OF TALENT ANYMORE and the answer is you don't support the arts, assholes. Those artists had patrons. They could work all day to perfect their craft without worrying about food and housing.

There's a bevy of posts circulating of famous sculptures with the question of WHY DON'T WE SEE THIS KIND OF TALENT ANYMORE and the answer is you don't support the arts, assholes. Those artists had patrons. They could work all day to perfect their craft without worrying about food and housing.

I will never stop ranting about the demand for entertainment in the form of art--from TV shows to films to books to video games--and the absolute unwillingness to see creative fields as anything more than fun time hobbies. DOESN'T WORK LIKE THAT.

This push for AI is nothing more than wanting your cake and eating it too. You want to be entertained... for free. Except, lol, robots can't make the good stuff so you're just watering down your own enjoyment in the long run while reducing your future Shakespeare to working in an Amazon warehouse.

(That is, of course, until they automate the warehouse with robots so Shakespeare ends up out of a job then, too.)

And because I was on Twitter long enough to know better: There's absolutely /nothing wrong/ with working in a warehouse. Unless, of course, you want to write for a living and no one supports your growth. It's reductive for anyone to be in a field they hate over a passion.

Hi, I have two theatre degrees and dramaturgy makes me happier than anything else, but I've actually been paid for my dramaturgy a whole entire twice in my career and so instead I work a soul-sucking office job.

(And when one does get paid for it, it won’t pay for the stamp to write home about it.)

It's never the "warehouse" part of the job, it's always the "Amazon" part of the job. >.<

Underrated post. I don’t care if it gets a million more heart-pokes, it’ll still be underrated. Some of the most pleasant work and immediately rewarding work I’ve ever done was in a factory warehouse.

I love my job, and I love how I can look the manager in the eye and say ‘I’m lucky that I can AFFORD to work this job.’ I don’t love how many people in the company would destroy my department and its long term profits for a short term bonus, or for clout.

I push myself to burnout about once a month or every other other month, if I'm lucky, doing exactly this. Because I want to get out of this lifestyle so badly and just write, but I keep having to stop and also deal with cycles of depression because a person literally cannot live this way. 😭

I think a lot about that line from The Good Place There's something very human about taking something great and making it less good so you can have more of it I think it was about sitcom writing but it applies to a lot of stuff

In scene it's about frozen yogurt but I don't think it's *just* about frozen yogurt

Yeah, I remember it. That show is so wise in so many ways. I still think about Chidi's exit.

As a suicide metaphor it bugged me but when I thought of it as how TV shows need to have endings I was at peace with it

Hershey's kisses

There are a lot of lines in that show that are like that. Its why I love it so much and why I keep rewatching.

Came here to say this, but I saw you already got to it :-)

First example that comes to mind is watering down eggnog with at least twice as much milk.

I think about this loss of creativity in our culture so much. So many juggling day jobs, and so many who never even got started because they believed it was a waste of time. And so many artists reduced to relying on unreliable algorithms, forced to compete with commercialism & AI.

And there was a thing recently with Bezos and Musk saying that we need more people, something about how then we could have 1000 Mozarts. And many people here commented that maybe 1000 Mozarts already are out there, but they can't pursue their talent because they are trapped working menial jobs

::standing ovation GIF. Meryl Streep pointing with enthusiasm::

Visualized

I parted ways with my brother about a decade ago because he was a toxic hyper-conservative, right before I published my first novel. When I told him I didn't want him in my life anymore his parting shot was "Good luck making a living off your fucking books!"

Jaysis. Thats low. I'm sorry.

Sorry if this seemed like I was angling for sympathy; that was not my intent. I brought it up because, for me, it was a stark, personal illustration of the exact mindset you're talking about in this thread. He was more than willing to consume art, but wouldn't acknowledge it as a "real job".

No, you weren't angling, I just had a visceral reaction to it. Ugh.

All good. Kinda knew what you were getting at.

I know how self doubt haunts authors. Supremely shitty.

Was working as an orthotics tech, but had to quit as a sculptor 'cause I was exhausted from a 2 hr drive in traffic after work & couldn't find any inspiration or energy. I quit that job. I felt like I was enslaved. He can't do what I can do. Now I write.

Yep. I've probably made 2 grand total for my writing. And my day job leaves me too exhausted at the end of the day to really do much during the week. I usually do a cram session on the weekends when life allows. Which it often doesn't.

THIS. I used to live with someone who saw art as financially unviable and, very long story short, was very much NOT supportive of my work. They were also a terrible client to work with. Needless to say, their attempts to persuade me against pursuing art failed. Backfired, even.

I’m not sure if there’s an encouraging way to say that colonists/farmers see more labor/wealth in refugees with children to feed than they see in artists with dreams to share. 😅

My husband and I met in art school. He was a sculptor. When we graduated we realized very quickly that we couldn't make it on 2 artists' incomes. I worked retail to send him back to school and now he's no longer a sculptor but a software engineer. That's why there aren't sculptors, people.

I used to make very complicated figural stained glass panels. Now I’m a software engineer and haven’t made a panel in years. Give your husband a hug from me. :(

I'm so sorry, I hope you can get back to it eventually, stained glass is so beautiful.

I’m sure I’ll do a piece for myself again, or as a gift, but I can’t see myself ever showing again. I had a couple galleries that showed my work - “we get to use otherwise dead window space? Sweet!” - which meant many years of hustle for one $75 sale. :-/

Sounds familiar! I'm a freelancing artist again so that's pretty much my hustle. I hope you can get back to it--maybe all the better if it's just for your own joy. Your art brings beauty to the world and the world needs it.

Glad to hear you’ve gotten back into the world! The world needs more art for sure - but also needs people making it and happy. :)

I know this all too well. I was a Fine Arts major in undergrad for a while. My wife has a BFA with a concentration in printmaking. We’d both love to support ourselves doing art full time. Does she? No, she’s a network engineer. Do I? No, I got STEM degrees and am currently LFW in tech/STEM.

It's so hard to keep making art when our culture doesn't consider it worth a livable wage. I'm sorry for you both, I hope you find your footing in your new career and it gives you time and space for creativity again. ❤️‍

Yeah, I asked my wife, which is harder, being a network engineer or an artist for a living? And she agreed, being an artist is MUCH harder. I go and do creative projects on my own, but I do gently encourage her to keep up with some creative practice, even if it’s just idly filling up a sketchbook.

I have met more than a few secret ceramicists at my library workplaces. Being a librarian doesn’t pay a lot, but it pays more than being a potter.

I was also a Fine Arts major with an emphasis in printmaking. I work as an artist in video games. I'm a lifelong gamer. I adore the work (games are works of art, don't let anyone tell you otherwise), and it pays the bills, but the industry is so unstable. I've been laid off 6 times in 14 years.

Printmaker here with an art degree, working as a web ops manager (web design).

All the people who post/repost this shit are also invariably "lol artists, lol creatives, lol arts majors, get a real job you parasites" types, too. Culture warriors who don't actually understand culture or support cultural resources.

They'd love to possess a Monet without bothering to invest in a future Monet. It's gluttonous and gross.

Except Monet is way too avant-garde for some of these guys. The "my toddler could paint that modern crap" crowd want knock-offs of Titian forever.

While I agree, I'd also like to hope if someone was good enough to be convincingly Titianing they'd get work, right? Right? *quietly despairs* (Actually quite torn between Monet and Titian. Though it's Caravaggio, thinking about it. #princeofdarkness And Artemisia, obv. #queenofpaint.)

I digress. What's so sad about this whole incisive, necessary thread (thank you @hillarymonahan.bsky.social ) is that it's not even about whether people are good enough, or hardworking, or self-sacrificing enough to get work, when the work is so unsupported. We have to turn this around.

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