An artist writing about artists

It’s kind of a funny thing, writing for The Uniter. I never set out at all to be any sort of journalist. I went to school to study acting, then switched over to filmmaking. I’ve dabbled in painting, music, photography and other things that don’t really pay the rent.

The thing is, when you accumulate enough of those little things, it starts to actually pay off. Taking photos for a magazine turned into reviewing records, then shows and now here we are, blogging for The Uniter.

As someone who considers himself a filmmaker first and a writer second, it’s a strange position to be in, putting your own “art” on the back burner to write about other people’s work.

But I can’t put my work aside, I keep it going, and then I fall into that strange category about how it’s even harder to promote your work as an artist if you’re writing about that specific type of thing. It would be different if I were covering the farm report, but I know very little of the world of cattle and dairy, so here I sit, talking about music, film and other art forms.

Very few artists actually enjoy talking about themselves or their work. I’ve found that most would be entirely content with allowing the work to speak for itself.

In the current landscape of things though, unless you’re constantly tweeting about your show, getting written up in every local mag and talking the talk on everything from Breakfast Television to CKUW, you likely will not receive much support outside of your group of friends.

It’s incredibly tough to get the word out in a town in which people would rather stay inside for six months out of the year then venture into a tiny hole to see their friend’s band play, but that’s the state of things. Too many artists just put the work out into the ether to be found. Some does, most goes unappreciated.

That’s why I felt that I had to start writing about Arts & Culture, and why this magazine, after only having me as a family member for a few months, is already starting to feel like home.

My goal here is to give people some ink that maybe wouldn’t seek it out themselves, discuss new trends and the fantastic work that’s being done locally and beyond.

As for my own work? This all plays into it. As a filmmaker I’ve tried to build community within each project; between the actors onscreen, the musicians who flesh out the soundtrack and the viewers who watch and discuss.

We all work together, and this is just another way that I’m trying to do that.