Blog / 2025 / Savoring and Saving
May 22, 2025
The idea of juxtaposing the words “savoring” and “saving” comes from the way I’ve always thought of art as saving the world and from a more recent decision to use the French word “savourer” when translating the idea of enjoying my art into French. That said, this vlog really came together after I came across the pairing of these two words in a book I read recently. I think it was Maggie Thrash’s Rainbow Black—I’m not positive that it was, but, either way, I’m okay plugging that book here because it’s a good one!
The work featured in the latter half of this vlog is from my entire career, including my animal alphabet book, my TEDx talk about copyright, my book about the queerness of nature, my series about immigration, my project about mental health, and some of my most recent art.
VIDEO TRANSCRIPT
You know how sometimes someone says something to you and then that thing that they said becomes basically the thing that defines them in your mind? I’m not talking about people you know. I’m talking about people you’re just getting to know. And as I’m explaining all this I’m realizing maybe this a “me” problem and you have no idea what I’m talking about. And, anyway, I hope not!
But I just met two artists and this happened. One of them was emphasizing that they went to a fancy famous art school, and the other one was talking about making six figures with their art business. And both of those things are massive accomplishments that these artists have every right to be proud of and to be talking about. But it did make me wonder if these two artists would want these two things to be the things that define them in my mind.
And then it made me think about what defines me in other people’s minds. Like, what do other people think when they see my art or see me? Like, what’s the first thing that comes to mind? And I realized that I was basically doing the same thing as these two artists. Not that I went to some fancy famous art school or that I make $100000 or more with my work, but I was emphasizing a number, a ranking, as a way to convey the value of my work.
Specifically, in the last couple of years, I’ve been talking a lot about how I’ve been a full-time artist for over twenty years. That’s a huge accomplishment! Paying your rent with just your art for over twenty years is a big deal. But before that, I was talking about having thousands of followers on multiple social media platforms. Or I was talking about ten years being a full-time artist.
It was always these numbers, and I hate that that is the way that we think of value in our society. And I know that I’ve tried to pull away from that and tried to find other ways to talk about the value of what I do. But for the next twenty years of my career, I want to make a special attempt, like really focus on not doing that—not emphasizing ranking and statistics when I talk about the value of what I do.
Instead, I want to emphasize that my art has depth. It’s made with the intention of starting conversations, getting people to pay closer attention to themselves and to each other, getting them talking about important topics—stuff that’s too often overlooked. I’m talking about copyright and whether or not it’s actually beneficial for creativity or for individual artists. I’m talking about the queerness of the natural world. I’m talking about immigration. I’m talking about mental health. I’m talking about tyranny and fighting for democracy. I’m talking about the beauty of tiny everyday moments and the revolution contained in that beauty.
If I had to come up with one simple phrase that could replace a statistic in someone’s mind when they’re thinking about my work, it would be this. It would be that my art is about savoring: there’s a depth to it, a thoughtfulness. And my art is also about saving the world. That conversation that I talk about fostering, that’s connection, and connection is the only thing that’s going to save us.
So my art is about savoring and saving.
Art is the love of other humans made tangible across space and time. When a person can’t get a hug from a friend, art is there to make them feel seen and understood. Please share my work with your favorite people!
Maybe this post made you think of something you want to tell me? Or perhaps you have a question about my art? I’d love to hear from you!
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