Be A Kind Soul

This past Saturday I attended MiniCon through Landmark Academy. Stanley has been a huge supporter of my work and I am always grateful to give back to the program he has helped build. To see it grow over the years from the school gym to the rec center is so cool. If you are in the Denver Metro, especially in the Commerce City/ Brighton Area I highly recommend following this event because it will only continue to grow each year.

I did not sell at this event, instead, I gave out a ton of zines and stickers, and it warmed my heart at how many young people grabbed the Be Kind sticker. One, in particular, said "I'm going to take this one... I'm a kind soul"

Recently I have been getting the strangest reactions to my freebies as if it is such a foreign thing to give away things without an ulterior motive. Given the capitalist society we have grown so accustomed to it’s easy to understand why. And while my art drops do give me guerilla-style marketing I really wanted to dig a little deeper as to why I love doing free art drops so much. As a kid I LOVED hiding things, finding things, scavenger hunts, puzzles, and making handmade gifts for people. Some of these things fell off as I got older because I was told over and over again that I had to make money and of course, people became too cool for scavenger hunts. But the last few years of forcing myself to just play in my art like a kid I am remembering all the things that brought me joy. Every day I am trying to incorporate those things into my art and art drops are kind of a way back to my roots. I have received such amazing messages, emails, and pictures from people who found my work and how much it meant to them and that is exactly why I do it. People often say that giving away free things devalues the rest of your work but I think that is absolutely untrue. When my time ends on this planet I will know that I made a ripple of kindness that will be invaluable.

So I hope that we can all learn from that young human and BE A KIND SOUL.