The Third Eye Carnival has come and gone and it was fantastic! It was great seeing people I have gotten to know over the past few years through AM Wakeup and meeting some of the Anartists in person. All the bands were great, the art in the Truth Art Show at the Blo Back Gallery in Pueblo, Co was mind-blowing, it was fantastic seeing Vincent Fink’s work up close and personal for his own solo show along with the Truth Art Show (photos and scans NEVER do artwork justice!), everyone was wonderful and my most favorite part of the entire trip was seeing everyone mingling without barriers, just passionate people meeting other passionate people. You can see photos and the Saturday livestream from the event on the Third Eye Carnival page. We all want this concept to spread all over so if you’re interested in seeing something like this in your area go out and do it! And if you do, let me know and I’ll add it to the page so everyone can find one close-by! You can email me at shelly@anartistcollective.com. And if you’re ever in or near the Pueblo, Co area and you dig art stop by The Blo Back Gallery! They also have live entertainment events!
Now that I’m back home from Colorado and settled in a bit, I’ve decided to finally start The Anartist Collective’s Open Mic livestream show! We now have channels on YouTube, Rumble and Odysee. Go subscribe! The concept is based on the NPR Tiny Desk but it will be so much more. I’m inviting all creators on. If you make something I want you on and share with all of us! This is open to musicians, singers, comedians, actors, dancers, anyone that would like to perform. And if you make handmade items, like art, jewelry, weld, herbal products, anything like that, I’m also inviting anyone on to do something like live painting or other type of live demonstration. I want people to share their passions with others and I want to know why people do the things they do and what feeds their passions. And I’m not censoring guests. If someone has uncomfortable opinions on a certain subject that they channel through their art I want to get that out there! I want us all that disagree to connect through the creative arts because once you get past surface opinions there is SO MUCH TALENT out there! I’m pulling from people I’ve known both online and in my personal life which is A LOT and I don’t box myself into one ideology or another. I like hearing different perspectives and I find it fascinating how people creatively channel those feelings. My one rule for the show is don’t be a jerk. I want people to feel comfortable with sharing their opinions and their passions. There’s no division between professional and amateur here, EVERYONE is welcome! And I know a lot of really talented people that would otherwise just be labeled amateurs simply because it’s simply a hobby for them. And everyone develops at different paces, and not everyone is going to be phenomenal right out the gate. I want this to be a respectful and supportive environment even if you disagree on some personal opinion. We all hold our opinions and views on life for deeply personal reasons and I won’t stand for that kind of behavior. This isn’t a censorship thing, it’s a respect thing. Guests will 100% be allowed to speak their minds. Censorship isn’t the only thing that stifles creativity, judgment and ridicule do as well. I’ve lived my entire life within the arts community and have even done some small work as an art teacher for children so I know what kind of environment I’m trying to avoid.
Our first livestream will be Sunday, August 11, 2024 at 9 pm EST and our first guest will be writer Chris Youngblood. I got to meet him at the Third Eye Carnival and he’s pretty dang cool. He noticed that literature was still empty and asked to join the collective and I’m glad he did! His work is beautifully written and thought-provoking. I really enjoyed the conversations we had so I’m glad he’s our first guest! I’m also working on reaching out to other people to come on the show and the invitation isn’t limited to those in the collective but anyone that wants to come on and share! If you have a hidden talent that you would like to share with others and would like to come on you can email me at shelly@anartistcollective.com and we’ll talk!
While all that has been happening I’ve also been adding people to the site and updating some pages with new work. Everyone welcome writers Chris Youngblood and Teace Snyder to Literary Arts, Teace Snyder Films and IRA Wrestling parody videos to Media Arts, El Covid, A Man Possessed and Monkey Revolution Recordings to Performing Arts, and Jeff Madeen, owner of the Blo Back Gallery, emmagineering and Timothy Brown to Visual Arts. I have even more to add and always welcoming more so keep checking back! Some are links to outside sites, most of which will eventually get their own pages, so those will be coming in the near future.
Last but certainly not least, we started a Patreon to help fund operations! I pay for everything out of my own pocket and work on the website myself as well so if you’d like to support operations you can sign up for either our $5 concept supporter tier or our $33.33 art collector tier which comes with a limited edition 8.5×11″ branded print from our Anartist of the Month! You can also support us on The Anartist Collective GiveSendGo campaign or directly through PayPal, Venmo or CashApp. If you’d like to help more directly I’m always open to getting assistance of any kind! You can email me at shelly@anartistcollective.com. And make sure to check out the portfolios for new work!
Keep checking back for more updates because there’s a lot more on the horizon! It’s all up from here!
