I feel like I'm cut off from my peers.
There are artists who are chummy and there are artists who are not. I'm not particularly chummy but I nevertheless feel as though I want to be more connected. It is not that I feel I am stagnating work-wise, but perhaps I feel too isolated. I'm not sure what I need to do, what kind of 'society' I need to join. My main problem being that I don't enjoy social clubs or feeling as though I'm a part of a group who excludes others, so I tend to avoid groups in general. I sometimes worry that I must be a poor artist, as I am never approached for group projects (save for one, which I am grateful for. Foxfeather, this means you.) I can have strong ideas which I express openly. I wonder if I chase people away with these or if I am just so far off the radar.
I wonder if there are any other artists out there who want more peer relationships but who also don't want to get involved in politics. Sometimes it seems like all social circles are political bodies. What I'm getting at, I suppose, is that I crave, not necessarily personal relationships, but meaningful relationships with other people (artists specifically, or I should say art relationships specifically). The political relationship is more often one in which someone might say: Oh yeah. THAT artist? We're cool. We hang out ALL THE TIME," in order to increase one's social standing. I don't dig those.
Is there a place, some kind of forum or community, where people can just make and discuss and love art together? Hopefully one with a relatively mature atmosphere? Useless drama is another reason I avoid social groups (on the net, at any rate). It does not have to be anthropomorphic/fantasy/scifi-specific, however, I think I might confuse people if I begin talking fantasy illustration in a 'room' full of traditional landscape painters who appreciate and understand only landscape painting.
I wonder if there are any other artists out there who want more peer relationships but who also don't want to get involved in politics. Sometimes it seems like all social circles are political bodies. What I'm getting at, I suppose, is that I crave, not necessarily personal relationships, but meaningful relationships with other people (artists specifically, or I should say art relationships specifically). The political relationship is more often one in which someone might say: Oh yeah. THAT artist? We're cool. We hang out ALL THE TIME," in order to increase one's social standing. I don't dig those.
Is there a place, some kind of forum or community, where people can just make and discuss and love art together? Hopefully one with a relatively mature atmosphere? Useless drama is another reason I avoid social groups (on the net, at any rate). It does not have to be anthropomorphic/fantasy/scifi-specific, however, I think I might confuse people if I begin talking fantasy illustration in a 'room' full of traditional landscape painters who appreciate and understand only landscape painting.