A Note from the Editor: Anxiety? You are Not Alone

Dear beautiful and bizarre friends,

The December 2018 issue of Beautiful Bizarre Magazine is out now, I hope you enjoy the read! Please allow me to express my deep gratitude to you, our readers, for your support of our independent magazine over the last 12 months, directly enabling us to continue our important work championing the arts, and of course artists whose work often isn’t accepted or recognised by the traditional fine art establishment. This issue for many of you is the last in your 12 month print subscription, so don’t forget to renew your subscription by purchasing another via the shop page on our website. It is through your support that the Beautiful Bizarre Magazine team is able to pursue our passion whilst enabling others – thank you!

Beautiful Bizarre curated exhibition ‘Ephemeral’

The last 3 months have been a whirlwind of highs! I was honoured to be able to present the winners of the inaugural Beautiful Bizarre Art Prize, Daniel Bilmes, Kazuhiro Hori and Olga Esther, their beautiful handmade glass sculpture awards in person at the Ephemeral exhibition opening at Modern Eden Gallery. It was incredibly exciting to welcome so many art lovers, collectors and the participating and non-participating artists to the opening, and of course to enjoy the exhibition with the Art Prize winners whom travelled from Los Angeles, Japan and Spain to accept their awards and exhibit their work amongst 60+ of the best contemporary artists of our time. Seeing all the exceptional work created especially for this the 7th Beautiful Bizarre Magazine curated exhibition was a huge thrill!

Anxiety? You are not alone

Visiting many of the local galleries and artists’ studios in Los Angeles and San Francisco in September was both incredibly rewarding, and a little overwhelming for someone like myself who suffers from anxiety. Sadly I am not alone; anxiety is currently the most common mental health condition in Australia, and the leading cause of ill health in girls and women. The statistics are frightening, but they do acknowledge that we are not alone, even though it may often feel as though we are.

However challenging meeting new people and talking about myself and my business is, my recent trip to the United States bought home how important it is to connect on a personal level. We are such technologically connected creatures in this modern age that we often forget the importance of personal interaction. This is how true relationships are created and cemented. It is, however, difficult for many creatives, including myself. We have to push ourselves outside of our comfort zones to socialise in large groups, then go up and talk to that person/artist/gallerist we admire without appearing like the mad “fan girl”. But it is through these personal connections that we create supportive networks of like-minded people, as Redd Walitzki so beautifully puts it in her interview in the December 2018 issue of Beautiful Bizarre Magazine:

“One of the most important things any emerging artist can do is to find a creative community to work within and be inspired and encouraged by. An ‘art family’ understands and shares the impulse to create, and can help sustain and inspire you to new heights.”

So as you immerse yourself in the experiences and stories of 40+ creatives inside issue 023, with Miss Van’s challenging and evocative contemporary take on the iconic ‘Madonna with Child’ on the cover, take a deep breath and consider how you might meet other likeminded passionate people who understand your creative journey, and through this form real human connections.

Much love xo

Danijela Krha Purssey, Editor in Chief
Connect with me on Instagram @danijelakrhapurssey

Feature image: “Even when we’ve taken the sea and the sky, what then” by Kit Mizeres