Dear beautiful and bizarre friends,
The release of the 22nd issue of Beautiful Bizarre Magazine is a mere days away now, and I am so incredibly proud of this issue! Proud of the brilliant and inspiring artists whom I have had the pleasure and honour of working with, who bravely share their creative souls with the world. Proud of the work of the writers and contributors who so eloquently share the artists’ stories and voices with you and, of course, proud of my hard working and passionate team that help me bring each issue into the world and into your hands.
Do you find it easy to look at your accomplishments, your work, and feel proud? To see the true value in your contribution to the world? The difficulty we find in feeling that what we do is enough, that it is valuable and worthy, is what I would like to address in my missive. I would like this latest note from the editor to be my message of hope and resilience to the arts community.
Issue 022: Cover by Camilla Rose Garcia
In my Letter from the Editor in the coming September issue of Beautiful Bizarre Magazine I raise this same subject. Over the years I have had many artists say to me “I will never be as good as so-and-so”, “why do I bother when “so-and-so ‘s work is so much better than mine”. I understand these feelings, it’s so easy to compare our skill, our progress, and our achievements to others and feel we are lacking.
As an entrepreneur and small business owner I often read stories about “overnight successes”, and it would be so easy to feel deflated about my own journey and the time and devotion it has taken to get to this point. Running a successful business can be a huge challenge sometimes. In the past, one of the biggest battles I faced was staying on top of our utility bills. Fortunately, I discovered energy supplier comparison sites like Utility Bidder that make it easy to compare several different energy providers at once. Making sure your business gets the energy it needs at an affordable price is so important. However, I recently read an inspiring article about another Australian female business woman who started her own boho jewellery line. In the article she mentions that it took her 20 years of hard work and sacrifice to be an “overnight success” in the eyes of the media. So let this inspire you also, take heart, don’t give up your own creative journey! You can only do as much as you can to promote yourself. Be sure, if funds allow, to enlist the help of places like this Chester SEO company to boost your presence even more, and, most importantly, know that every artist whom you admire has worked for many years to develop their practice and to hone their personal style and narrative. It certainly didn’t happen overnight! So you too, with much practice, sacrifice and dedication can be just as good and just as successful as those you compare yourself with, if not more so! It is also my hope that in some small way Beautiful Bizarre Magazine and our tribe also inspires you to pursue your artistic dreams, and enables you to feel supported and championed in the arts community.
So where do these kinds of thoughts come from? It’s that nasty little voice in our heads that tells us we will never be good enough, that everything we do isn’t enough, isn’t right etc. Our negative thoughts can often be our own worst enemy, sapping our self-confidence and our joy in life. They are our inner critic. However we all have the power over our own experiences and emotions.
When this negative self-talk begins, remember the Cherokee Legend ~
An old Cherokee is teaching his grandson about life. “A fight is going on inside me,” he said to the boy.
“It’s a terrible fight and it is between two wolves. One is evil – he is anger, envy, sorry, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, and ego. The other is good – he is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion, and faith. The same fight is going on inside every other person, too.”
The grandson thought about it for a minute and then asked his grandfather, “Which wolf will win?”
The old Cherokee simply replied, “The one you feed.”
Artwork by Caitlin Hackett: “The Howling Ghosts”
This is a lesson to always hold front of mind, because whatever self-talk, whatever thoughts or opinions you “feed” will flourish and manifest in your life. I understand how difficult this can be, I personally suffered clinical depression for years in my early 30’s. Sometimes even medication is required to quiet these negative thoughts and feelings, there is no shame in this! However, we all do have the power to choose to banish those negative thoughts, so let’s begin with no longer comparing ourselves to others.
The above quote by Theodore Roosevelt, “Comparison is the thief of joy” resonates with me personally, and I hope it does with you too. Let us feel the pride, the pleasure, and the joy in our achievements! Look closely at your journey thus far, the obstacles you have overcome, and feel proud of your achievements and excited about what the future holds for you. Know that “you’ve got this”.
I personally have achieved much that I am proud of since my last email to you, for which I am deeply grateful! It has been an incredibly busy and exciting quarter.
Beautiful Bizarre Magazine Art Prize: 1st Prize Winner, Daniel Bilmes
Beautiful Bizarre Magazine Art Prize + ‘Ephemeral’ Exhibition
I was deeply honoured by our community’s interest in the first Beautiful Bizarre Magazine Art Prize, focusing on contemporary art across all styles including realism, pop surrealism, lowbrow etc. in all traditional mediums. It is clear by the number of entries received that this Prize is needed by our community and I am so pleased that Beautiful Bizarre Magazine was able to fill the gap and acknowledge the plethora of artists globally whose work focuses on the figure.
The three amazing Winners, Daniel Bilmes [USA], Kazuhiro Hori [Japan] and Olga Esther [Spain] are currently working on their paintings for the Beautiful Bizarre Magazine curated exhibition ‘Ephemeral’ which opens at Modern Eden Gallery in San Francisco next month. ‘Ephemeral’, my second curated exhibition at Modern Eden Gallery, brings together 70 of the world’s best 2 and 3 dimensional artists, whom have explored the theme ‘Ephemeral’ through a lens that resonates with each individual, their experiences, thoughts and feelings on the world and society today.
If we truly look and see the diversity and fragility of life, take to heart the transient and fleeting nature of existence, it is our hope that the hearts of all people will be moved to appreciate how precious life and love is, and how very important it is to walk lightly and in harmony with the earth, its creatures and each other.
Detail of Kevin Peterson’s work for ‘Ephemeral’. “Black”, 2018. Oil on panel, 16 x 24″
I love the exhibition curation process! Seeing each artist’s work progress over the last few months has been a real joy. I can’t wait to reveal all the incredible completed works next month. If you would like to receive a collector’s preview, please do email Gallery Director Kim Larson directly at [email protected], she is happy to help.
All three Beautiful Bizarre Magazine Art Prize Winners will be attending the opening reception! I am very looking forward to presenting them with their beautiful handmade glass sculpture trophies, commissioned from local glass artist Kier Lugo, on the evening. Many of the exhibiting artists will also be in attendance, so if you are in the area, or if you have a dragon you can lasso [or plane you can catch], please do join us – I would very much love to meet you in person and share the special evening with you.
I am also thrilled to share this additional wonderful news with you first! All the Beautiful Bizarre Magazine Art Prize Finalists, Honourable Mentions, and Winners have been invited to participate in a special Art Prize exhibition at Modern Eden Gallery in January/February next year. The Beautiful Bizarre Magazine Art Prize exhibition is in addition to the original Art Prize “prize pool”, and provides yet another vehicle for Beautiful Bizarre Magazine to provide these artists with additional exposure, promotion, and of course the opportunity to exhibit at Modern Eden Gallery. We will reveal more about this exciting exhibition soon!
After the overwhelming success of the inaugural Beautiful Bizarre Magazine Art Prize we have already begun the planning for next year’s Art Prize. I am super excited to reveal that we will be accepting entries from digital artists and photographers as well next year, along with traditional artists. We received lots of inquiries from digital artists and photographers this year so have gone out of our way to meet the needs of our community of creatives more broadly next year. Stay tuned for more information about the 2019 Beautiful Bizarre Magazine Art Prize, the timeline, award categories and of course the prize pool as we get closer to the new year.
Issue 020 & 021: Covers by Del Kathryn Barton & Malcolm Liepke
I am also very proud to say that we have sold out of the March and June 2018 issues! If you are looking for a copy of these issues, please do contact our fabulous Stockists, they may have a back issue or two lurking about. Of course the best way to ensure you never miss an issue again is to Subscribe! If you haven’t yet purchased a 12 or 24 month print subscription and would like it to begin with the September issue, with Camille Rose Garcia’s dark and trippy work on the cover, please do so quickly before this issue also sells out. You can of course pick up a copy from 1 September from our Stockists worldwide.
The September issue of Beautiful Bizarre Magazine is being shipped out from our US Distributor, to all our stockists, subscribers and customers that have pre-ordered this week! We LOVE our readers! So please do share a pic of your copy on Instagram and use the #IamBeautifulBizarre hashtag so we can find and share your snaps on our stories.
In closing, I would once again like to sincerely thank our new and existing print subscribers, we would not exist without you! So thank you for your support, it means the world to us!
Much love xo
