Perseverance in a weak economy

With this economic crisis looming over us craftspeople, i'm thinking about business survival over the past 30 years. The late 80s were the heady days of craft when I could sell ANYTHING I made, and for a good price. Then a recession came during the early 90s and everything plummeted. I was fortunate to be living in Turkey at the time because my husband, Dave, had a job there so I was not as affected as my artist/craftsmen friends. But, the best craftsmen survived.

We just kept making things, selling them the best we could and we survived. The reason is that we persevered. There is nothing like perseverance when it comes to art and fine craft, in the midst of economic downturns, in the midst of creative blocks, and in the midst of getting rejected from shows we always used to get into. The best craftsmen persevere, and maybe it kicks them in the butt in order to do a little changing and growing as well.

So even though I may not make as much money now as I have been in the recent past, I will persevere. And I will continue to strive for excellence, not dumb down my work to make it more "saleable". "There is always a market for excellence" I read once. I will persevere and continue to make excellent things to the best of my ability.