BY ANNETTE MAKINO, TIMES-STANDARD, EUREKA, CA, JUNE 27, 2021

Humboldt County is known for two things: redwoods and cannabis. Color us green! But we have another, less famous distinction: more artists per capita than any other county in California. Perhaps it’s the natural beauty that inspires so many artists. Or maybe it’s the acceptance of nontraditional lifestyles. 

But what does it take to survive as an artist here? When I first became a working artist 10 years ago, mixed media artist Claire Iris Schencke told me, “Humboldt is a great place to be an artist. It’s just not a great place to sell art.”

On the plus side, we have terrific support for artists. For the visual arts alone, we have a rich ecology of groups like the Humboldt Arts Council, the Ink People and the Redwood Art Association. 

There are artist-run cooperative galleries in Eureka, Arcata and Trinidad. Local events like Arts Alive!, North Coast Open Studios, and arts and crafts fairs help connect artists with the community. 

Our cities have made a point of supporting the arts: witness all the murals sprouting in Eureka and beyond. The City of Arcata’s draft Strategic Arts Plan has a goal of making Arcata affordable for artists.

On the minus side, unlike big urban areas, Humboldt doesn’t have a lot of “high net-worth individuals,” aka rich people, who can afford to buy original art. That is even more true since cannabis was legalized. (Of course, we artists deeply appreciate it when someone of modest means chooses to buy a piece they love.)

Even before the pandemic, many of our local galleries had closed, including the Piante, Black Faun, and First Street galleries in Eureka and the Mateel Gallery in Garberville. This is part of a discouraging national trend.

The hard truth is that very few Humboldt artists, no matter how skilled, can support themselves by selling original art. Some have related income from grants or teaching art; most of my art income comes from cards and calendars of my work. Other artists live on day jobs, rental or investment income, or a supportive partner. 

A conundrum for artists everywhere is that to be financially successful, an artist needs to be savvy about business and self-promotion. This is not necessarily their strength. And a morning spent on marketing is a morning away from the studio.

Well-known Arcata painter Alan Sanborn mainly sells watercolors from his home, by word of mouth. “I’m not very good at business; I’m just really good at painting,” he told me recently. “I could have been very good at business—as long as I didn’t paint.” Aye, there’s the rub.

So why do it? Why try to survive as an artist when there are far easier ways to make a living? 

Well, the rewards are priceless: to have the freedom to express yourself. To create something of value that no one else could create. And to share that vision with the world. Libby Maynard, Executive Director of the Ink People, puts it well: “If you’re an artist it’s a calling, and if you don’t make art, you go crazy.”

So despite the challenges of the business of art, I believe that along with redwood forests and cannabis farms, Humboldt will always be rich in artists.

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Annette Makino offers art, cards and calendars of her work through local stores and at makinostudios.com. Her new book, Water and Stone: Ten Years of Art and Haiku, was just published by Makino Studios.