180205 The icky feeling of exclusion 

Curious about Hatchfund today as I studied the project by Barbara Noah, I went online to see when my $30 contribution would be deducted from my account. My account is down to less than $30 at the moment, so I don’t need any withdrawals without taking some money out of my SS income and Pension.

Since I stopped working as a Halfwood Press Finisher and order fulfillment man, I must watch my bank account closely as there is no press income for me! I’m scrambling for a few dollars to avoid overdrafts and Barbara’s project has less than a month to mature. I promised $30.

There are other unfilled obligations on the horizon. One of my unfinished projects is the Ed Raub etching press, an venture I took on last October when I met Ed and found out that he is not only a carver he’s also a printmaker and well-educated in his native arts. He happens to be skilled in entrepreneurship as well. In all, he’s a remarkable man.

Barbara’s imminent success with her project funded partially by Hatchfund made me think I should consider this crowdfunding platform instead of those I already considered: GoFundMe, Patreon and others. I discovered Hatchfund has two curious features: funds are considered donations to a non-profit and are therefore tax-deductible and, two, only approved artists qualify.

I can understand the tax-deductible feature (despite that the minimum tax deduction for people in our income bracket is far higher than the sum of contributions) but the approval feature gave me an icky feeling: I’m probably not qualified.

Qualification requires approval by at least one of 143 arts organizations. Online I scrolled down the list of organizations and I didn’t see any that would approve me because, with the exception of my being a member of Artist Trust in Seattle, it’s unlikely that I’d qualify.

That’s a funny feeling, an icky feeling of exclusion, like not being member of a labor union or a card-carrying member of anything.

There’s hope, however, because several organizations are listed for which Ed Raub would and he could have his own Hatchfund project. This way he could be reimbursed for the time he’s already given to the carving and painting of the “Canoe” etching press.

It’s a funny feeling of being excluded from Hatchfund because I’m not an approved member of any arts organization’s panel of experts. I’ve had the feeling before.

Writing my autobiography, for example, I tell how – as a fat, clumsy kid in junior high I would be among the last in line when sides were chosen in PE games. Then there was the time when I was a young art professor at the UW and fighting for my academic freedom. In the end I gave it up, partly on the wisdom of Chief Joseph: “I will fight no more, forever.” I learned from Stephen Hazel when I asked him about the name of the workshop he founded, the Nez Perce Printmaking Workshop.

I found an article from 2009 about Stephen’s work in Olivet, and it mentioned his Seattle time and the Multicom organization. Listing the participants, my name was excluded. Again, an icky feeling. I wonder if there’s something endemic about organizations that in order for them to exist, there have to be other people who are excluded.

There’s a joke, “We learn from the mistakes of other people. Some of us have to be the other people.”

Where I go from here, I don’ t know. It’s an icky feeling; I share it with many people.