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By Lisa Crothers, July, 28th, 2014

How do we spend wisely considering factors like: a still unstable economy, sky-high gas prices, droughts causing food supplies to increase – only to name a few things here. We still want to make investments and decorate our homes, so what can we do if we cannot head to Christies and bid on that Monet? As patrons of the Arts and Humanities commitment and investment are the grounding principles. A few years ago when I became invested in the arts community, I took down all of the “reproduced art” in my living space, recommitting myself to original art. My walls are still pretty bare, but the satisfaction is in knowing that over the years, piece by piece, careful selection by selection, I will have invested in the arts and the economy.

What does that have to do with Investing?

Invest in local art!

It goes back to spending wisely. Investments in original art can often bring in a nice return. I am pasting a link here for a great article written in The Telegraph – “Investing in art: how to make money by discovering the next Monet”

Where do I find artist to Invest in?

Finding artists can be easy if you know where to look. Finding art you love and can see sustaining itself in the future takes more time – but you can do it. A great place to start meeting artists is local art shows and festivals. Artists love to talk about their work and want to sell to people who care about their pieces; they want to know their work is going to a good home. You also want to invest in artists who care about their work and who you know will be making art for a long time.

One one my favorite places to meet artists is the famous Art Walks. Cities large and small across the country have established calendars and galleries who participate in such events. Many times the displaying artists can be found enjoying the positive energy.

A great Art Walk I have mentioned on this site before is the First Friday Art Walk in Portland, Maine. This Art Walk tends to be more like a festival with different types of music on street corners, sidewalk art sales and refreshments in many of the participating galleries. What you will also find at the August 1st Portland Art Walk is Art at The Constellation Gallery, 511 Congress Street Portland, Maine – by a spectacular artist worth investing in:Ramona du Houx

RAMONA DU HOUX takes photographs with a painter’s eye. The technique she discovered in 1979 uses the camera’s motion to create a sense of being personally closer to an object through colors, textures, memories, and the seasons by capturing the energy of nature. People, animals, building, landscapes … literally everything becomes visibly interconnected as they merge in, what she calls, a Lightgraph. Gallery Storks of Tokyo, Japan, represents Ramona’s work. She’s exhibited her fine art photography internationally and in cities along the US Eastern seaboard, including New York.

“The Greek philosopher Heraclitus wrote, ‘You can’t step into the same river, twice.’ Today, most of us are too busy to contemplate how much nature’s motion surrounds us, or is within us. We don’t normally see how interconnected rhythms of nature are apart of us. Modern society plugs us into the Internet, and that can open doors, but sometimes too much of being Internet connected disconnects us from the mysteries of the natural world that can be transformational. Scientists, innovators and inventors throughout history took the time to observe nature and her interconnected rhythms,” said Ramona. “I would like to show how nature’s interconnectedness can lead us to discoveries about our world and ourselves.”

Lisa Crothers is an independent community educator, passionately advocating for the arts & humanities. She teaches courses in both English and the Humanities at the higher education level. Her ongoing insights about Maine art can be found here.