John M Davis

I’m getting into this topic via this pollination metaphor for no better reason than we have bumble bees living under our back porch. Unlike honey bees we don’t have to worry about them building a giant, wax, metropolis in our walls and generally speaking, they’re disinclined to sting. We coexist peacefully plus bees are cool and we need ‘em you know, to survive as a species. But I digress…

As Kevin Fellows and I often discuss on the Time is Right podcast, artists do like to network. I’m not very good at it, but I do like sharing and discussing music making with other musicians. Music scenes, artist collectives, writing groups, &c., online and off are excellent ways to share ideas, learn a thing or two about craft, or just be supportive of one another.

But I want to talk about another type of networking. Not exactly bees but, one of the benefits of social media, perhaps one of its few benefits in these days of corporate enshittification, is we artists get to meet other artists with whom we would never otherwise cross paths. We get to meet artists outside our disciplines, outside our “scenes”, and outside our demographics.

In addition to musicians, I for one have a lot of writer friends online. As an instrumentalist, my work doesn’t intersect with poetry and prose in the same way that say, singer songwriters do. That said, my music is inspired by ideas and emotions. Those ideas percolate through and settle into the cobwebby cellar of my brain when I ruminate on the things that inspire me. Visual arts, film, photography are all big sources of fuel for me. Reading though, non-fiction, novels, poetry, short stories… that goes straight into my veins. So does coffee but that’s for another post.

This effect can be subtle and tangential too. I’ll give you a specific example: recently, I finished a piece for my album-in-progress and gave it a working title. I have to do that because titles like “Sketch 1” or “Feb 21 25” really don’t help me remember whatever the heck I was thinking about when I pulled that music out of the cobwebby cellar.

For my title, I picked a line from TS Eliot that kind of worked and fit more or less with the theme of the album. It gave me a hook to remember what I was going for. I knew this wasn’t going to be the final release title. Using an obscure literary reference from someone who is well known for intricate and obtuse literary references seemed a little precious but as a place holder, it worked. So, composition complete, into the done pile with its dumb name.

Fast forward a few weeks and I read a piece by my friend, writer Tiffany Sanerd on Bluesky. Her piece totally resonated and centered on an obscure Welsh word that made for a particularly apt title for my composition. Sorry, you get to know the word when the album comes out 😉

So, I immediately stole the word (in the Austin Kleon ‘Steal Like an Artist‘ sense, I’m not a monster) and Eliot got kicked to the curb. Eliot, on the other hand, was a bit of a monster so I’m not too sad to be rid of him. So now the composition has a name all thanks to some lucky happenstance and my friend’s superlative artistry with words. In other words: cross pollination. I’m really beating this metaphor to death, aren’t I?

This sort of non-linear thinking and stealing taking inspiration from other artists is hardly a new concept. What I’m getting at is there is great value in immersing yourself in the hive mind of your larger artist community. When you form your networks, don’t forget to get outside your discipline and follow artists whose work you admire even if they don’t do the same things you do. There are so many artists out there that will be just as interested in your work and will want to creatively steal from get inspired by you.

I focused on social media, but if you’re fortunate enough to have an artist collective in your area, see if you can get involved. Just remember though, don’t be a jerk. To wrap around my opening metaphor, cross pollinating is good, pissing off the bees gets you stung.

Peace.

To check out a sample of Tiffany Sanerd’s excellent storytelling, you can read her story ‘Phil’ at Cosmic Horror Monthly for free!

If you enjoy this kind of topic and want to hear two guys yammer on about it in a podcast, check out The Time is Right wherever you get your podcasts.