Shake Your Moneymaker for Audre Lorde

For me that means shake my creativity up until it overflows! That IS my moneymaker. My ability to think beyond what I see. Then there is the flip side of that creative coin...It always amuses me when I tell someone my prices and they start to negotiate. The price I gave was not a suggestion! Either you can afford me or you can't. Who goes into a major store and negotiates for a better price? You pay the price and keep it moving. So why are artists & creatives expected to accept willingly less than what they feel their value is worth?
"So why do individuals think they can pay me less than what I request AND be ok with it?"I am valuable and so are my creations...


Only I can determine my value. Audre Lorde said so: "If I didn't define myself for myself, I would be crunched into other people's fantasies for me and eaten alive" and TRUST me when I say I define and redefine as I see fit. That includes me asking for payment to match my expression.
I have taken time, money to grow my gifts. I have made sacrifices and concessions to stand in my talents. I have stretched my physical and mental capacity to put my creativity out in the world in a powerful way. I will not yield to anyone seeing me as less.


#Kottaveiinflux #KottaveInResidence #CreativePeace #BlackWomen #SacredSpace #Dreams #IncubateGrowEvolve #MoneyMatters #AudreLorde

All The Light You See Is Me

I considered all forms of light trying to turn them over in my hand. Hold them. Touch them. Make it something containable. I let go of that ideal and chose to embrace a new one. The light is not external. I AM the light I'm trying to hold onto. I can hold the warmth of the light in my hand, but it will never be mine to fully have. Light is meant to be shared. Now replace the word light with the word art.
"I have to see darkness to understand the value of my light" We are alive & tethered to the universe.
How can we not be stars? And Moondust? And earth? And water? I choose to stand and acknowledge the light I am through the vehicle of creativity. Me in my making is the gift I give back to the universe. Lately while birthing this new creation of the artist in residence, I've been neglectful of my art practice. My heartbeat and pulse are dependent on my ability to create even if for myself. Going forward from today I plan to reclaim my own sacred space within and allow what is alive in my spirit to come forward as new artwork.

#Kottaveiinflux #KottaveInResidence #CreativePeace #BlackWomen #SacredSpace #IncubateGrowEvolve

Fuck Fear. It has no Place Here.

Being afraid has never stopped me from pursuing my dreams and making them reality. I would rather try then fail hundreds of times rather than never try at all. To try and fail is cool. I call it winning or learning. But to not try at all ensures that failure is imminent.


"I will always believe in my dreams whether anyone cosigns or not. My vision is not for everyone"

I believe in writing it down, dreaming about it in my sleep then speaking my dreams into the wind with only me and the most-high to hear. I need to see what my goals look like in my mind's eye. I need to smell the smells and hear the whispering of how I want my dreams manifested.
When I decided to create a space for me to create, I didn't have it all figured out...I still don't but what I know for sure is this is happening. I am in the business of giving and I intend to stay that path. That doesn't mean I don't have moments of fear or doubt, but I use those feelings as kindling for the fire...pushing me closer to the reality I imagined.


#BlackWomen #kottaveiinflux #TheBusinessOfGiving #FuckFear #artistinresidence

​Sprinkle A Little Magic Dust On Your Own Life

​You Are the Magic You've Been Waiting For
I've always believed in magic. I looked for it outside of myself for many years. Was magic under the sofa? Was magic in the sky? Was magic in the person standing next to me? What I found was magic flowed from me out into the world through my artmaking practice. I was able to transform one thing into something that others wanted and wanted to see more of. I WAS the magic I was seeking. My creative self-wanted to transform, and she did! At 7 a cardboard box became a doll dreamhouse with a working elevator. At 13 a word became a poem. At 40 my house became a home. On the other side of 50 my dream space for creative giving is a reality. It is within me!
As I lean deeper into who I am becoming...while enjoying the journey instead of hard, determined destination... I am journeying well. You are here. I am here. Let's make magic together.

#Kottaveiinflux #KottaveInResidence #CreativePeace #BlackWomen #SacredSpace #IncubateGrowEvolve #Magic

I'm a Black Woman and That's Enough

Why do some take flight and others are left on the ground creatively? I always look to the sky I and consider the birds. Soaring. Taking flight. Streaking across the open sky. Free. But every bird isn't meant to fly. There have been times I felt left on the ground...

"I felt like I was born with wings of a bird and built them into the strength of a phoenix"Look at Penguins, Ostrich, Kiwis and Emu...none of them fly and yet hold important space in our ecosystem.
Being a Black Woman is a superpower in itself
Time spent not making art, doing shows, being anywhere important with the art spirit sent to me has felt like lost time and creativity. I realized I was not ever really meant to be a bird of flight that we could see in the sky.

I am more imaginative, wild free and not of this world. I am more phoenix with bold, imagined wings lighting the sky. Other days I am Icarus with my made wings flying way to close to the sun. On any and all of these days I'm expressing my superpower because flight is always a given to Black Women.

#Kottaveiinflux #KottaveInResidence #CreativePeace #BlackWomen #SacredSpace #Dreams #IncubateGrowEvolve #flight #Icarus #Phoenix

Look Straight Ahead Into the Light
​We all have those creators we admire...but let yourself be first on that list.

Be Blinded By Your Own Light
What if I asked you to name your favorite top 5 artists. How long would it take you to say your own name? While I don't love every work I create, I'm in love with the process of making and often the final outcome. I stand in my own light. Bask even at times. Dance in it. Run freely through it. I believe in the power of going forward...We know light and darkness cannot occupy the same space at the exact same time so as creatives we can choose.

"As artists it's hard not to look left or right to see what your peers are making artistically but what if we took that same effort and looked deeper inside our own practice?"

There are both historic and contemporary Black Women artist I admire deeply. I've followed their journeys and they do not have a clue as to who I am. My name would never ring as familiar BUT I feel part of a family with them. Journeying with them. Watching them grow, develop, cultivate & bloom. Watching them stand in their creative truths, walking closer to their own light gives me strength and fortifies my efforts.

#Kottaveiinflux #KottaveiInResidence #ArtmakingPractice #BlackWomen #BlackWoman #IncubateGrowEvolve

Black Women Hold Up The Sky For One Another or H.U.T.S

I surround myself with women who are magic. Literally magic. How Can I say this? I can because sometimes just having the boldness to BE is magic enough. The women I have chosen to sit with me along this journey are varied in backgrounds but women who have garnered a level of love and respect beyond expression.
“I know Black women who have done the undoable with such grace that others forgot it was thought to be beyond accomplishment.”I created antonym based on my experiences and interactions with other Black Women: H.U.T.S. Black Women Hold Up The Sky for one another. Some days I take my hands down and another woman keeps the heaviness of life from falling down on me. I do the same.

We Are the Space We Need
I have found that being surrounded other creatives, especially women, especially Black Women allow a freedom in me that I don't get anywhere else. Black Women always feel like home. Warm, intuitive, innovative and free... I've found that though we create tangible sacred spaces in kitchens over tea, in libraries surrounded by books, bedrooms fluffed with pillows and aromatic flowers, these are not the only sacred space. Black Women ARE the self contained sacred space carried within ourselves. I am not the sacrifice as the world would have me believe. I am the altar. Creativity is my offering.

The women I choose to surround myself with hold up the sky for one another and dare to dream dreams bigger than others can bear to hear. 

#Kottaveiinflux #KottaveInResidence #CreativePeace #BlackWomen #SacredSpace #IncubateGrowEvolve

What the fuck are you waiting for?
How many times have I waited to begin a new endeavor until the time was just right? There are better times to begin but why not now? Why wait until tomorrow? What the fuck am I waiting for?

“How long should I wait to live a fully realized, purposeful, creative life supportive of my dreams”Growth cannot wait and neither should you!

Stop Talking Yourself Out of Your Dreams
I am the queen of jumping off a cliff then building the parachute on the way down. I've failed more times than not, however, I didn't see them as failures. I either succeeded or I learned. Even with suffering from imposter syndrome along the way. I am a extremely organized visual artist. What that means while my right brained creativity is flowing freely like a tsunami so is my left brained unreasonably organized logic. Talk about chaos! Over the years I've learned to make the duality of my creative thought and scientific processes friends who have occasional arguments then make up.
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#Kottaveiinflux  #CreativePeace #BlackWomen #SacredSpace #Dreams #IncubateGrowEvolve