Gayle Ferguson has now adopted out all of the five kittens she rescued from a petrol station, and was sad to see the last one, Hoover, go. But they all got good homes. Kudos to Gayle for taking care of five tiny kittens (while she had two of her own, as well as another adult foster cat), rearing them all to healthy maturity, and finding them forever homes.
And. . . we have news and photos of the first one to be adopted, Jerry Coyne the cat, whose avid fans span the globe. One of his staff reports from he new home (“Loki” is the other cat in the house):
Jerry now rules the roost! Bosses Loki around and sleeps on our bed at night. Still suitably cautious of the chickens but chases them anyway.
Getting bigger and bigger but still very cute and cuddly with the loudest purr.
And, now that Hoover has found a new home, here’s the posted Gayle used to advertise her availability:
Finally, Henri Le Chat Noir returns with his ninth video: “Blight of Spring”.
Am I mistaken, or are Henri’s videos going downhill? If so, I attribute to his having sold out to commercial interests.
I think this one is a bit disappointing. The idea was an amusing conceit to begin with, but it has not really sustained repetition.
A more recent and updated picture and adoption notive for Hoover: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10101153641006585&l=c27bc19706
I never cease to be amazed at how people with jobs expect artists to work for free, and to give it away for free.
It places an unfair burden on people who have talent and want to make some money to pay for their equipment or other supplies. The non-creative public have no idea how much it costs in terms of time and materials to make artwork.
I’m sorry but I meant that comment to be directed at the criticism of the Henri video creator. In the heat of the moment I was too quick to reply. This is an emotional issue for me. My apologies for not being clearer.
A few follow-up facts for those who are interested in what a self-employed artist has to deal with.
Self-employed people have to pay for their own health insurance, usually at much higher rates than companies pay for employees’ health insurance. My health insurance is 27 TIMES what it was 15 years ago!
Self-employed people have to pay TWICE the social security tax that employed people pay, because SE people are both employer and employee. That amounts to 15%.
There is no unemployment benefit from the govt. when a SE person loses cannot work. If the artist is not married, he has no backup income.
A self-employed person has no pension plan from an employer. He must figure that into his prices.
Artists are hit up to donate all the time and a carrot of “oh, it is deductible” is constantly dangled by the people asking for the free stuff. Fact is, the LABOR involved in making a work of art is NOT deductible — only the materials and supplies are deductible. See here,
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/28/arts/design/28kino.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
An artist who is selling artwork to the public gets judged every single second whether the artwork is worth it or not, and many people who had no contribution to its creation are very vocal about it. Even for a $10 sale.
When an artist puts, say, paintings, on consignment, in many states the paintings are considered property of the gallery or store owner if the gallery files for bankruptcy, regardless of any consignment contracts. I once had two paintings in a gallery that closed, and she managed to sell them at regular price beforehand. But she didn’t enter it into the books properly, and so six mos. later I got a letter from the lawyers handling the closure stating that if I had the paintings, I needed to return them to the lawyers.
So yes, if the guy has employment for his art, all the more power to him.
I have no problem with artists wanting to get paid for their work. I was once a self-employed writer, but I couldn’t make it work and went back to my day job. Today much of my time and income goes to support a large arts organization that employs dozens of dancers, costumers, and scenic artists.
However I would have a problem if, say, my favorite novelists were to start writing product placements into their books, or pimping out their most memorable characters as spokespeople for commercial interests. At that point the relationship has changed, and I’m no longer the customer; I’m just a set of eyeballs to be resold to the highest bidder.
An artist who disrespects me that way does not deserve my respect, and can, I think, legitimately be said to have sold out by turning their fans into fodder for some side deal that the fans neither consent to nor benefit from.
Greg, I don’t think one should lose respect for an author if they do something to ward off poverty or some other problem. You don’t know their personal situation is. I don’t think they owe us any more than what we got when we bought an item.
And in this case of Henri, I never paid the creator any money for watching his cute videos which made me laugh, so I don’t have much right to criticize what he is doing with his life or skills or job. I am grateful for what I got buy why demean the guy by using the pejorative term, sellout.
I’ve seen the term sellout a few times lately on various websites, and it seems to be mostly with regard to artists. Why does society place such a burden on creative people to make everyone else happy, but not the artists themselves? JAC used the term sellout in a post when Henri’s creator first became employed, and it ticked me off then. I recently became aware of an artist who called himself a sellout because he didn’t work at it fulltime, but had to hold a job to pay the bills. Now, that is not right that he would beat himself up so.
What does it say about internet society when we are quick to criticize a person like Henri’s creator who gave us nice stuff for free for a while –but now wants to use his experience–his resume, in a way –to pay his bills.
As for your last paragraph, well, farcebook and other social media data collection sites are already using fans to make money for certain people (promoters), lots and lots of it. There was a PBS Frontline on that topic. Can’t remember the title.
The PBS Frontline program I referred to is called “Generation Like”, in case anyone reading this wants to look it up and watch it.
Jerry’s starting to look like a little Dennis the Menace:-))
Yeah he does have that kind of glint in his eye! He looks so adorable. I love sassy animals and he seems to have a lot of sass & spunk. Just so cute!
I was thinking “Fat Freddie’s Cat”
Jerry the cat seems to develop a mane… fluffiness galore!
Aww! Jerry is adorable and looks very happy in his new home. He reminds me of my cat Pumpkin. And I’m so happy Hoover now has a forever home. She is a little beauty. Kudos to Gayle for her foster mom talents!
Thanks, Gayle, for all your hard work, and congratulations on successfully adopting out the entire litter!
…even though I’m sure your house seems a bit empty now….
b&
Thanks Ben! Yes. Empty. I am supposed to be starting the “big clean” this weekend but so far have not even been able to bring myself to dismantle the set-up in the kittens’ bedroom!
Well…you could always…you know…foster another litter….
b&
I’m going down to ChCh in 3 weeks time and will be visiting little Jerry in his new home, so there will be lots of new photos to follow!
Yay!!! And maybe videos!!!!
Hooray!