It was a hectic hullabaloo of panties, ponies & bulbous probosci.

Dreadfully beautiful.
Exquisitely hideous.
So frantic, I could barely breath.
And sublimely, unmistakably Frank Gaard.

I was standing in the center of the Poison & Candy collection at The Walker Art Center in Minneapolis. A worshipful curation of Gaard’s work, from his early days at the Minneapolis College of Art & Design, to his Art Police cult ‘zine years, to the present.

Brazen fluorescents. Wide, leering grins. Buttons. Celebrities. Mayhem.
Did I mention panties? LOTS of them.

After spending a handful of minutes in the exhibit, I felt certain that I’d be able to recognize Gaard’s work anywhere. Forever. Even with a mild concussion.

And as I drifted glassy-eyed & stupefied through the neon maelstrom, one thought throbbed in my head, in my heart, in my everywhere . . .

I want to be THAT unmistakable.

UNMISTAKABLE . . .
Like the lilting songbird serenades of Alison Krauss.
Like the gravely poetry-rumble of Leonard Cohen.
Like the clean-swept temple-step prose of Danielle LaPorte.
Like the lurid, fatally-beautiful fashions of Alexander McQueen.
Like the ethereal, other-worldy creations of Luxirare.
Like the lift-you-up-and-keep-you-twirling textiles & patterns of Jessica Swift.
Like Oprah. Like Wagner. Like Ellen. Like Poe.

When we’re making & sharing & selling our Art —

(by which I mean, our ARTful skills, programs, products, books, events, retreats & other vocational magnum opi)

– there are several questions to consider:

Is this crucial?
Is this useful?
Is this profitable?
Is this my highest work, made tangible?
In 1, 10 or 100 years, will it matter?

And then, there’s the oft-ignored question we’re (just a bit) frightened to ask:

Even without my name attached,
will this be UNMISTAKABLE?

Something to dream on / cry about / pray into / work through.
Oh unmistakable You.

xo.

And now, a brief word from our sponSOAR . . .

Boring fonts. Stock photography. Sludgy graphics. Broken widgets. A tiresome template.
Five things that make your website or blog . . . well, less than unmistakable.

If only there was a wham-bam-thank-you-LORD WordPress wunderkind who could dive in, dredge through the mess, and make you simply . . . sparkle. For (way) less than you’d spend on a full-tilt website makeover. With a whip-crack turnaround. Le sigh. If only.

Ah, but there is. She goes by Erin Wigger, and she heals sick & sniffling blogs as her top-secret alter-ego: Your Blog Doctor. Graphic design, photo editing, mailing list de-snaggling & html code de-tangling — she’s a veritable panacea of web design prowess, with a rock-steady work ethic to boot.

Who doesn’t need some fast-acting digital TLC? Get your prescription, asap.