Does this sound familiar, Reader?

"I'm not good enough."

"It's too late for me to start."

"What I create doesn't really matter anyway."

If those thoughts crawl through your mind, I want to tell you about Bill Traylor.

Bill Traylor started making art when he was 85 years old.

He had no formal training. He couldn't read or write. He drew on discarded pieces of cardboard he found in the streets of Montgomery, Alabama.

And yet, his work is now considered some of the most important American art of the 20th century.

Why? Because Traylor documented a perspective that would have otherwise been lost to history.

Born into slavery around 1853, Traylor lived through Emancipation, Reconstruction, Jim Crow, and the Great Migration. He witnessed the violent reshaping of the American South and the evolution of Black urban culture in real time. And when he finally picked up a pencil in 1939, he began creating a visual language that captured all of it—the beauty, the terror, the resilience, and the complexity.

His images weren't technically "perfect." They were flat, stylized silhouettes & simple shapes—but they held deep meaning.

Traylor's art was a radical act. In a time and place where Black self-expression was dangerous, where memories of slavery and racial violence were meant to be buried and forgotten, Traylor chose to document his truth.

He drew on trash because that's what he had. He drew in public, sitting on Monroe Street, because that's where he was. And he created a body of work that remains the only substantial visual record by someone born into American slavery.

Traylor died impoverished and unknown in 1949.

But his work? Priceless.

Here's why I'm telling you this:

Right now, we're living through a moment that future generations will look back on the way we look back at the Industrial Revolution. The world is changing faster than it ever has before. Technology, culture, politics, climate—everything is shifting beneath our feet.

And you have a perspective on this moment that no one else has.

Your background. Your experiences. Your way of seeing the world. It's all unique to you. And even if you think you're "not that special" or "not that skilled," remember this: Bill Traylor drew on trash, and his work changed the way we understand history.

Your work matters, too.

You don't need to be technically perfect. You don't need formal training. You just need to start creating. To document your truth. To connect the dots in your own way.

And if you've been waiting for a sign to start? This is it.

Right now, you can get 3 months of Foxsy for only $10. That's access to hundreds of art classes, live Q&As, and a community of people who believe—like I do—that your perspective and your creativity are worth exploring.

Bill Traylor didn't have access to art education. He didn't have a supportive community or fancy materials. But he made art anyway, and it mattered.

You have more resources than Traylor ever did. So what are you waiting for?

Don't let this moment pass you by. The offer ends tomorrow at midnight, and your perspective—your art—is part of history in the making.

Now it's your turn to create something that matters.

Shelby Abrahamsen
Foxsy Co-Founder

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