an ode to women's history

welcome to our march newsletter, and happy women’s history month! this month, we’ve taken a moment to celebrate women across the web3 ecosystem along with one of our own creators, anna scarr (read on for her feature).

we’re seeing and celebrating a ton of fresh art minted this month, highlights from our nyc cs fair exhibition, and the launch of our protocol’s whitepaper :)

we want to thank you for your patience as we’ve experienced a heavy surge in minting gems, which is causing transactions to process slower. this, combined with high activity across solana’s ecosystem, has made for a less seamless experience than you may be used to with us.

thank you again for all of your feedback and for continuing to test and learn alongside us as we work to scale the platform.

lot’s on the horizon!

with love,
primitives

it’s impossible to share all of the incredible gems minted but here are a few ;)

collect a featured gem and then make your own below!

check out new galleries curated too!

recapping the 2024 computer science fair 🖥️

meet creator: anna scarr 😻

read the primitives protocol 📝

this past tuesday we exhibited at the computer science (cs) fair in nyc hosted by gotham gives :)

hundreds of students minted artwork for the first time while learning about web3. it was an honor to share our mission of accessible crypto amongst the next generation alongside coinbase, uniswap, and zora.

year of the cat: art by anna scarr

the year of the cat (artwork by anna scarr) began for anna following the 2020 covid lockdowns. she used this time as a domestic renaissance, investing her creative energy into learning how to draw, paint and use procreate. still in its formative years, the year of the cat collection now features hundreds of pieces of art portraying the familiar with fantasticism, in a style marked by both ferality and finesse.

what is the biggest challenge of being an artist? how do you deal with that?

financial/ career insecurity. crying.

tell me about your art and process! 

i don’t think or plan before i draw or paint. i’m empty, yet these interconnected concepts consistently shine through - frivolity, familiarity, and femininity. my health and happiness also depend on visual perceptual breaks - i’ve only found this type of relief while making art.

i’m equally fascinated by efficiency, architecture, and engineering. i portray these concepts as whimsical, soft, and organic. if history is a series of reiterated arcs, everything i’ve ever created is nostalgic and a little nihilistic. pretentious hypothesises aside, my cats and pretty things make me happy. 

where did your style come from? how did you cultivate it? 

i draw and paint automatically. thus, my artistic style is dictated by consistent data patterns in my long term visual memory. 

what do you love about pursuing art? 

pursuing a career without a playbook has forced me to improvise, pivot and take risks. i love when i feel proud of myself. 

where does year of the cat come from? 

it’s a two-part answer.. 

year of: year of the cat references the time i spent with my cats during covid lockdowns. during this time, i realized the life i was living had not been designed intentionally. i began rebuilding a life i actually wanted. i sold antiques and oil paintings in my etsy shop year of the cat gallery and practiced drawing and painting. in august 2022, my dad gave me an ipad, and i started using procreate daily. i shared my art with the world via etsy and instagram in january 2023. i was also invited via instagram to make a primitives account. i feel grateful that it is now safe for me to have an internet presence.

the cat: cats have thrived to the point that they’re listed as invasive species on every continent except the really cold one. they have never been fully domesticated as they haven’t been bred nor had to naturally evolve to appease humans in order to survive. cats are efficient predators because of many traits that are stereotypical behaviors of autistic individuals. most of my social anxiety stems from being embarrassed of having a different sensory tolerance level than other people. however, the global prosperity of felis catus argues that being a scaredy cat is more advantageous than detrimental. 

lastly, 2023 was the first year of the cat (ever) on the vietnamese lunar calendar. this was announced after i selected the name. speaking of synchronicity/moon stuff, witches and “crazy cat ladies” are female tropes who reject patriarchal expectations. their familiars, i.e. the servants responsible for their acts of rebellion or disobedience, are cats. cats symbolize the domestic sphere and autonomous independence simultaneously. plus, they’re just my favorite little guys.

our mission has always been to build an internet where users own more of the value they create online.

we recently published a whitepaper on the primitives protocol which details our plan to let users own their online social connections in a portable and interoperable way. this means creators will not have to worry about building their audience again every time a new app gets popular.

+ our follow up blog post on what it means to have a portable social graph.

until next time, keep creating and be on the lookout for more updates to come!