ART & LIFE COACHING BLOG

Today, after removing the front wall, the collaboration blossomed into something really beautiful. It was like the gallery took a huge breath of air and sunlight and opened its heart to us. ​

​Why is it essential that you are making your art now?
And why it is so darned hard to do it now?

Have you noticed that there is a lot of crap going on in national politics right now? And that it causes fear and anger and that it is easy to feel dis-empowered and disheartened?

​There is so much that can be overwhelming and cause us to stick our heads in the sand. Better than pacing around the kitchen fuming and not knowing what to do.

I don’t know about you, but I have been carrying a lot of extra tension and anxiety feeling like I am not doing enough and I have no idea how to take it all in. I do not want to live a life of anger. I did that in my 20’s and I made a conscious choice not to live that way. So now what?

This is the thing, as artists and creatives, we have two essential roles to play:

We nourish the soul- our work nourishes the soul. Our souls individually, but also the souls of the people who connect with our work, and by doing that we are nourishing the soul of our culture.

And we speak the truth- the difficult, unclear, complex truth that underlies all of the words that are being flung around.

When we do our work honestly, we are giving voice to the very real but inarticulate places in our being, the places of complex and challenging paradoxes that need growth and healing. By falling in love with those places- caressing them into visual form, we are bringing compassion to them and it is compassion that is the beginning of healing. And boy does our culture need healing right now!

We are in a time of fear and anger. There is massive distrust happening and being fueled by certain politicians. We are losing sight of our shared humanity.

Fear is not a healthy place to live, nor is it a wise place to base our actions and words. When we are in fear we can only see the surface of things, the simplistic versions of us and them, right and wrong, perpetrator and victim. When we are in fear we are not able to move with compassion and love, and we make the divisions deeper. We aim at retribution and punishment. Is that really what we want?

In order to live in a culture of compassion and healing we need to do our art work. We need to speak the truth with concern for the well being of the entire community. We must let ourselves tap into the creative unconscious, muck around in the unknown, unclear stuff of our collective unconscious, and draw out those most needful truths. It is essential that we bring all of our love and patience to this work. And that we do the work of getting it out into the public sphere.

Let me just say that I understand that this is vulnerable work. When the whole world wants us to act now, when fear and anger are pushing on us, to take the time to dwell in the not-knowing seems like inaction. It seems selfish. It seems too darned slow.

And yet we need to do it. We need to nourish our souls by being present with our very particular sense of what is compelling, and we need to allow time for the discovery of truth. Our very particular truth.

The hardest part of this is trusting that you have something of value to offer. When you allow yourself into that place of not knowing, are you really going to be able to find something in there that is worth it? Do you have anything to say? We doubt ourselves. Of course we do.
 
In order to do this work well, you have to let go of the surface knowing. And when you are in fear and anger you cling to what you think you know- clear, simple, didactic things that other people are telling us is the truth. It is the nature of fear and anger.

Our job as artists is to put those things that we think we know off to the side, and tap into a place of deeper knowing- a place that has no words and speaks in the subtle language of color, shape, texture, rhythm and line.

You will know it when you are getting there. You have been there before. You will recognize that place of quickening, of deep connection, of oh my god did this come out of me? It is a humble feeling even as it brings more confidence and clarity of self.

We do not need to make overt political art work in order for it to be of value to the culture. We need to make work that brings us back to our shared humanity. Maybe it is overt political work, and maybe it is a reminder of the beauty that we live in- a respite from the anxiety and fear- a place of gratitude and nourishment that helps ground our audience in the love and compassion that is so essential to healing.

Or maybe it is playful and light, another way to open the heart. Maybe it articulates the pain or disquiet of the inner being, and brings a sense of awareness and compassion to it.

Art functions in so many different ways, and you really do not need to know ahead of time what your intention is. All you need to do is let yourself be in the process.

It may be that on Monday you need to nourishment of yummy beauty and on Tuesday or later that afternoon, or a month from now, you are ready to let that anger and frustration come out with clarity and purpose. We are complex human beings- we have a full range of emotions and they are all real. We need to express all of it in various ways.

And others, (think of all those people who do not know how to access that deep creative place) need to be moved and challenged and held and nourished by your work. You need to find a way to let it be seen. When you are ready.

So please, Keep making art! 

If this speaks to you and you would like to know more, please check out my web site, Taproot Arts and Insight.  (https://taprootartsinsight.com) I am a coach for artists who want to make work that matters and I work with individuals and with groups. I am also available for speaking engagements.

And please help me spread the word by liking and commenting and sharing!!

​I want to talk about the conflict of making art from the heart and trying to sell it. Or the perceived conflict.

If you are reading this, you are probably like me in being an artist who tries to make work that is real to you- that touches you on a deep or tender level. Art that is swimming in your own very particular sense of beauty and may be at the edge of your own discomfort- in the very place of your own growth and healing.

If it is working, it is powerful and beautiful and raw and very vulnerable stuff. And often it feels like you are not sure what you are doing or how to do it. It is not easy and for the most part- you have no clue how to talk about it- especially to someone who might have a wallet with money in it!

How are you ever going to be able to bring that vulnerability out to the world? The very thought is enough to make you go running for cover- blankets and teddy bears and all. And yet somehow there is an urge to share it.

I am thrilled to say that I am featured in the Hampshire Daily Gazette today in the Art Makers column!
You can see the article here.

I am reflecting on why it was such a good thing for me to do this in- case you need a nudge to go ahead and reach out to your local paper and see if there is a simpilar opportunity.

1. Fun- I have to say it is really fun to write about and reflect on my art, why I do it, what my process is, where it all came from- it gives me a boost!
2. Validation- there is nothing like seeing your words and your images in print or on someone else's web page! Wow that is powerful!
3. Connection- I made a great new connection with the photographer for this piece- totally unexpected and worth the whole thing! Also a number of folks who knew me a little bit know me a lot better now because of what they read. And from the comments I am getting it feels a lot like there is common ground for us to play with.

Back to you! Have you been featured like this and have a sense of the value of it? I would also love to read your comments about the article itself- did anything I say touch something in you?

Ahh- its over! I had a wonderful time connecting with the people coming through- some old friends, some new. In fact there were a couple of people who I had not seen in 25 years! What a gift. I also had a chance to connect to older work and to see it all together in a way that never happens when I have shows in galleries. Very cool. And eclectic. The piece you see in the slide show that has two views is one that I did before grad school- so probably 1992 or 3. I was thrilled to see it again- and inspired to work with that idea again. I love the way light plays on it. 

So I am happy to have my studio back- the work tucked away- the beautiful cloth folded in its box and my tools available. I have started to take photos for etsy (this is going to be a long project- not a one fell swoop like I thought!), make pots for a firing in December, and create 5 x 7" sculptural wall pieces for the December small works show at Gallery A3. It feels great to be actively using my new studio.

I had been wondering whether it would be worth all the work to do this studio sale- and as I think about advice I might offer in this regard- these are the things that make it worth while:
1. Validation- letting my community close at hand know about what I do. It feels really great to be seen as the artist that I am, and not just as my daughter's mother (though that is still my most significant role). My identity is filled out a bit and validated. 
2. Connections- I have no idea what will come of this, but I had the strong sense that the conversations with people were equally important to the things I sold. I feel very inspired to follow up on the leads and directions that were offered.
3. Activating my studio- getting the energy of affirmation in my studio feels good- makes it a juicy place to work
4. reacquainting myself with the breadth of work that I have done- I can feel a creative stirring and churning going on as I enter a new phase in my creative life- this feels like a kind of marker and portal.
5. Community- I am so lucky that when I put out the word in the local list serve that I was thinking of an open studio event and wondered if there was anyone else who wanted to do it with me, 4 fabulous women artists responded. We have so enjoyed working together that we now have a name: The Shutesbury Arts Collective. And we are planning to keep working together to produce open studio events and other things as yet defined. I needed a community of artists and what a great way to invest in it!