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I just finished my new artist statement for the Paradise City web site- it should go up within the week- and I will put in the link when it does. But I could not help myself from sharing because I am so tickled about it!
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In this workshop we will explore open ended and compassionate creative process inspired by the juncture of the body and psyche. We will visualize, move, create and share. Wear clothes that are comfortable for moving and bring journals and art materials. I will provide clay and some markers and paper. This workshop is a preview to the fuller series that I will be offering in the fall. It is perfect for
Scout and I had a great conversation about what is going on now and how the work that we do addresses it. I hope you enjoy it and please let me know what you think!  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.  So you are grumpy- the to-do list is long and boring and never ever done. And you have the "I Want"'s- that nagging feeling that you want something but you can't figure out what. Somehow nothing seems easy- like there is just a lot of resistance going on. You feel pretty distant from your creative practice, and you are eating far too much of the wrong things!
If this is you- or if you have known this feeling- try something for a minute. A quick visualization. Get yourself seated comfortably and let your eyes gently close while you take a couple of deep breaths.  Have you ever felt that sense that you are a fraud? For creatives this is a normal part of the creative cycle. And it can be very painful, but it does not have to be.
It is very common after a period of creative activity to feel like a fraud and a dilettante- The voice in your head starts berating you with things like, "All these fabulous ideas are silly and they are going no-where." "You do not have what it takes." This can spiral into a real morass of self-pity- as you look around and feel completely isolated- you have been so caught up in your own thing that you do not feel your sense of connection with anyone. You start telling yourself that you have been a self-centered egomaniac and everyone has gone off to enjoy each other and ignore you. Ouch this is painful! Am I going over-board here? I may be stating it rather strongly, but for many creatives, be they small business owners, artists, writers, musicians it does feel like a seriously painful roller coaster. First of all this is a normal cycle for a creative person, and maybe in-fact for all living beings- it comes with the territory- like the phases of the moon or a woman’s cycle- the tides- the seasons- there are times that are full of growth and potential, times of flowering, and times to drop the leaves and go inside and recoup.
I wrote this article for the Psychosynthesis Northeast Community Newsletter and I thought I would share it here. Mucking Around in the Darkness by Valerie Gilman  I am a potter and sculptor and I have loved teaching those those things for many years. A number of years ago I started hearing the words “art as a healing process” in my head, and as I left academia I have been on a quest for what I am meant to do with that.
A few years ago, when looking for a coaching program, I discovered Psychosynthesis and I could not imagine a better fit! With two years of study and developing my coaching practice, I have been thrilled by the similarities of the work to my own creative process. It is the sense of discovery and allowing or trusting that everything we need is all there inside us already- we just need to make space to see/hear/feel it. When I make sculpture, I begin with a sense of not knowing and let myself follow what is intriguing in my hands. I try to stay in the not knowing as long as possible so that my thinking function does not take over and show me something that it is already comfortable with. The Shutesbury Artists' Collective is 5 women who have gotten together to support each other in our creative work. Three of the Five of us were interviewed on TV the other day in prep for our May 13th open studio event. click here to get to the show!  |
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