Entering a new piece of art can be tough - especially for those creatives who have some experience. You want it to be good. And that gets in the way of the open play necessary if you want to dive into something new.

There is a sense of permission that we need to give ourselves to make something that is not all that good. Or maybe even really bad. You have to risk the unknown - and sometimes it will surprise you in a really great way - and other times not so much. That is ok.

So you can see in the video below that I revel in the process of slamming and shoving - a very physical way of entering a piece - which allows me to skip entirely that pristine white canvas or paper or page or space. 

And I can slide seemlessly into pushing the clay around until I find something that is intriguing or catches my attention - and then I slow down and start to dance with the clay. 

What I said to my co-working group (I had started this process in a co-working session - look for a link below - it is a wonderful group!) is that I had started with "I don't know how to do this" and gotten all the way to Ugly. This is a place I celebrate because it is a way of entering and really being open to discovery - there is absolutely nothing to lose - nothing precious. So I have complete freedom to create. 

This is all in service of staying in the not knowing as long as possible so that I can invite the creative unconscious to play. Only later do I figure out what I have been up to and what it all means to me. 

There is a message that we get as creatives that in order to sell well we have to have a singular voice, a brand that is recognizable. Ok- it might be easier for people who are getting to know your work to recognize you, and it might make people feel more comfortable with that sense of recognition. But it does not serve the world and it does not serve your own creative exploration to limit yourself.

We all have very different sides to us. It would be disingenuous to limit yourself to only one part of yourself in your creative work. It is like the woods I was walking in in this video, where it had recently snowed: it looked very different that day than the day before, expressed itself differently, but was in fact the same patch of woods that I know and love. It changes with the season, with the weather, with the quality of light and with time passing and parts growing and dying. As do you and I. We are affected by all the things happening to us through our lives, and we naturally express ourselves in a variety of ways.

The thing is that our audience needs the diversity of who we are because they too are complex beings. Our integrity and authenticity in this is a gift to them. It does not serve anyone to stay small.

I say go ahead and do all of your work and when it comes time show it, create the record, put together the look of poetry, create an exhibit, you can curate a unified body of work and talk about how of the pieces fit into a whole in your writing. Trust that it will be naturally unified because you are a whole person and all of the parts of you fit together, all of what you are learning and growing with fit together. You may not know how they do while you are making them, But when you look back over time, the connections are going to be the key to your greatest learnings.

I would love to know your thoughts about this idea- have you felt the pressure to limit yourself? What is your experience and what is your fear? Please comment below!

Warmly,
Val 
PS if you know anyone who could benefit from hearing these words, please pass this along or share it in any form you have!

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​​There is a deep need I have in this time for quiet, for reflection and peace, but not as an escape. It is more a way to let in what is happening in the world and be with it.

​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.

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 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 good news is that you have been getting into the studio and making work, at least some. You are trying to get your creative work moving again and you have decided to go ahead and do short, quick studies- what I would call doodles. The key is that they are low pressure things- throw away work, nothing serious- just a way to get the juices flowing. I will talk more about this process in another post.

The bad news is that when you walk away from it, your inner critic starts yelling about how stupid it is, and how scattered your ideas are, and how you have no discipline or direction and you are never going to amount to anything as an artist. Ouch. It is hard to keep going in the face of this!
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I don't know if it really helps to know this, but it is completely normal. I go through cycles of this as does every artist that I know. And it can be very painful.

As frustrating and painful as it is, what is going on here is really good stuff!