Flow

The year so far has been a time of flow, a time to let my attention wander freely without the pressure of shows, focused projects or too many deadlines. With all this open space I have managed to create a nice balance between work that has a specific purpose - licensing projects, commissions, etc. - and work that doesn't have much of a function beyond the creative process itself. For the latter, I am simply doing the work that moves me, trusting that I will eventually figure out where it might go beyond my studio. It feels incredibly indulgent to be able to devote so much time to all this loosey-goosey creating of Things That May or May Not Ever Earn Me a Dime, but this is where I need to be right now, for at least a little while longer. The softer and more open I can stay while I allow myself the luxury of this inward, experimental time, the stronger the work I eventually put out in the world will be.

On any given day:

I am working on four mannequins, each with their own story, texture, look and palette.

I am finally finishing a huge mixed media piece on a 60" x 48"wood panel that has gone through who knows how many layers and mutations over the past two+ years.

I am writing, writing, writing, and also starting to send out submissions for publication. I have written about a breeze, a moment by Squam Lake in New Hampshire, Henry Darger, Tokyo, saying good-bye to my grandma and a stack of letters I received from a California prison back when I was running Swirly. Some pieces have gone through two handfuls of revisions and some haven't been touched in weeks. It is like any other creative endeavor - every once in a while I have to let a piece sit still in order for it to evolve quietly.

I am reading, reading and reading: May Sarton, Natalie Goldberg, The New Yorker, John Updike, Sloane Crosley.

I am pondering what kind of Sophie Calle-esque experiential creative project I might be able to do...what would keep my interest and how would I document it?

I am also working on our backyard, trying my hand at - I'll put this in quotes - "landscaping", which so far hasn't involved much more than digging up dead, overgrown bushes and plants and laying down topsoil. I don't think it is some crazy coincidence that I am in the process of such intense unearthing in my backyard at the same time as I am unearthing so many memories and experiences in service to my writing.

I don't know whether to say I am flitting around like a butterfly or curling deeper into a cocoon - both metaphors are apt. Perhaps I ought to say that somehow, in the magical little universe I call my imagination, I am flitting around within the walls of my cocoon. Letting myself travel around freely within a cozy, confined space, keeping a few secrets, refusing to let too many people in.

"Help us to be the always hopeful
Gardeners of the spirit
Who know that without darkness
Nothing comes to birth
As without light
Nothing flowers."

-May Sarton

Comments

Thanks so much for sharing about your creative process. I am trying to find a new "flow" to my writing and art, and I love to see how its going for people a bit further down the path than me. See you at Squam?

Posted by: Emme | March 05, 2009 at 09:55 PM