Tuesday, November 6, 2012

There's Still Hope

Here is a repost from likeafieldmouse:

Late Bloomers of the Arts

For all of you who’ve felt even for a second that it’s ever too late:

1. Charles Bukowski had his first book published when he was 49

2. Leonard Cohen was 33 when his first album was released

3. Marina Abramovic’s career as an independent artist wasn’t solidified until she was 42

4. Julia Child’s career started when she was 36

5. Van Gogh started drawing when he was 27

6. Monet painted Sunrise when he was 33, but wasn’t producing his best work until his early 40s

7. Kazuo Ohno started dancing when he was 27

8. William S. Burroughs had his first novel published when he was 39



Monday, November 5, 2012

Inspiration

I've been thinkging that maybe I need to try a new approach for either my art practice or for writing or anything that I want to be good at. This Maya Angelou quote is pretty inspiring. “What I try to do is write. I may write for two weeks ‘the cat sat on the mat, that is that, not a rat.’ And it might be just the most boring and awful stuff. But I try. When I’m writing, I write. And then it’s as if the muse is convinced that I’m serious and says, ‘Okay. Okay. I’ll come.’” — Maya Angelou

Wednesday, October 17, 2012

A Continued Work, but New: "Save Yourself: Relay"

The beginning of this month in October I headed to NCY to present a new project, which was actually a continuation of a body of artwork I developed during my graduate studies called "Save Yourself." I was invited to participate in a performance and installation festival called "Art in Odd Places," which is an annual event. This year it took place along 14th street in Manhattan, NY.
Over the course of the 3 days that I performed I learned a few things that were important. 1. If performing for consecutive days, have more than one set of cloths for costume 2. Each performers location requires a slightly different set of movements 3. Each performance gives you different gifts 4. Starbucks are great dressing rooms 5. Remember to eat before a performance and drink lots of water 6. Improvisation is a life saver 7. Performing with other artists around is fun 8. Meeting other like-minded performers / artists is great! 9. Make a rain-day plan 10.When in doubt, just put on the costume and wait for the performer within to kick in

Creating Accountability

Around this time of year I start to think, where did this year go. It has know been almost a year and a half since I graduated with my MFA in Public Practice, and I am certainly still figuring out my practice. I have been busy since then, but still need to create a tempo and brand to my practice. I began thinking today about how much time I spend planning as an arts administrator. I was staring at my white board ( the type divided up into 3 months) in my office thinking, if only I could do this for myself, for my art practice. I have yet to implement any of this, but I think I'm on to something with the goal planning. While I know that I will not be able to plan my creative moments I can give them opportunities to emerge, as well as a timeframe. My hope is to create a set of goals for my practice and a timeframe to create more respect and accountability for my practice. I sometimes talk myself out of opportunities thinking that its not important enough, but if I could treat it as important as a job I think I would have some more productive results. I think this will also allow my to accept my practice for what it is: small and quiet. To this, I need to decide if this is indeed what I want. In conclusion, I realized that I am spending too much energy on things that are not that important to me, while I have other areas (all be it, not income streams) that are being neglected. My hope is that this will in the long run encourage me to create more work (or even just create more consistently), and allow me to enjoy other areas of my life without feeling guilt ridden or resentful. Now to work on implementation.