given the time you need

a good adventure - mrl 2010

I spend a lot of time on the internet looking at the work of other artists.  I can't say whether this helps or hinders my own work, but I do find it fascinating and engaging and I love to see the different perspectives people are presenting.  Today I found myself engrossed by a project by JP King called Free Paper, which asked "participants to examine the way in which we mediate our lives – either through money, objects, people and work – and most often all four of these themes." 

I'm often interested in how people choose to spend their time in the world, be it creating, investigating, documenting, researching, teaching, managing, selling, socializing, worrying, transporting, or, say, putting bread on their cat's face(really?  I mean really? Yes, really).

In fact, I find I'm thinking about time quite a bit these days.  I recently re-read Borderliners by Peter Høeg - a truly wonderful book about education, time, and awareness told from the perspective of a young boy.  Also, I'm in the midst of teaching a felting course to senior citizens and they are in turn teaching me a significant amount about people, time, and the power of a good attitude.  Some days I can muster a really great attitude and am met, in return, with exactly the time I need to accomplish everything.  Other days it's harder, and time behaves either like a weight you drag around by your ankles or like a wild animal you can never quite catch. 

Right now I have a deadline, a big one, staring me down.  In such instances time becomes a creature you must somehow win over, somehow gain as an ally.  How am I accomplishing this daunting task?  By procrastinating of course.  Writing artful letters to strangers via sendsomething, trying out a new wine, playing music, watching movie trailers, writing this blog...I can't explain it, but I know that through some alchemical reaction, these things actually will lead to eventual inspiration, and to me having productive days in the studio later this week.  That in order to have the time I need, I must not look directly at it.  Time, like so many other precious things, is easily spooked, prone to galloping away.   

planets hiding behind the sun

what we found - mrl 2010

Tonight my partner & I treated ourselves to a double feature of Melancholia and the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity (award-winning commercials).  The commercials were the perfect antidote to the first film which has some, let's say, heavy themes.  It was about, among other things, the end of the world, and many of the short commercials were about rebuilding, about the human spirit, and about saving the world.  Of course, they were using these uplifting themes to sell a product or a service.  But lots of food for thought about the times we're living in.  Who can say what the heck will happen next.  We have to do our best and trust the process.  Be kind to each other.  Help out when and where we can.  Always be generous of spirit.  Love our lives.  Learn as much as we can from it all.

I love my job.  I love my life and all the amazing people I get to spend it with.  I have to say, as much as it is a struggle sometimes working for myself in a highly competitive, tenuous, uncertain field, I would not trade it for anything.  I don't make as much as a lawyer, for instance, but I will one day.  You watch ;)

charlottetown morning - mrl 2010

I've been asked a few times recently about 'how one goes about working full-time as an artist' and while I'm just getting started on this road, I thought I'd post some of what I do, which can be taken either as hopefully-helpful tips for fellow artists, or as info for the curious. 

First of all, you organize yourself. You need this organization because you will be doing a ton of admin work on top of your beloved studio work.  You constantly research submission/exhibition opportunities.  You subscribe to mailing lists, blogs, anyone who is compiling said opportunities.  You support fellow artists when you can.  You discern and prioritize and then submit to everything on your priority list.  You surround yourself with people who uplift you and make you laugh so you don't go nuts.  You spend time with other artists.  You teach.  You network.  You blog.  You use resources that are available to you.  You are professional and reliable.  You edit your work so that it is always improving.  You get perspective.  You diversify.  You specialize.  You take courses and workshops and grow your skills.  You do residencies.  You volunteer.  You sit on boards of arts organizations.  You get involved.  You focus.  You go to galleries and other artists' openings.  You put your self-doubt aside and get out there.  You put your ego aside and let the quality of your work speak for itself.  You promote yourself.  You learn to talk about your work in a way that is accurate and insightful.  You say yes when opportunity comes knocking and if it doesn't, you go after it.  It takes an immense amount of energy, so you make sure you get a good night's sleep :)

ain't got time to get the blues

twin shores, PEI - mrl 2012

 

You must concentrate upon and consecrate yourself wholly to each day, as though a fire were raging in your hair.  - Deshimaru

January is one of those months:  there isn't much light, we're all starved for Vitamin D, everyone is in hibernation mode, it can be kind of a downer.  After spending a few winters in the southern US, I realized that this 'January blues' effect happens whether or not it's cold & snowy.  It happens in warm climates too, only you have nothing to blame but yourself, which is worse - trust me.  So maybe we all need the downtime.  Maybe the communal suffering makes us just a little more compassionate toward each other. 

north shore, PEI - mrl 2011

This year I feel pretty fortunate to be so busy that I have barely had time to notice the spin of the earth or the overcast skies.  I'm working on a couple of shows - a group printmaking exhibit (opens January 20th) at Gallery 78 in Fredericton, NB, a solo installation show (opens March 16th) at the UNB Art Centre, also in Fredericton, and a crow-themed group exhibit (opens on February 16th) at Details Past and Present Art Gallery here in Charlottetown. 

I just started taking a painting class (I've been in withdrawal since I graduated!  Give me assignments!!) with Henry Purdy, who is a true Master of his craft & a wonderful teacher.  I'm playing music once a week with some friends & getting really uplifted by both the company and the music itself.  And today I began teaching an 8-week felting course at a Senior Citizens' day program - there are some wise-cracking guys in the group, which I adore as a character trait, so I think we'll all have a good time together ;)  Felt is a material I really love working with & I'm thankful to have the opportunity to share it with these folks!

But let me level with you:  the real reason, at the heart of it, for my chipper attitude is that I have begun (and am now in week 2) of the P90X program.  That's right, I'm doing it.  It's an intense workout and a full diet regime, and I feel fantastic!  Sore, yes, but fantastic.  Ten years ago this year I quit smoking after 11 years of about a pack & a half a day.  I had had fluid in my lungs before I finally decided to quit.  Now I can run for an hour straight, and I'm doing this training program.  Exercise will make you feel great, no doubt about it, but the link between quitting smoking and doing this program is something else, and that is where I find my true center & my true strength.  Self-discipline.  It took me a long time to get the hang of it, but now I know it to be the most powerful force there is.  It is a force that requires regular maintenance, but the return is outstanding.


Everyone has been made for some particular work, and the desire for that work has been put in every heart. - Rumi

and then it was 2012

view from my studio in 2011 - mrl 2011

I can remember a time when I thought we'd never make it to 2012.  Before the year 2000 - Y2K - it seemed like things were going to veer off course for the world in an irreparable way, with technology crashing to a halt and the environment melting like it was in a microwave.  Yet, here we are, another year with its arbitrary Gregorian number.  At the beginning of this new millennium, 12 years ago today, I was waking up groggily in a tent in a field in the Big Cypress National Preserve in the Florida Everglades after watching Phish bring in the new year and being filmed from above by news helicopters covering the biggest Y2K events.  Today I woke up happily in my bed next to my fiancé, got up to make coffee, and wandered into my studio to see what the news of the world was and marvel at the still-green grass outside.  

No question we're living in some crazy times; unpredictable, volatile, percolating times.  I feel incredibly blessed to be able to live where I live and how I want to live:  on a beautiful island in the Atlantic ocean with a peaceful atmosphere surrounded by people I love.  To be able to live here and be working as an artist; to be able to live in a creative way with minimal stress - I am aware this is a luxury, a blessing, and I am thankful for it every day.  


As this is the Year of the Dragon, I'm getting ready to implement some serious routine & discipline into my work and my life.  I'll be starting a lot of new projects, including P90X, so I'll be needing all the belly fire I can get to stay focused and keep up.  Happy New Year - may all these blessings shine on you.  

It's not a new one, but here's a song for the day - from the late great R.L. Burnside: