A Passion For Creativity

Excuse me while I digress from visual art, again, as there’s the rhythm talk on this blog also. It all started in a fit of studio cleaning with Foreigner blasting from the CD player, fast feet, drumming hands, and singing. Allegedly, also involved was a half a bar of Green & Black organic milk chocolate with peanuts. Fiery energy whirled ‘round the space. Aside from the shoe shuffling, floor sweeping was neglected, but the counters, palette area, and drawing table are cleared, ready to go now.

Creativity all comes from the same place as we are expressive creatures, it just takes various forms. Our human bodies are tools and instruments; from our brains, eyes, mouths, to hands to feet and shaking hips. Exploring all of it is just natural, enhances life and gives me insights for the visual work.

And sometimes, when there’s a snag in the creative process, or when the pipe feels clogged, doing a 180 is exactly what is needed. At times a walk clears the head, or I pull out music, the drum, the guitar, the twinkling toes. It’s a swirling out to the edges process so I can come back to center refreshed.

I certainly don’t consider the other artistic expressions equally to my visual art as the originality is not there. I haven’t given it enough time for that. My art images come from inside of me, from my soul. With music, I’m using the melodies and lyrics of others-a huge difference.

But it’s fun, and so rewarding.

Still, my tendency is to jump into a project with both feet and carry it to a level of resolution. To illustrate how far I took this singing, for instance. I’m sharing my, hang on… Ta Dah!… raw GarageBand version of a favorite song. I actually purchased a mechanical license to make 25 copies (minimum) of this song from the publishers, Harry Fox. For the understanding and experience of doing it, to acknowledge John Prine as the writer of  Angel From Montgomery, and so I don’t have to look over my shoulder. It’s from my album titled: Not Ready For The Big Time. They asked for an album title in the licensing process. It’s so not ready that right now there’s only one song on it.

Angel-From-Montgomery

The next post may be musings on distractions in the studio.

self-portrait collage

“Artist/Woman Thinking About Stuff”

That is, art business, paperwork, facts & figures.

Sorting through a kitchen cupboard, culling long unused, or worn-out pans and utensils, there’s an unfamiliar plastic object. See exhibit A.

Exhibit A

It’s very likely a piece of an appliance, the round part is about 2″ diameter, but WHAT IS IT? Oh, just throw it out!  Yet, what if it’s something important that something else can’t work without. It doesn’t fit on existing kitchen appliances. Now I’m intrigued. How did it get here, did the parent get tossed out long ago?

So I take many photos of it, and post it on my FaceBook page as the “alien object”. One of my helpful friends thinks it looks like a coffee filter part. Then another friend, Shari Downhill, is certain that it’s a wall bracket for holding an immersion mixer. Mmmmm, OK, makes sense! Although not working as hanging device with the mixer I have. See exhibit B.

Exhibit B

It’s definitely “an extra”, but now a compelling extra, having spent surplus energy on it, so now the creative brainstorming kicks in. A resolution is needed before I let it go.

There are sculptural possibilities; the object fitted into a glued construction, white or painted? What about an installation, an old kitchen drawer filled with other unknowns, leftover pieces and parts of appliances and tools long gone-a puzzle to figure, and a comment on our consumerism.

More immediate and accessible are the images, the photos, let’s do something with those.

PhotoShop is my go-to virtual tool. The photos are already on the computer; I cut, paste, reorder, manipulate, and filter. Absorbed with it, often I can’t recall the paths while immersed in the process.  The object takes on a bit of personality. See exhibit C.

Exhibit C

Then, more ideating follows. It’s a logical step take this image and create an ArtiStamp with it since it’s offbeat and the design would easily fit the format.

Briefly, artistamps are faux postage that mail artists create as an extension of their ideas and run the gamut of subject matter. The creation method also varies, from hand-drawn, painted, etched, photocopied, rubber stamped, to the easily created computer/personal printer version. We share, trade and use them on mail art. See exhibit D.

Exhibit D

Designed as a sheet of 24 stamps here’s a close-up.

It’s a fresh January 2010. How do you mark the event? Consider that it’s also a pristine decade, in a way still unblemished with our human strivings.

In nature, time is cyclic. Echoed in celestial movements, marked by reoccurring seasons, the environment returns unto itself.  In our created reality, humans mark time linearly, young to old, beginning to end. Although part of the nature cycle, we mostly define existence as “from here to there”. It’s easy to get caught up in that concept. Yes, and I succumb.

I have a psychological yearning for new starts…the concept of out with the old, step lively into a new scene beckons. The handy symbolism of a new calendar year is a perfect opportunity to mark that crossing.

How do I approach it?

It’s surely an extension of being a visual person, but I constantly seek order, unity, and balance in my surroundings. It’s another composition! And it needs negative space! Clear, uncluttered areas are a place to rest the eye and the mind.

Clutter, stuff, stuff, stuff, it comes into our lives so easily.

My major New Year’s ritual is to toss out, recycle, simplify, reorganize, and renew the scene in our home.

Ahhhhh, room to breathe again!

photo by Sherry Gaskin

From the “make art”  table. One little girl’s version of a prayer flag, sending a positive message out on the breeze.

What have I been up to lately?

Several months back, my friend Elaine across the lake, had a terrific idea about assembling an event celebrating local women artists, and hosting it in her backyard at the time of the Summer Solstice.

Getting involved would distract me from immersion in studio work, but it sounded SO RIGHT, particularly at this point in time, when so much is doom and gloom, and people are holding back. This is exactly when we need to brainstorm, and realize that we possess many resources for creating new directions. Also, it would create a fine venue for art display, which is always welcome, so I committed to the idea.

We discussed the artists we knew. There’s an incredible wealth of female talent in this community in the Fine Arts. Besides, we could identify many cool ladies who would attend and enjoy such an event. As individual artists’ names came up, it was apparent that this could be expanded to include singing, dancing, and poetry, in addition to visual art, creating a balanced day of the arts. This also meant being selective about participants, keeping physical space and time in mind.

From experience, I know that a select group of women can produce a supportive, encouraging, co-operative, and inspiring atmosphere. That was the intention for the Celebration, and that attitude carried through all the planning.

Color framed the day, heavy on burgundy and reds, as reflected by the postcard invite.

photo by Sherry Gaskin

Out  Of  The  Question kicked off the festivities.

Music was by the group Out Of The Question, with Pat Seamount, Katharine Edmonson, and Kris Wilber. What’s more, most attendees contributed their music during a later percussion fest.

photo by Ellen Schafhauser

Keeping the beat with gourd shakers. In the background, art displays line the entry.

Visual Artists participating were Eve Laeger-watercolor, Sherry Gaskin-photography, Elaine Shrader-painting, Ellen Schafhauser-photography, Katharine Edmonson-assemblage, Pat Seamount-painting, Marjorie Carroll-sculpture, and myself.

photo by Sherry Gaskin

Jill shares her short stories

Ann Beman with a poetry workshop, and Jill Sloan reading her short stories represented literature.

photo by Sherry Gaskin

Ann drums everyone in for the poetry workshop.

photo by Ellen Schafhauser

That’s me introducing drummin’ fun.

photo by Ellen Schafhauser

Friends Hannah and Emma collaborate on a frame drum.

photo by Sherry Gaskin

Graceful Heather from Tribal Moon Rising

Day flowed into the evening with individual dance performances by Pamela, Marluna, Ankhet; and members of the troupe Tribal Moon Rising- Heather, Melynie, and Kristie. The grand finale was everyone on their feet dancing, celebrating our common abilities and potential.

The June 26^th issue of the Kern River Courier, page 12, has a lovely article by columnist Donna Fitch, about the Celebration, titled Show fetes Midsummer Moon Art

More than fifty people participated, ages three to eighty seven, to create this feathered 5′ x 36 ” image at the South Fork School Arts Festival. A great mix of individual style. We’ve got color!  This mural and the one from last year remain at the school.

Envision walking through a downtown arts district on a Friday night with open, brightly lit gallery spaces, featuring contemporary art, interspersed with conversation and thrumming music flowing from aromatic coffee shops and ethnic sidewalk restaurants. Sounds stimulatingly cosmopolitan, doesn’t it?

Bakersfield is probably not there yet, but I sure got the sense it’s heading in that direction after reading the Spring 2009 issue of ArtLook, the Arts District and Community e-Newsletter which popped into my mail box yesterday. Designed, compiled, and distributed by my friend, artist/gallery owner Jill Thayer, ArtLook showcases the galleries and the upcoming visual art events in downtown Bakersfield. The colorful, photo-filled, 8-page newsletter spotlights particular galleries and ends with a listing of gallery venues available. You can download your own copy of Artlook on Jill’s site. Oh, and while you are taking in the downtown art scene, don’t forget to check out a favorite restaurant, Mama Roomba, serving Caribbean food.

a clipping from ArtLook -listing galleries.

“Writing on the wall is not allowed here,” said the museum attendant as he walked toward me. “Ahh, but I’m not writing on the wall,” was my response. “ I’m writing on a piece of paper on top of a brochure on top of a catalog. It’s not going through to the wall at all.” “Yes, personally I don’t care, but it’s still not permitted” he replied.

“Ok! Got it. Sorry!”

That was earlier this week as I was taking some notes on a sculpture titled  DYBY, by Magdalena Abakanowicz. It’s part of the permanent collection at Weatherspoon Art Museum at The University of North Carolina in Greensboro. I’d forgotten how much I admire her work, until, turning a corner; I saw it at the end of a hallway in front of a window. Abakanowicz’s style is immediately recognizable to me, familiar. The strength of her work always wrenches my gut. The headless, life-size or larger figures she creates never fail to spark a mental/emotional, questioning inner dialog about our human existence.

What Abakanowicz verbalizes about art and imagination is also notable. Here’s the last paragraph as written on the museum wall’s description plaque next to DYBY.

Interestingly, if someone asked me to list artistic influences, her name would not immediately come to mind. It took seeing her work again to remind me that if my figurative paintings speak  honestly, it’s partly due to experiencing her work.

Come to think of it, how do people come up with those “artists who have influenced me” lists so quickly?  I’d have to think long and hard to put one together. In a way, everything we admire, everything that affects us, leaves an imprint on some internal level.

This image sums up my initial impressions of virtual networking. It’s a digital work I created for Valentine’s Day and sent out. The art is based on two scanned collages, edited, combined, and reworked– layer within layer within layer. Let’s call it digital collage. I love the possibilities and discoveries when manipulating computer imagery. 

Remember the brown lunch bag taped on the back of your desk chair in elementary school on Valentine’s Day? Then on the teacher’s signal we’d all walk around with our fistfuls of heart and cuddly bear cards and play mailman. All the while keeping a watchful sideways eye on that cute kid as he neared your desk to see if he dropped one in your bag. Even then it caused me to ponder what “friend” meant when receiving cards from kids I barely spoke to. “Oh, I didn’t even know they liked me.”  Or not.

Now through artist blogs and virtual social networking sites such as Facebook, I’m connected to close friends and family, but also to people I’ve never met. It’s fascinating. It’s weird. It’s engaging. Once again, it has me pondering what the word friend means. 

The web has redefined “friend”. Plus, I’ve been prompted to brush on my foreign language skills, usually through translation sites such as lexicool.com.  I’m humbled by foreigners’ command of English.

What’s all this rambling have to do with creativity? Back to the image.

mail art stamp created from my collage

The only time I really feel productive is when I’m creating art.

There, I said it!

So much of this art business is…well…business oriented. There is office work: the bookkeeping; record keeping; ordering supplies, printing brochures and such; mailing out info to individuals and shows; shipping or transporting work to individuals and shows; keeping up my resume and artist’s statement; documentation of artwork; photographing works to update my web site with images and info—although I do work with a great web designer; reading art newsletters, not only about new artists’ calls, but also by other artists and what’s happening out there in the art world at large; then there’s the daily maintenance in other areas of my life.

I’ve read different estimates of how much time a working artist should put toward art business in order to “make it”, with some numbers as high as 60% of an artist’s time.

This greatly depends on how much an artist is willing to outsource. Because of costs, and a general pickiness, I also tend to stretch many of the canvasses, and do the matting /framing.  With the current uncertain economy many artists may have to re-evaluate what can be done “in house”.

Much of what I’ve included in the list above is enjoyable to me. Yet there is usually a nagging sense that I’m missing something. Even as I’m typing this, there’s the shouldn’t you be drawing something instead? feeling. This is how it is, a balancing act between the making of art and the rest of my life. And yes, I will go draw and then I’ll do the dishes.