Last week was a week full of enlightenment about my own artistic practice. I was fortunate enough to be put in touch with Sara Wookey (sarawookey.com) and got to both watch her lecture at Dancemakers "Thinking Out Loud" study group and meet her for lunch the following day. I am always astounded by established artists' generosity towards emerging ones. I have now met multiple people that have accepted my offers for coffee and a chat and been rewarded with incredible inspiration. Sara made me feel at ease with my own practice. She too questioned the act of performance, grew disillusioned with dance, and works in many media. So what was so exciting?
-Feel free to do work that embodies my struggles and questions I am asking (Of course! The process of looking for answers can be a concretely creative process in addition to being a life process)
-Do not worry about your audience and the implication of being a "viewer" (of course stay aware of the dynamic that is present but do not worry about "forcing" them to come watch you. They have chosen to take that place. They are ok with it.)
-You can be an artist in many ways and that's ok (I can call myself an artist that creates performances, teaches, and writes. I can wear many hats. If people cannot understand that there is not much I can do)
Also, hearing that a well established artist who has been working for many years still can't do a good elevator speech made me feel ok that I kind of suck at it too!
It will come.
Just because I don't have the answers now, does not mean that the questions are not worth asking.
Life and art are about PROCESS.
Life mirrors art in this respect.
Or is it that art mirrors life?
Tuesday, October 25, 2011
Tuesday, October 11, 2011
I am an artist
Sometimes I get anxious. I get so anxious and antsy and nervous and itchy and confused and scared and hopeful and nauseous. I need to create. Create something. Its like the universe just says "Hey, now is the time. You have no choice. Get it out into the world." And I have to comply. If I do not, I cry. I cry and drink and smoke cigarettes. I beat myself up. Because when I ignore the universe I am not living the life I am supposed to be living. I am an artist and I create. If I am not creating I am miserable. And if I am not creating I say "I'm trying to be an artist". And then I perpetuate a loop of non-creation.
I am an artist.
I create.
I am.
I live.
I love.
I feel.
I am an artist.
I create.
I am.
I live.
I love.
I feel.
Friday, October 7, 2011
Fantasy/Unknown Cultures
I just came back from a show that fully immersed me in a story. In a story of the unknown, of the foreign, of the fascinating, of the alien. It was called "A Fool's Life" by Ahuri Theatre.
The stories were Japanese in nature. Japanese settings, skills, families, locations. So I'm sure if I was Japanese it may have been less mystical and magical. But it got me thinking... Being immersed in a new culture's ideas, values, and stories sure feels a lot like being immersed in a fantasy world. The foreignness of the story and themes makes what is everyday to one magical to another.
In a sense, all one needs to write or create a good fantasy is to include the unknown. It could be an unknown culture, an unknown land, an unknown planet. But the unknown seems to generate the creative flow of our brains. When new pathways are being triggered, there are no conditioned responses. Emotions sneak up on you, you sit at the edge of your seat because you do NOT know the outcome! You are learning as you go. Good art should always be like this–unfolding a world in front of your eyes, keeping you IN THE MOMENT, in your feelings, in the space, in the world. Then thoughts cannot drift back to reality. That is its job, to keep your right brain active, give you reprieve from your left-brains dominance, remind you that you have another way of existing (of being and feeling), of connecting to others in your experience of the journey.
When people collectively have an experience they create a connection without meaning to–they have something to talk about, feelings can instantaneously be spoken about, deep parts of their minds get uncovered when they happen to meet in the bathroom after the show. When connected in experience people can bypass small talk, can jump straight to feelings, to preferences, to philosophies. It really is quite magical. We connect on a different level. Good art–in practice and performance–should connect people on this level. I hope to make art like this.
The stories were Japanese in nature. Japanese settings, skills, families, locations. So I'm sure if I was Japanese it may have been less mystical and magical. But it got me thinking... Being immersed in a new culture's ideas, values, and stories sure feels a lot like being immersed in a fantasy world. The foreignness of the story and themes makes what is everyday to one magical to another.
In a sense, all one needs to write or create a good fantasy is to include the unknown. It could be an unknown culture, an unknown land, an unknown planet. But the unknown seems to generate the creative flow of our brains. When new pathways are being triggered, there are no conditioned responses. Emotions sneak up on you, you sit at the edge of your seat because you do NOT know the outcome! You are learning as you go. Good art should always be like this–unfolding a world in front of your eyes, keeping you IN THE MOMENT, in your feelings, in the space, in the world. Then thoughts cannot drift back to reality. That is its job, to keep your right brain active, give you reprieve from your left-brains dominance, remind you that you have another way of existing (of being and feeling), of connecting to others in your experience of the journey.
When people collectively have an experience they create a connection without meaning to–they have something to talk about, feelings can instantaneously be spoken about, deep parts of their minds get uncovered when they happen to meet in the bathroom after the show. When connected in experience people can bypass small talk, can jump straight to feelings, to preferences, to philosophies. It really is quite magical. We connect on a different level. Good art–in practice and performance–should connect people on this level. I hope to make art like this.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)