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?
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