Archive for the ‘Lists’ Category
Photo by Max W on FlickrÂ
1. Tr(n)igger - Saul Williams
Every day most of us are challenged to use our creativity in some fashion. Maybe we need to become a magician and meet an impossible deadline, or figure out how to make six rolls of sod cover an area that needs eight rolls. Or maybe we’re staring at a blank computer screen, a new text document page open, cursor blinking, awaiting our fingers to touch the keys in a stroke of genius to write that winning proposal, that amazingly heartbreaking poem, the next great American novel or a Grammy Award-winning song. The blank canvas awaiting paint. A glob of clay awaiting shaping. A difficult conversation with a spouse or mate. Whatever creative challenges we each face during our daily lives, sometimes we get stuck, find ourselves in a rut, and allegedly unable to get to the next level. We are uninspired. How do we inspire ourselves? Recently, I received an email from a friend asking that very question. “How do you find inspiration to create?” he wanted to know. He was embarking on a new project and had hit a wall. I thought that it was courageous of him to ask someone like me, an unknown artist on the other side of the country, for advice. I’ve been thinking about it for a while, and I’ve talked with other musicians and artists and asked them where they find their creativity and inspiration when they’ve got a block. I’ll focus this How to Find Inspiration article towards artists, but it can be applied in many different walks of life. 1. Deep Observation. Of self, of your surroundings, your thoughts, goals, successes and failures. I like to start outward and work in. Grab a notebook or sketchpad and head to a place that inspires me. Sometimes it’s out in nature, near a river or up in a mountain. Other times, it’s as an unnoticed face in a crowd as I people-watch. I write down thoughts and ideas as they come to me, and I go back later to reflect on the initial bursts of idea in more depth. I think about how the external themes I’ve recorded may apply to me, and then eventually ask myself how those themes can be expressed with intimate personal depth but still apply as a universal truth. 2. Other Artists. When I feel uninspired, I go to the library and sit on the floor with art books sprawled around me. I always like to choose some favorites, and a few that are unfamiliar. I keep a notebook of ideas that sometimes includes rough sketches of an idea, but always a line or two about a project I want to start. Sometimes, it isn’t the library, but the Internet where I look at inspiring artwork. Drawn!, Flickr, DeviantArt, PhotoJojo, a random Google search, The Wooster Collective, or even a place like Bighappyfunhouse. In the case of my friend, the musician, I’d try head to the record store and browse via the headphones music with which he’s unfamiliar. Ask friends to make mix CDs of new music that they’ve been listening to with which you may be unfamiliar (so that you can use it as a jumping-off point for your own creativity, of course, not to pirate music. And, if you like the stuff on the mix CD, go out and buy the original). Go see some live music of bands or genres with which you aren’t familiar. Always explore the unknown genres of art, music, whatever when finding yourself uninspired. 3. Other Types of Art. If you are a visual artist, go listen to some live music or see a play. Watch a ballet. Check out some performance art. On a budget? Check your weekly independent newspaper, often there are many free cultural events happening around town that you can take in and help fill your creativity cup. 4. Collaboration. Nothing fuels creativity like collaborating with someone else on a piece of art or a project. The major challenge when collaborating is to let go of all expectations, and allow the process to create the art along with you. It’s one of the most challenging things I’ve ever tried, but when it works, it’s a lot of fun and also very rewarding. One of the big problems for many folks when collaborating, including myself, is not only letting go of expectations, but also of ego. When you collaborate, you have to be humble and open to new input and the ideas of others. 5. Experimentation. I work a lot with collage and abstract paintings. A while back, I was tired of the art on my walls that I’d made, and tired of what I was producing. I had some huge canvases that I’d gotten for free, some time on my hands, lots of paint, and no ideas. I decided to try something I’d never done. They reason I think that the paintings were successful is that I gave myself permission to fail. Sometimes in life you may think that you do not have that luxury, but, as James Joyce said, “A man of genius makes no mistakes, his errors are volitional and the portals to discovery.” By experimenting and playing, I found some things that worked that I knew I could apply in the future, and things I didn’t like so much that I likely won’t try again. 6. Deadlines. Sometimes, there is no way around it. You have to git-r-done and you have a specific cut-off point that if you miss it, you could die. Figuratively, of course. The death might be one of public embarrassment, missing a deal at work, or closing doors in the future. Last year, I wasn’t feeling particularly motivated to make art, so I created for myself a deadline. I agreed to do an opening in June with a very short notice. I pulled it off, and the June show lead to a July show, which led to an August show that bled into September. With each show, I learned something about the process of putting a show together, but I also found myself feeling more creative and making more art. 7. Money. There is no way around it, Shakespeare’s got to get paid, Son. There will always be rent or a mortgage to make, car insurance, utilities, groceries. A person needs money to live. And sometimes when I know that I can make money by making a certain piece of art, that motivates me to make the art. If, after I’ve made it, I think it has any less passion or is in any way inferior to my other work, I don’t continue down that path. But money can be a strong motivator and inspiration. 8. Nothing. Sometimes there is absolutely no way I can get motivated or inspire myself. It’s at those times that I “just show up”, as was suggested in The Artist’s Way. Show up at the page. Write. Paint. Collage. Sing. Whatever your chosen art, show up at your specific “page” everyday and make your art. Practice makes perfect, and repetition breeds habit. Habits breed lifestyles, and if you are an artist, it is a lifestyle choice. I met Garrison Keillor once at a reception in Akron, Ohio after having heard him speak, and, at the time, I fancied myself a writer specifically. I was not focused at all on making visual art. I asked him, “What advice do you have for an aspiring young writer?” He said, “Write.” That’s it. Do it every day. This list is, of course, not an exhaustive list. It’s a jumping-off point and can easily be added to. I invite you, especially artists, to share in the comments what inspires you to create, and how you become and remain inspired.
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Preparing for the opening of my current art exhibition this time around has been one hell of a challenge. Past exhibitions occurred during a time in my life that I was either unemployed, or worked a t a job that facilitated me leaving to work on art stuff when I needed to. I was able to dedicate the majority of my time to creating art and preparing for the exhibition opening. Recently, however, I joined a landscaping crew. We’ve been working 9 and 10 hour days in 100º weather, and by the time beer-thirty rolls around, I’m pretty tired. Still, I managed to accomplish most of the things on my todo list, or was able to outsource some of them anyway:
I think that’s an exhaustive list. I still have some work to do. Hopefully, I can accomplish most of it this evening before heading out to see the very last International Playboys show. Tomorrow: taking the day off work to play catch-up and treat myself to a Bikram’s class. See you all at the opening tomorrow at CTA Architects, Engineers.
seen on a newspaper box on Higgins Avenue. Not done by me.
The Big Sky Documentary Film Festival has ended. Of the one hundred films that were shown, I was able to watch thrity of them. The staff and the volunteers @ BSDFF were amazing. No one had a meltdown, even when things were seemingly falling apart around us. We held it together and pulled it off without any visable hitches. So many great films, so many wonderful people. I met people from all over the world, made some lasting friends, and am very much looking forward to next year’s festival. For me, outside of the films, the most fun part of volunteering was working in a variety of different positions. I signed up for as much as I could, and I enjoyed all of them: passline, usher, film projector, merchandise table, will-call window, shuttle driver, filmaker’s lounge. And there plenty of not-in-the-job-description things that came up as well. It was fun to discover what those were, and to pitch in where I could. I didn’t sleep much, as was the case for many of us working the festival. The big sacrifice for me was that I made almost no progress on the art exhibition that opens a week from today. Time to buckle down and get to it. Here’s the todo list:
I think that’s it. I’ll be pretty busy these next several days. I’ll post progress here, as well as previews of works in progress.
Today I’ll be tied up fixing this place up and then doing some work out in my studio. It’s my turn to listen to the advice of others instead of doling it out. With that in mind, I wanted to pass on to you an interesting post from The Happiness Project:
The Happiness Project — Eight Tips for Sparking your Creativity
It’s winter, you know this is a perfect time to work on that piece of art you’ve been meaning to get to for a while, now, but you just can’t seem to motivate yourself to work on it. Or maybe you haven’t made any art in a while and have been putting it off for whatever reason. Now is the time to get to it.Before you can “get to it”, it might be helpful to brainstorm why you’ve been procrastinating for so long. What if I’ve lost my edge? you might ask yourself. Or you might tell yourself I can’t think of anything to paint/write about/draw/sculpt/compose. The “What If’s” and the “Cant’s” are some of the Motivation Murdering Monsters all of us have been familiar with at one time or another. Everyone has his own unique brand of Motivational Murdering Monster, but What If and Can’t seem to be all of their parents. Let’s dive into five ways that you can destroy overcome any motivation killer. 1. Turn off your computer (and cellphone, and Crackberry). Unless you use your computer itself to make your art, shut it off for a while. Give yourself a specific timeline for how long it has to be turned off. The computer can be as big of a time-black-hole as television, so discipline yourself and turn it off. If you must leave it on, install and run some kind of distraction-killing software like the free JDarkroom for writing. Lifehacker has a complete list of free or low-cost distraction-killing software from which you can choose.
2.Tell others about the project you’re working on. It’s surprising the sense of responsibility that comes with telling others what you’re up to. When you tell others about the new sonnet you’re writing, the new painting series you’ve begun or the symphony you’ve started, they will naturally ask you about it when you see them. This helps you to work on said project because you want to be able to report your progress to your friends and colleagues. 3. Give yourself a deadline you can’t get out of. Some people work best under pressure. If you’re one of them, maybe this tip is the one for you. This is my tactic of choice lately. I have been spending so much time working on making this site what I want it to be that I’ve been neglecting making art. I have committed to a gallery exhibition opening in March, so I need to get cracking. 4. Play. Feeling stuck? Can’t figure out what you want to make, no matter what? Give yourself permission to make some really bad art. Stuff that would definitely make it into MOBA. Experiment with new mediums, color on the walls. Do something artistic that is outside your normal routine. Play for a specified amount of time, be it ten minutes or one hour. Then immediately begin working on your project. 5. Show Up. Just start. Start your painting (yes, I know paint is expensive). Start the next chapter in your novel. Throw some clay on the wheel and just start working. Whatever you do, just do the work, even if you don’t feel like it. Sometimes the most surprising things can happen when you just start making some art.
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