There are things that I really like and appreciate about collage, but its never been my favorite medium. I like it because it allows anyone to be creative. What I dislike is that the images in most magazines do not reflect my values. Everyone is perfect and skinny, organized, clean and shiny. I’m just not like that, and don’t really want to be.
Beyond the vision board
Vulnerability and trauma
Today was my third session on my own Body Love journey. It started out as an interest in how I can use creativity to change my health habits. Almost immediately it went much deeper than that, to a traumatizing experience from childhood. Looking back on my artistic development, so much of my art has been about this one event.
Your inner critic can be an ally
While I still struggle with my inner critic, it is not nearly as difficult a relationship as it once was. In fact, I can hardly remember what it was like when I couldn’t get past it and stayed stuck and paralyzed.
When you are a beginning artist (or when you majored in art and then stopped creating for a really long period of time) it can be so hard to deal with the inner critic. The shame about what we create, what others will think, the disconnect between intention and result…it is overwhelming.
Cracking open a new sketchbook
When I did my masters research, I kept a visual journal, and I really gained a lot from the arts-based research I did in terms of personal empowerment and transformation. I decided to apply the same process, mixing expressive arts with studio art practices to heal my attitude towards self care, as I described in my last post. And I […]
Body neglect and rebellion
I have an online expressive arts workshop called Body Love. When I created it, I was working out 3 times a week. My diet wasn’t the best, but it wasn’t the worst either. Then I quit. My excuse was grad school and returning to work after summer break, and my son transitioning to middle school. “Too much!!!!” I screamed. “I’ll […]
Experimenting and maybe looking ridiculous
So, this Saturday is the first ever online expressive arts gathering. I’m excited, and if you want to join us, it is free. December 7th, 2013 10-11:30 PST. We will have a follow up meeting the following Saturday to share and celebrate each other. If you can’t make the first meeting, I will be posting a link to the prompts, […]
A love letter to artmaking
My Dearest, I look now, over at your table, that beautiful old oak table, with the carved legs, and I know you are being so tolerant, your space covered with scraps, crumbs, and frustrated piles of broken frames and dusty matt boards. I know you understand. You always come last. I don’t know why you put up with it. Because […]
What kind of art would you make if *you* weren’t the one making it?
I recently made a shitload of art for my masters research (almost done!) . I made it knowing that I would display it on an anonymous website, because I wanted to see what would happen if I gave myself freedom from my regular identity. Dada artist Marcel Duchamp made art under a female identity. That fascinated me. What would I make […]
The false choice between process and product
I want my art to be healing, so I must focus on process – true. The focus on process however does not mean that you cannot also be concerned with asthetics. You can be interested in the product! Just not obsessively perfectionist, snobby or judgemental. It’s not a devil’s choice. I know I am harping on this. But when […]
When your art smacks you upside the head…
Spirituality for me is a little like being on a balcony on a tall building. I have this irrational voice that starts pondering the likelihood that I will suddenly be picked up by a strong wind and sucked out into the sky. Or worse, that I will inexplicably crawl over the railing and jump. The thrilling vertigo is not caused […]