The Artist Procrastinates

Editor at Work

Apparently, I have to get my hands out of the clay and begin to sculpt using words on paper. I suppose I could keep making as many sculptures as I like but unless I tell someone, no one will know about them, and no one will actually see them. 

It seems I must overcome my "fear" and my procrastination and simply do it. I find it difficult to "push" my own work. I feel much more comfortable showing it and letting the art speak for itself. I don't mind writing about it in the sense of what it means or about how to do it technically but this.....this is different. This is "advertising" the essence of my expression. Advertising my own personal ideas, thoughts and feelings. 

I have even had a letterhead designed! Notice my graphic artist (our daughter Odia) used my signature to make up my letterhead! Pretty amazing eh? It's a great idea and I love it. Too bad it's about me though. That's disconcerting.

It seems a lot of artists have a lot of problems with creating an "Artist Statement." Here's what an artist career coach said about writing an artist statement. "....pretend that you have a lot to say that is neither self important nor trivial, but is rather relevant, revealing, and wonderful. Imagine that all of your objections to writing have been overcome and you are simply going to write whatever you believe to be true, at the moment, about your work."

That word "pretend" doesn't work for me. I must be real, authentic and all that good stuff. Let me try this idea instead, why not the truth? I could simply use my real personal story. I've heard people describe life as telling your story. That is what I need to do. I will use "story of my life experience" to make my pitch. I'm thinking I need to simply share what that story did to me. To share how I was inspired to create through the tragic murder of our daughter. The impact of the loss, the pre-trial in 2010, then the five and a half week trial in 2012, and just recently now in May of 2013 the appeal. How these events energized my desire to create. How I learned to do my grieving, my healing and my own therapy through the amazing process of creativity. How the creative process seemed a safe place for me, so safe in fact that I could create work that expressed the greatest inner heart pain that I could ever imagine. The searing pain of a fathers' loss.

Now that I'm thinking about this, it makes writing about my art history or even art techniques rather trivial. 

Thanks again everyone. Once again, just writing about this here has given me ideas, direction and the confidence to move forward.

Thank you.

"...that you may know the way by which you must go, for you have not passed this way before."      Joshua 3:4b

The first event at the new Winnipeg football stadium "Investors Group Field" was the annual "One Heart" event, where once a year over 60 churches come to worship together. It was awesome.