do it repeatedly
my advice for creative block, I guess
In his August 9th newsletter update, Austin Kleon included a dead link to what sounded like a very promising piece of writing about the upsides of the comfort zone by Tim Kreider. Been thinking about this a lot lately in terms of mountain biking. In other words, I actually have a comfort zone now, y’all! Unlike my first few months—okay, year—of riding when everything was outside my comfort zone. Most days lately I just want to spend more time in this space, enjoying the ride.
Unfortunately, when it comes to creativity, I’m not sure what my comfort zone is these days. I’ve been thinking about creative block a lot lately, and in a related vein, came across the relationship dice I was gifted when I got engaged (or maybe married) and how these are used for romantic block, in a way. There are 36 possible outcomes, only a few of which are “sexy.” Of course this is already a thing for art/creativity. What words or phrases would you put on your creative dice?
Paterson, played by Adam Driver, is a poet & bus driver living in Paterson, NJ, in Jim Jarmusch’s movie Paterson. A nice follow-up to John August’s post that I linked to in my last update, this one about the day jobs of characters in films and such. “Ryan Bradshaw proposes that a combination of novelty and stability are crucial to someone enjoying their work. Juliana Menasce Horowitz and Kim Parker share the results of a Pew Research Center job satisfaction survey, suggesting people are happier with their work when it contributes to their sense of identity.” I can imagine how satisfying it must be to say “I’m a _____” and that thing be really tied to your identity (and cover your basic living expenses!).
On the other hand, if, like me, you currently identify more with what you do when you’re not working, you probably won’t find the results of this study surprising: arts and crafts give greater life satisfaction than work. This also reminds me of one of my all-time favorite quotes about art, which is actually about friendship, by C.S. Lewis:
“Friendship is unnecessary, like philosophy, like art, like the universe itself…It has no survival value; rather, it is one of those things that give value to survival.”
Did you know the art market experienced a sort of boom and bust recently? I wasn’t aware (speaking of day jobs). “Collectors had overestimated the market’s strength; fearing the work might soon become impossible to sell, they wanted to make at least some of their money back—regardless of what public flops might mean for an artist’s future.” And this: “Artists rarely benefit from high auction prices, since most works at auction are sold by collectors who have bought their works earlier and are now hoping to sell them for a profit. The artists also rarely speak…about how art market speculation affects them personally and professionally.” Really seems there should be some sort of law requiring some portion of an artwork’s resell value go back to the artist or the artist’s estate, if deceased. For more on the incredibly messed up art market, I’d recommend this 3-part podcast series by Freakonomics (which, interestingly, came out in late 2021, just as the boom was booming…it would be interesting if they recorded an update post-bust).
But wait, there’s more! Let’s consider one more quote from the above article as a segue to my next item: “'Running the business side of a career is rarely taught in art schools. ‘Grad school for me was about finding my voice…I wish I had taken a business course.’” I can’t believe art schools are still pulling off this scam! I’ve been thinking about this so much lately, as I slowly but surely make my way through the 113-page Google doc of blog posts I wrote while in grad school (adding comments, updating links, and occasionally correcting typos). Would I recommend anyone go to art school? Probably not. Was it an amazing and priceless experience? Absolutely. I am all about the contradictions these days.
Anyway, speaking of that hefty document, was reminded of the amazing video work by Rivane Neuenschwander of ants moving confetti around after Mardi Gras parades mentioned in my thesis travel/research posts (here). I saw it at the Tate Modern in London, summer 2007. You can now watch what appears to be the full video here (for more recent info about the artist, check out this Art Basel video from 2022…the work she does with children around fear, using capes, and talking about how she was inspired by her own kids when they were little, is all so, so good).
Of course, those blog posts weren’t all about making and seeing art. There’s also this post, where I wrote about having Maultaschen on the plane from London to Athens via Frankfurt and pondered the apparent lack of a Wikipedia entry about the dish. Well, there is now a page devoted to “German ravioli,” as I called it when I lived there as a youth. I spent way too much time earlier this week trying to determine if the restaurant I remember being tucked away in the vineyards that surround Robinson Barracks, where we lived at the time (still there!), that served Maultaschen, is still there (probably not).
I was so bummed to read that the Rothko Chapel in Houston, TX, is set to close indefinitely following hurricane damage. I hope they can find the funds to fix it up. This has been on my bucket list of art trips for years now.
That’s it for this round, but I’ll leave you with a recent pic taken in my studio and some felt pieces in progress, creative block be damned!
