Perseverance furthers.
The iChing has a lot of very good advice about being creative, but for me it all comes down to this:
Sunday, September 19, 2010 – 9:10 pm
Approaching 800
The Weekly Press project is over three quarters of the way complete (nearly 800 images of 1000), and it has gone through many phases. Currently it feels like an albatross. When I started the project, my main hope was that new ways of working would surface, but I had no idea what that might look like. As I approached the midway point, the concept of creating time-based work from still images became an excitingly real option. At that point, there were many new things to think about as I made single image after image. At that point, the project still served a purpose by allowing me to explore ways in which individual images might relate to each other sequentially in moving pictures.
But now, my thoughts have turned towards the process of taking the things I know into the fourth dimension and into new creative territory (for me). There’s where my brain is going, yet here remains this project I invented for myself to get me to this point. In many ways, it feels done. The result of which is that creating each new image is a real struggle.
I have a plan. It would be hard to come this far and not complete it. I do want to have a series of 1000 images. What I will do is start to work backwards. The first image was a very self conscious step on a long journey, and as I see its end approaching, I want to come full circle. Perhaps even as I review and relate older images with new ones, something still unexpected might happen. (See the current loop of 767 images here.)
At any rate, having nearly circumnavigated the globe, figuratively speaking, the idea of having that first image send out a welcoming flotilla is comforting. While I’m quite ready to be done, I’m looking forward to this last leg. See The Weekly Press here.
Sunday, August 29, 2010 – 10:23 pm
What we expect from genius
Another inspired and inspiring presentation on TED.com. Elizabeth Gilbert talks about how we somehow came to expect quite a lot from creative genius, often to the detriment of creativity. There was a time when it was assumed that the creative gifts artists received came from “outside” themselves. Gilbert describes some examples of reclaiming that notion so that the pressure of creating a masterpiece can be deflected and the ordinary process of “showing up” to do the work can carry on.
I’m sure you’ve heard many an artist claim something to the effect that they have no idea where an inspiration came from. I’ve certainly experienced that myself. There may be all sorts of study, areas of interest, lines of pursuit that an artist puts in as part of their “showing up” for the job, but often there’s just a gift that lands on the plate unexpected and without return address. In her presentation, Gilbert beautifully describes the balance of consistent hard work and moments of genius.
Monday, July 19, 2010 – 5:45 pm