Where to begin. I am in a position in the studio that I have no shows to prepare for; no openings with my name painted on the wall to attend. Do I feel bad about this ? Hardly! I am excited and nervous. By design I have no commitments on my agenda. My agenda is instead to recreate , reinvent my studio practice. I really have no idea what that means. I know, I know we as artists are supposed be constantly moving towards that gallery , that sale , that show --- I just had to stop and consider what I'm doing in the studio for hours on end.
For whom do I work ? Yes it is for the glory and manifestation of God's love. Yes. But how does that happen ? Do I make the same work and say that it is for God ? Is that authentic. Sort of. Because I have always felt the work in the studio was as renewing as God's love.
I am not sure what to do expect to simply go in and make. When I was at Cranbrook Tony Rosenthal came to the sculpture department to visit. He was a fragile, old man with arthritic hands. As we , the sculpture students, listened to him talk I was impressed by his dedication to the creative process. He told the story about when he was working and the phone stopped ringing and he was not being invited for shows or commissions.
Proudly and slowly he told how he, every night after dinner,made small paper models at his card table in his living room. This diligence opened him to the work he is now best known for, but that was not the end goal for Mr. Rosenthal. There was no end goal. He simply showed up and opened up. This is what I hope to do .
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