Monday, December 21, 2009

Maker and Mystic

This graces the pages of Adventures in Clay, but is as much of this as it is of that. As I work at my statement of intent, I find myself in the strange position of needing to express both maker and mystic, to express either of them adequately. So it goes.

I’ve been on hiatus from the studio itself for the better part of two months. Workshop, firings, Thanksgiving, photography, writing, and a 1500-mile grad-school-visit road trip consumed the interim. Given this pause, the obvious question is, “what next?” Being behind the camera, then at the computer, put me in a more objective position. A myriad of conversations with an assortment of intelligent and thoughtful professors and students gave me new insights, drew out the thoughts I’ve struggled to capture for my writing. The sheer volume of interaction and thought, coupled with many, many hours of solitude, finds me with a new perspective. The experience has clarified and edified my ideas on what am I doing, anyway? Now, in Chicago again and without another immanent departure, I experience a sense of separation from all that came before. What next?

The first next: yesterday I spent many hours editing. With a hammer. A strange thing. Significant, but not easily reduced to a few words.

In seeking an understanding of what to make next, I find there are threads that run through the lacuna, things that continue to move and attract me. So, there’s that, another next.

And there remain the mundane but very real timelines of graduate applications. My statement of intent and artist statement remain incomplete, though elucidated by conversation and solitude. Another next.

And so on.



Happy winter solstice.

1 comment:

jbmoore said...

The circle of creation/destruction and the silence in between. I know little of Fine Arts Education. However, with most human endeavors, a lot of elbow grease goes a long way. I do not know if Higher Education recognizes genius or not. It is perhaps a little better than Business, though not much. But Business is definitely more delusional. I do know that you will be busy, stressed, and generally happy except when Finals approach because it is a time of growth and learning. You'll be doing things that are worthwhile to you, not to someone else, with the occasional exception of what some professor thinks is important. However, it is still difficult to know exactly what one wants to do and how to shoehorn in what you love into that larger picture called Life. But you'll manage and thrive somehow. Good luck with the applications. Good luck with your self discovery journey.

Happy New Year!