Simplicity

By no stretch of imagination can my work be called "simple," except perhaps in the -minded, sense of the word. No, I obviously, and sometimes regrettably, come from the  more is better, and even more sometimes school of work.

But, yes, some things about me are plainly simple: my haircut. for one.

 

And, in my ongoing search for business models and methods, organizational solutions that will work for me, I came across two  fascinating blogs from designer and author John Maeda: Simplicity and The Laws of Simplicity. Number one: "The simplist way to achieve simplicity is through thoughtful reduction" can certainly serve as a mantra for the desk pile clearing now in progress (or at least in process).

I promptly ordered Maeda's book The Laws of Simplicity and subscribed to both blogs, and suggest you take a look, too. A few pull quotes here can't do justice to the the rich subject matter and amazing links. (Be sure to go to the website for the Korean incubator art/craft marketplace Ssamziegil --Yes, I know it's in Korean, who needs common language!)

Here's the sidebar summary from Maeda's Laws of Simplicity: 

 

Whimsy

Tricky topic? The more I think about it the trickier it gets. To be taken seriously often compels artisans and artists to deny whimsy in their work. Pulling it off is ever so difficult. Here we confront the seesaw of public opinion: the weight of academia, our own adult considerations of fame and fortune and the Art World, capital letters, on one seat (it's a quite crowded seat); the universal  human appeal of play, for jokes, for humor on the other. Teetering along, and so few good role models.

I do, however, weigh  in on the side of playfulness and whimsy as studio practice, whether it makes it into the work or not. (It does in mine, quite obviously at times.) Out of self-permission to play, comes interesting discoveries in media, in imagery and, for some artists, a unique style of work. (One of the best examples I know is Pam RuBert.)

In answer  to a question on a mailing list that I read (TheStudioSalon), I came up with these personal must-dos.

 

• Dance, where no one can watch, clear a space, put on music and see what happens. Then draw, then dance. Or  paint to music -- use a cheap kid's watercolor set to keep the materials from feeling too precious.
• Buy the kind of art supplies you loved as a child (or always wanted as a kid) Try them out with no product
• in mind.
• Journal, think, daydream a bit, sit outside and see shapes in the clouds. Write about all the things you loved to do as a child. see if you can revisit some of those activities.
• What do you do when the inner critic says: you are silly, stop being so immature, you are wasting time, you should be ashamed at being so silly, you will  never be taken seriously if you act like this? Say, "thank you for sharing." and keep on doing what you are doing.
• Finish this sentence 25, 46, even 101 times:(from Julia Cameron)If it weren't too late I would ----or  --- If it weren't so silly, I would ... Then pick something and do it.
• Build a sand pile and play in it regularly. Also, wade in a creek, watch ants, dig in the dirt, plant beans and watch them grown, collect leaves and press them.  Does this sound like kindergarden? We're on the right track.
  

P.S. So what do you think of my new whimsical jean jacket? Fiber Artists of San Antonio's Runway Show is on the horizon and I really have no ability or interest in sewing garments, but I like cutting them apart, reassembling them and adding stuff -- this is the same me that loved paperdolls and making clothes for Barbie, back when one had only ONE Barbie, instead of a stable of clones. I am also teaching a course this summer at the Southwest School of Art and Craft called "ReTheads," and an altered denim vest, jacket, skirt or pair of jeans will be one of the class projects.

P.P. S. The jacket is now sans sleeves, they were way too short. 

Messy is the New Neat?

Do you think I could learn from this?

Time Magazine reporter Jeremy Caplan makes a case for letting up a bit on the neat freak thing. If only I knew how to make peace ---

"Devotees of filing often interrupt their thought flow to stuff papers in folders, while pack rats just toss papers to the side for later. Procrastination like that can actually pay off. 'Putting off undertaking almost any form of neatening or organizing will probably have some advantage," write Abrahamson and Freedman (authors of a new study), "because it's much more efficient to organize a large set of things at one shot than it is to try to organize them in pieces as they come along.' "

Neat and me go way back as opponents. An eternal seesaw operates in my psyche: I gotta have all that stuff visible, in piles, touchable, doable, incredibly touchable vs. I love order, categories, things in boxes and the perfect file folder, colorcoded and alphabetized in a manner only I would imagine. Thus, not having time, energy, plastic styrene boxes enough, the clutter creeps on in a battle against the perfectionistic inner elf.  You can imagine where that leaves me most of the time. Matter of fact, I think most of my friends, students and partners-in-crime will positively howl at the idea that I even harbor the inkling of an inner neat-freak.

I am open to any and all suggestions from you, my dear readers, about how to deal with this on-going conflict. I especially wrestle with the issue of keeping up with deadlines, paydates, due dates etc, no matter how many calendars I make. Without tangible in-my-space reminders of what needs doing (ie if I stick things in an appropriate file folder and drawer) it just seems to disappear from brain. And then if its out in clear sight, layers of work-in-progress clutter soon overtake whatever order it once held in place. The photos below illustrate my usual state of tabletops (and this after a full morning of pushing papers around). NOTE the OPEN file drawers, the heaped to overflowing plastic bins, the attempts at organization gone astray.

Somehow, I don't think this is what Jeremy has in mind:

 

 

 

Journaling

At this weekends "Artist Journey/Artists Journal" the weather outside was chilly, but the energy inside kept us warm. Taking a page from the January calendar, we worked our way around altered books, journal quilts and a several approaches to writing and sketching our way through the new year. I learned as much as I taught (thanks, Sue for the runthrough on how to make a hidden pocket in an altered book, and Kay for bringing The Secret), we ate well, slept well and talked about everything under the winter sun.

I plan to post pictures of the projects begun during the retreat, as they are documented and sent back to me -- but here are a few of the people pics. What can I say: I am living my dream and it's just getting bigger.