What inspires me?
Saturday, February 7, 2009 at 02:44PM 
Inspiration: Fossils
I'm a guest artist over at Bonnie Samuel's blog today. Check out the post over there -- then come back here for a some pictures of what is currently inspiring my work, my studio time, my path on the planet!
Back already? Leave a comment and let me know what's inspiring you, and you'll also be entered into a drawing for Susan's and my book, New World Kids, The Parent's Guide to Creative Thinking.
What I'm listening to:The Beatles Love album, a 2007 remix/remake of classic Beatle tunes that uses the latest in digital production to wonderful effect for all us aging hippies.The remix was done for the Cirque de Soleil performance of the same name. Talk about inspirational!
What I'm watching in the studio: Reruns of House. I love this series and now that we don't have TV, everything I watch is from the library collection. I watch TV in the studio when I'm doing mindless tasks and don't feel the need for silence -- and when I'm doing design work that is going poorly or slowly or not how I expected. Having the audio and visual input seems to give my inner critic something to do so she won't bug me so much.
What I'm reading: I've been obsessed with the fantasy/alternative earth series about Kushiel and Terre d'Ange heroes, heroines and offspring of the Blessed Elua's companions. Just finished the last one though, so I guess I'll have to find another fix for late night bodice-ripping and bondage.
On a more productive bent (except, one never knows how those sexy sensual D'Angelines might show up on a quilt, does one?) I am delighted to be reading and playing around with Lynda Barry's What it is?.
In her NPR interview last summer: The cartoonist, artist, author and teacher says that in her book of full-page color collages, she is trying to tap into the creative, artistic exploration that comes so easily to children.
"Something happens to us as we get a little older," she says. "Adults would never consider [drawing] on a piece of paper and then just throwing it away afterwards. In fact, unless it's valuable afterwards, most adults don't think the experience was worth it. So that's kind of what the book is about. It's about what happens. What happens to that creative urge."
There's another slide show interview with Barry on the NYTimes site here.
What Barry says seems to dovetail with a lot of what we're writing about in New World Kids, but in a different format, and with her own inimitable language and style. Barry has always inspired me with her wit, courage to say just about anything possible in cartoon form and her absolutely original take on media.
We've actually been seeing a lot of movies at the theater lately, and some at home on video too. My top picks: Slumdog Millionaire and The Reader at the cinema, L'Iceberg, at home. Tomorrow we're hosting a food and film potluck and watching an Iranian film called "Border Cafe." (POSTSCRIPT: NOT that wonderful, and not as much to do with food as we'd hoped, but the meal was fab.)
I guess that's it for now -- in addition to the piles of stuff, and the 6000 photos that need sorting, and the work on the table (garments for the Runway show, aurrghe), that's what's inspiring me right now. How about you?
Leave a comment to be entered into the drawing for the book! And let me know if I can add you to my newsletter mailing list -- it's a quarterly publication, pdf format, and you can "unsubscribe" at any time, of course!
Reader Comments (3)
I've seen inspiration in my compost heap, especially