Let the Jury Decide

Too often, artists jury themselves out of shows or competitions. They see a show they would love to do. Or a competition they would love to enter. But then the self-doubt begins to take over. Those nasty little voices that many of us carry around with us. “Are you crazy?" "You’ll never get in." "They won’t like your work." "You’re not good enough.”

Who says so?

Until you are on the jury, let the jury do that work. If you want to try and get into a show, or enter a competition, go ahead. Do it. You may not get in. I have one show I enter every year. And each time, I end up on the wait list. Purgatory. Not good enough to get in, but almost….But I keep trying. Eventually I may cross that line.

Enter that contest. It will push you to go further in your work. You will look at it with more scrutiny, and maybe learn something that you normally would overlook. And who knows, you might just win a prize, or receive recognition for your work.

Submit your work to that magazine. They have 6 to 12 issues to produce every year. Each issue has 15 to 20 articles. Who is to say that your work is not good enough? Let the editor decide that.

Your job is to get into the studio and do the very best work that you can. And continue to try and make your work better. To explore the boundaries of where you can go with your work. And then to put your work out there. Let others see and appreciate what you have created. You might experience rejection. Sure. But you might just be jumping up and down with joy when you get that email or letter that says “You’re in.” If you’re like me, you’ll get both! Go ahead. Take a chance.

Right Brain, Left Brain

We often like to find simple answers to things. We want to be able to categorize people or events in to the right box. One way of sorting used by many is whether someone is “right brain” or “left brain”. The thinking goes that those who are left brain dominant are better at math and science. Logic oriented. Facts matter. Those who are “right brain” dominant are the creative types. Artists, writers, musicians, etc.

This was based on research done by neuroscientist Roger Sperry looking at people who had a split brain. The link between the two hemispheres of their brains had been severed to treat epilepsy. Some of these people were subjects in a study by Sperry to look at how our brain behaves in certain tasks. The book, Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain was based on some of this research.

So if we can be divided by which hemisphere of our brain dominates, how do you explain people like me? I have loved to draw from the time I was quite young. But I was also very good at math and science. My degrees are in chemistry and business, not art. My dad was an engineer who worked at Lincoln Labs doing research. But he also pursued painting and woodworking as hobbies at various times in his life. And, he was an amateur actor, and self-taught musician. Which box do you put us into?

When I began to work with polymer clay I was fascinated to learn about artists like Nan Roche (http://www.nanroche.com/ ), who is a scientist with NIH in her full time job. Yet she wrote the book about polymer clay, The New Clay. And Kathleen Dustin (http://www.kathleendustin.com/) , who is one of the leading artists in this media, has a degree in mathematics. Julia Sober (http://www.juliasober.com/ ), who is an award winning polymer clay artist, is also a Radiation Safety Officer. And the amateur ranks swell with many more examples of the same dichotomy of talent.

This has always fascinated me. Then one Sunday morning, as I was driving to a show, I was listening to NPR on the radio and the program Studio 360 was on. The program was looking at this very issue of the right brain/left brain dichotomy. Can we really be divided so neatly?

Well, the answer is not really. It is more likely that we are training other parts of our brain to be engaged in certain activities when we go through exercises as described in the book, Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain. Not that this is a bad thing. But the left brain is not shutting down. The left brain actually is more focused on details, while the right brain is looking at overall patterns. So engaging both parts of the brain in the task is the ultimate goal. Letting each side of the brain play on its particular strengths.

Creativity, it turns out, is not determined so much by our right brain, as it is by drive. The balance between the front and back of the brain is what really seems to make the difference. It is not the natural talent that distinguishes as much as the drive.

So we can learn to draw, or sculpt, write or play a musical instrument. But without the drive, creative work does not evolve. Perhaps this is why you hear over and over again from artists of all sorts that their work is something they have to do. That drive propels them to write, draw, or compose. They are driven to create.

Maybe it is time to rethink those boxes. Are you who you thought you were?

You can hear the full broadcast from NPR here: http://www.studio360.org/episodes/2006/09/14

Noise, Noise, Noise, NOISE, Noise!

I wish I could say that I was one of those people who has a "practice" of meditation. That each day I would go to a certain place and follow my practice of meditation. But I am not.

That being said, I do have to say that meditation has taught me alot about observation, and about being better able to quiet all the noise around me. This quiet is the only way I know to be able to really find my "voice". To be able to listen to the ideas that surface. They mostly come to me at other times, when I am not in a meditative state. But it was through meditation that I learned how to focus and turn up the volume on that tiny little voice that pipes up from time to time, and might otherwise be drowned out.

Sometimes I am not even aware of the level of background noise that is constantly around. I am always amazed when there is a power outage at how much quieter everything is. The constant background hum of motors is silenced. Suddenly the "tick,...tick,...tick,..." of my battery run clock is the loudest noise around. And when the power goes back on, it is not just lights or blinking LED's that signal it's return. It is the rising hum and whir.

It is easy to fill in the blanks with sound and other stimulation. Turning on the TV or radio, listening to an iPod, or even getting on the computer, are all done with such ease that it is not even conscious most of the time. Just habit. I am an NPR junkie. I can rattle off the schedule of my favorite local NPR station with way too much ease. It is on in my studio, in my car, in the kitchen. I even wake up to it most mornings! But lately I find the need to just turn it off a bit more often.

I became more aware of the power that silence has through guided meditation. I used to hate to meditate. I thought I couldn't, actually. But when it was finally explained to me that all those thoughts about everything I had to do that start pouring through my brain are absolutely normal. All I had to do was gently guide my attention away from them, and back to my breath. The noises in the background. Observe them and then go back to your breath. That was it. No right or wrong really. Just gentle attention and focus. I could do that.

I found it was just the remedy I needed at those times when I thought my head was going to explode from all the things I was trying to juggle. It calmed me down, and focused my energy.

One of the most amazing things I observed during meditation was the pause. The space between the inhale and the exhale. When your breathing slows down, and your focus increases that pause becomes another moment in time. To me, it was almost like time was suspended for a moment. And I guess there are days that this is exactly what I am craving. "Stop the clock! Let me breath for a minute!" With meditation I was able to do that. It really takes slowing down and focusing to observe the pause. And if we can observe the pause, what other things are there that we can observe if we just slow down and focus.

If you have never meditated. Give it a try. If you used to meditate. Try it again. You don't have to do it everyday. But you might want to. For me, it is the perfect antidote to a harried life, and a valuable tool for an artist's life.

Thank you Donald Murray

On and off again, I would read the column of Donald Murray in the Boston Globe. While he was of a different generation, his simple reflections offered in his column, entitled Now and Then, were genuine. He often offered insight into who we are as human beings, and why we do the things we do. In addition to being a writer, Mr. Murray was an amateur artist. Late in life he began to draw again, and wrote about it in his column.

In one of these columns, he talked about a book called Art and Fear, (http://tinyurl.com/yfs8jd) written by David Bayles and Ted Orland. He enthusiastically described the book and said he loved it so much he would buy it and give it to friends. That anyone and everyone should read it. On his recommendation, I bought the book. I have since recommended it to many, many people.

One lesson from the book that I loved, was about "bad" work. You make something awful. You absolutely hate it. It has no redeeming qualities whatsoever. The usual response is to take this as proof that you are lacking in any talent or creative abilities. "You might as well just throw in the towel. What were you ever thinking, anyway?" We are often in search of just this evidence. That we are not one of those talented people. Those creative types. They are just different than the rest of us.

What I learned from this book is to embrace the bad work along with the good. Look at the bad stuff as just some of what you have to do on the way to the good work. And, look at it as an opportunity. Yes, an opportunity.

You hate it. The only place it should go is in the trash, and fast. But, wait a minute. If you hate it so much, you can't possibly ruin it now. It is already destined for the garbage. So why not have some fun with it now. Do the outrageous and daring things you can't or won't do when it is precious. Throw some more stuff on it. Cut it up. Make it into something else. No matter what you do, you will not hate it anymore than you already did. And you might end up loving it when you begin to let loose. I have made some wonderful discoveries in this fashion.

I have seen this approach turn around a sullen thirteen year old, who hated what she had done. Suddenly she was re-engaged, and ended up producing something that she loved. The next day, she was early to class, and eager to have at it.

Learning the dangers of the "precious" is a valuable one. You would be surprised how liberating it can be.

Donald Murray passed away at the end of 2006. I will miss his wisdom and insight. But then again, some of it I will carry with me forever. Thank you Donald Murray. You helped this person learn a few valuable lessons, and in the process, opened many doors.