The other book I read on the weekend was Creating A Life Worth Living by Carol Lloyd. Although it may sound like a book on depression, it's actually a practical course in career design for artists, innovators, and others aspiring to a creative life and was just as useful now as it would have been twenty-five years ago at the beginning of my career. I don't consider my creative career to be over, it has simply shifted away from the money making focus of a professional artist toward the individual focus of a pro-am, a professional amateur, a person with all the skills and abilities of a professional who chooses for one reason or another not to earn their living from their creative outlet.
Since my meeting last week with Carolina - the gallery owner in Vernon - and the realization that I had none of the energy, drive, desire, or motivation needed to start a textile jewelery business, I've thought a lot about personal creativity. What is it? What does it feel like? What does it look like? How do I feel about creativity that is solely mine? Pretty darn good actually. As the week went on, I've been more and more excited about the possibilities.
In some ways it feels as if I've reverted. Thirty years ago, I would go into my studio, sew whatever I wanted for myself, and that was it - good and enough. Money wasn't a factor. I like being there again along with all the experiences gathered over the past thirty years. Life in my studio is a broader, richer, more advanced form of creativity.
In Chapter 4, Carol talks about understanding your artistic profile. In typical personality tests, artists are lumped together with generic descriptions as if we are all alike. We're not. In Carol's book, she lists ten different categories which she admits are ... derived neither from ancient mysticism nor modern psychology. I just made them up. The types are Leader, Teacher, Realizer, Healer, Interpreter, Generator, Inventor, Maker, Mystic, and Thinker. The first five have more to do with collaborative creativity and the last six with individual creativity. While you may lean strongly toward one of these, you will most likely be a mix of several and capable of functioning well in other capacities even though that's not your natural bend. Here are the categories that resonated the strongest with me.
Remember the statement art I mentioned last week? Whenever I view statement or political art, I fail to appreciate its deeper meaning. My first thought is what do you do with that? I make pretty things that are interesting to look like. They're mostly decorative and occasionally functional. They sometimes have a deeper meaning but that's not the main point of the piece. I just like putting it together with as much care and craftsmanship as I can. Skill is very important to me. That exactly describes a Maker.
Carol's description of a Teacher says... Teachers enjoy giving people information, ability, and knowledge. Preferring informal, intimate groups over large, formal gatherings, they are less interested in possessing power than they are in transmitting it. I love to teach. I love that ah ha moment when my student gets "it" in such a way that getting "it" makes all the difference to their art or their life or whatever subject we're talking about. When I read a book or an article, I want to pass that information on. My family and friends are constantly hearing about what I just learned because if I know a technique or tip that will make a procedure easier to perform, I want to share it. The desire to teach is one of the reasons why I write... and talk so much... and occasionally stick my nose where it doesn't belong.
I have touches of the Mystic and the Leader although I would say these are a smaller percentage of my overall profile. Mystics are far more interested in the creative process than in the final product. That's a trait I've developed in the past thirty years. Leaders can see the end goal in vivid detail and have the ability to move people toward that goal. Yes... however... I would say that Teachers do as well and I'm definitely more Teacher than Leader. Leaders have a lot of responsibility and I'm more of a loner. Overwhelming responsibility is one of the things I struggle with.
When I read the other profiles, there are points of connection. A friend ordered the book. It'll be interesting to see how she views herself after reading the profiles and to get her input on what she thinks my creative categories are. I think these profiles are incredibly helpful to artists in understanding how and why we all operate differently from each other. They can lead to a better understanding of our working ways rather than the desire to homogenize.
Another part of the book that interested me was Chapter 5 - Goals: The Art You Give Yourself. It's a different approach to goal setting that I think is desperately needed, more specific, more doable. I'm huge on goal setting. Carol focuses in on the ways in which artists approach their career and how that working method impacts goal setting. She lists six profiles - the Monocled Monk, the Project Nomad, The Interdisciplinarian, The Tightrope Walker, The Wood Nymph, and the Whirling Dervish - while stating there could be many more. I'm not sure whether I'm a Monocled Monk or a Wood Nymph.
The Monocled Monk is single minded and focused on one career for a life time although they may do other things that are related to their primary creative outlet - like teach or write. In my money making endeavors, I've tried numerous occupations but I don't see that as the same thing. They weren't connected. They were things that interested me. In terms of art, even though I have tried numerous forms, I remember consciously making a decision to focus on fibre. That's why I sew and knit in many different formats even though I find woodwork fascinating and have dabbled in painting and other needle crafts.
Instead of a single outlet like painting, the Wood Nymph's career follows a single subject but diverges into very different activities. The description says that within this subject they've become experts on numerous levels beyond practitioners. Does that describe me? I'm not sure. I create, design, write about, teach, illustrate, and photograph things to do with fabric. Perhaps I'm just a Monk however...
... the descriptions were interesting and they've helped me already. Last Sunday, when I walked into church and glanced up and noticed two new singers on the worship team, I immediately felt rejection and anger over the fact that I haven't been asked to sing in the last year. It's a point of pain because I really like to sing and feel it's one way of my being involved in the church and I also feel as if I've become invisible and pushed aside for "younger" or "more professional" talent. As I sat there, I realized that I like to sing as a side line activity. I've studied music but not in-depth. I can read music to play piano but not to sing a specific note. Many of these artists can.
Music is as all encompassing for them as fibre is for me. While I doubt that there were too many people sitting in church thinking I wish I could sew like Myrna, I realized that fabric is MY thing. It's where I am meant to shine even though it involves resistance to those who don't get what I do and want to put me in charge of glue and glitter crafts. Thankfully, I've learned to say no - LOL.
I love personality tests of any kind like Myers-Brigg or the Enneagram, even What Animal Are You. There's always an element of truth in the descriptions although some are closer than others. If you read The Birthday Book for June 3rd persons, it's so close it makes my friends laugh and yet, I don't fit the typical description of a Gemini in my approach to my art. While I might be changing my mind on all kinds of fronts, hate repetition, and get antsy if I have to stay in one place too long, I've been able to commit to one art form and follow it through over a life time. I work on one project at a time from conception to completion and have what's been described as excessive discipline. That's rather fascinating... to me at least.
Talk soon - Myrna
Grateful - 30 minutes, 1.37 miles on the treadmill.
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