Pitchers and catchers have been back at work for over three weeks now, and full team workouts are under way. It’s officially the time of year now where shit happens. I’ve had a pretty good creative month and am busy experimenting with larger prints. (BTW if anyone has a spare Epson 9000 series printer you could part with…) Anyway, I’m happy with my progress- the warmer days and some copious journal sessions have helped to get me out of my own head again.
One of the things I’ve been writing to myself about is faith. Faith in oneself, faith in the equilibrium of the universe and all things it contains, and faith that, like water, everything will find its level and reveal a pattern from which I can divine the continuance of my path. Just this week I was led to some Old Testament wisdom, as I often am, and was gifted with a genuinely beautiful passage from Hebrews 11:1, to wit- “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, (in) the evidence of things not seen.” I found such immediate reassurance and freedom in that phrase. I repeated it over and over-
…the substance of things hoped for, (in) the evidence of things not seen…
I’m not the worrier I used to be, nor am I prone to bouts of woe since I corrected my vitamin D levels. But, as many if not all creatives do, I constantly question the nature and validity of my pursuits. Nature often times is not the genesis of pursuit but more often bestowed upon a collection by someone once removed from the creative process, someone with “fresh eyes.” And I’m good with that. I’ve been struggling with whether or not any individual piece fits the box I’ve been putting my ideas into, but with the evidence of things not seen on my side I’m feeling free to just respond to my creative moments in a more organic, more gestalt manner.
So I wasn’t really bothered by being skunked for a second year in a row by the Erie Art Museum Spring Show juror. Disappointed but not upset. It’s a discussion I’ve been having with a colleague- a ‘juried’ show needs a jury- a plurality of jurors. Too often these shows have a single juror, which makes the process a selection- I know I’m cutting hairs, as professor Frederick J Fogelsanger would say, but I’ve been a ‘jury’ and swore I would never do it alone again. It’s not healthy for anyone involved.
But I have faith in the process. I had work in a salon show that just closed, the Jamestown Renaissance Artscape announcement is coming up this week, and there are two or three irons still in the fire that I’m pretty excited about. And in the meantime I’m still making what I feel is genuinely meaningful work, which is my contribution to “the substance of things hoped for…”
So I’m good. And in closing I’ll just quote the wisdom of Prof. FJ Fogelsanger once again; “Let us not look upon the dark side of the moon”