Isn't it interesting how things, like ideas, seem to cluster independently among people? Think about periods of truly great writing and thinking. Take, for example, the New England Transcendentalists and their intellectual offspring: Alcott, Thoreau, and Emerson, Mary Baker Eddy, and Margaret Fuller. All those great minds active in reaction originally to Unitarianism in about the same time and place form a "cluster" that I find truly amazing, and this is only one example.
The reason I bring this up is that this weekend I finally got around to reading the February/March 2015 issue of Quilting Arts. Indeed, it was what I was doing last night (before SNL, of course) when I should have been writing an entry. The article that caught my attention is "Unbound Thoughts on Making" by Jane Dunnewold on page 22. It's only four pages long and very well worth the reading for anyone who practices any craft or art. Why?
If you read my entry on February 4, 2015, "Art Quilt Challenge", you know I had been dealing with my reluctance? inability? to get down to work. Through writing about it, I realized that fear is my greatest obstacle, and that is exactly what Jane Dunnewold wrote about - both the obstacles we put between ourselves and our art (whatever that might be) and how to overcome them.
Did I agree with everything she said? No, but when one doesn't agree with something, one is closer to identifying one's own beliefs. First, she encourages us all to identify and understand our obstacles. Second, she tells to accept that we are deserving of our time in the studio and to make it a regular part of our schedule (hmmm, I try to get into my studio every day and am usually successful - just don't ask if I've given myself a minimum time there!). Third, she encourages us to contemplate the "rules" that govern our chosen art as well as our own and to get rid of those that aren't helpful (she calls this getting "rebellious"). Finally, she tells us to write!!! and one of the reasons for writing is because we don't remember all of our ideas (who me? forget??? HA). There are other equally important reasons such as my belief that we should "write to learn".
The author did have more to say on all these points, and I highly recommend you get a hold of the magazine and read it!
I total intend to get that magazine and actually read it. I do need to make time to write, however, which is something I haven't done in a long time. Usually at night I'm too tired. So perhaps I should make it my after lunch thing to do!!
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