Over the last few months I’ve so often wondered whether I want to continue making art. Should I concentrate on writing, esp. when my artwork progresses so slowly? Having discarded several unrealistic ideas for bigger work my ‘normal’ rush of ideas seemed to have come to a halt. It’s not like poetry just flows out of me, I do need to work and reach deep inside me, but its timeframe is more gratifying: I can have something done in a couple of weeks as that part of my brain seems to be working when everything else is in a tired slump. I’m thinking back to my beautiful red dress with the very long sleeves. It took me about a year to finish it, I showcased it here and then it disappeared into a trunk and who knows if it will ever be seen outside of this flat? Maybe I can get somewhere with my poetry, if I work really hard? My grasp of it is still tentative, there’s much to learn about form and rhythm and flow, and I’ve only got so much, or rather: so little, energy at my disposal - it needs focus focus focus.
Now however my thinking is changing and turning towards concrete ways of bringing my art and my writing even closer together. A first idea is forming, which I can’t quite formulate yet but it’s ticking away. In the meantime I’ve returned to my box of unfinished/uncertain pieces and found this lovely spidery fleece, crocheted a couple of years ago from strands of three artificial hairs, with a size 10 hook. A web of airy loops, it weighs practically nothing and still feels substantial and even rough between my hands. Initially I’d wanted to make a whole blanket but it grew very very slowly indeed and might need a lifetime’s commitment.
Dimensions: 30 cm x 38 cm
11 comments:
Hi Marjojo,
I've just sent you a little email, hope that is ok... When I saw your work and its title, I had to think about a small black and white postal card I got from a friend when I was in junior high school. Carved in a stone the significant letters : WOHIN ...
I'll be back, take a little rest now ;-),
Love, Joni xxx
Actually it was a statue from two little girls in clay and at the bottom, carved in the clay and not stone ;), the word WOHIN ...
I just knew I still had it and I knew exactly in which album so I just took a small glance at it...
On the cover of that album I glued a postal card of a girl sitting next to a suitcase and the title of the card and the album is : WAARHEEN (yes, Dutch for where to/wohin...).
Just to stress the universal profoundness of this general question ;-), and all our specific ones... I'll be back as promised with a more specific "answer"...
Love and keep the faith, Joni xxx
I hope you don't give up art - I've just found your blog (via hair reference!). I imagine we all have things we've made that only get one airing, sometimes not even that. I actually like small, intimate pieces, the ones you come across in sketch books etc. by chance for example. I've had dilemmas in the past about art/writing (not poetry). I took a year out once and did an academic course part time for a year. I did return to visual stuff but really enjoyed the experience. Sometimes it doesn't have to be one or the other.
I can relate to your feelings of wanting to write and create visually, the time, energy, the flow of expression, meanings and time frames, reflecting on past work and how to move forward etc... I need to write but enjoy working visually, so there is always that slight push-pull going on... I have stitched poems into cloth and have greater ambitions of stitching complete tiny stories too.... we shall see. I hope you are well and must send you those LN poems soon, finally:) best wishes Cathy
I've returned to your site today and spent a bit more time reading and thinking about what you are saying. I really like your writing - it is raw, strong. A bit shocking too in places which I also like. Now I am beginning to see how you might go in that direction. Maybe the work increases in strength through a combination of your words and visual interpretation
I've returned to your site today and spent a bit more time reading and thinking about what you are saying. I really like your writing - it is raw, strong. A bit shocking too in places which I also like. Now I am beginning to see how you might go in that direction. Maybe the work increases in strength through a combination of your words
However the creativity comes is good. You don't have to box ourself in and declare, "I am 'this' or 'that."
You are just the creator of beautiful, ethereal, fragile and meaningful things....guess you'll have to live with it! :)
Hi Marjojo !
I am still thinking ;-), but I think In Any Case that writing is one of your Gifts ... wanted to let you know this, rest will follow ;-)!
Carpe diem in whatever possible way,
love,
Joni xxx
Why don't you combine your writing and your art and apply for a solo exhibition. That red dress is fantastic ! <3
HiMarjojo,
Thanks so much for visiting and for your kind wishes. I think you are incredibly talented...both your visual works and your writing show this very powerfully. I can of course completely understand the desire to reach completed goals, to achieve, and to see this happening. I think most people can, and I'm sure this is part of the reason why blogging is so popular, the way it offers public documentation and verification of what you have done. As far as creativity goes, I think it's pretty important to follow it wherever it leads you (if you can) and not to worry too much about the end point...no one really knows where that might be, and that's the whole thing about creativity. It's so important to make/create what gives you pleasure and there's no reason not to move between the visual work and the poetry, is there? You have a lifetime to create, and for us, even more than artists who aren't PWME, it's so important not to rush and miss the good bits.
Take care, Amanda
do both. do it all!
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