(ok, I really should be packing, but I am procrastinating)
I was listening to the CraftCast interview with Dayle Doroshow today, and I was struck by something. Dayle said that after talking to artists in various disciplines, she discovered that one of the things we all seem to have in common is a sorting activity. Sorting activities are often how artists begin their work. It struck a chord with me. I’ve just started reading Twyla Tharp’s book The Creative Habit, and she talks about the importance of establishing routine and a beginning ritual to put you in the right frame of mind. When I first read that, I couldn’t imagine what I currently do or could start doing that would be an appropriate creative starting ritual.
Listening to Dayle’s interview today, I realized I already have a creative ritual, and it could be described as sorting. Lately when I am ready to start a new project, I start by cleaning up my studio. Cleaning as a path to creativity, ironic isn’t it? Sorting through my supplies and putting things in their proper place quiets my mind and starts me thinking about the possibilities. I’m not a neat freak by any means, and my studio is generally on the messy side, but I find that I need to put away the debris from the previous project before I can start the next one.
That doesn’t mean I can only work on one project at a time, or that I finish every project before moving on to the next. Often the cleaning and organizing of a previous project simply involves gathering the essential elements of together onto one of the many cafeteria trays I keep around the studio and setting it aside for the time being.
Cleaning a creative path. Sounds kind of zen, doesn’t it.
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
Barbara Forbes-Lyons 04.11.08 at 8:11 am
I don’t know if it is Zen, but it struck a chord with me…I do the exact same thing.
jana 04.15.08 at 10:19 am
Libby….I can so relate to the ’sorting’ that you speak of. Because of studio moves (which I mentioned in a prior reply to you), my studio ‘belongings’ have become spread over several places (when I made a hasty exit from my outdoor studio in the freezing winter, I took what I needed and left the place in an unorganized M E S S. When making my next hasty exit, this time from the temporary basement studio I’d set up (this move so that my son could move back in), I once again left a mess (in the corner of the room, leaving my boy just enough room to squeeze in a bed and dresser). After moving out of his room, I set up in the dining room. So…..now that it’s warm enough and I can move _back_ out to the outdoor studio, I’m gathering all of the detritus from my hasty moves and am on the organizing spree of my life!
Anyone who travels often to teach knows of the little bags of ’stuff’ that you aquire (I’m so bad about not putting things away when I return home!), so in addition to all of those little bags of various globs of clay, crumpled deli sheets, handouts, etc., I’m organizing and putting together all of the supplies that were spread over three different areas. It’s tiring, but so in my nature to achieve great satisfaction from these sorting tasks! I’m about 90% done, but crazy as it sounds, am most looking forward to my final ’sort’, that of putting beads and gems into their own little cubbies.
It’s really amazing how cathartic and cleansing this sorting and organizing is. I feel loads lighter, happier, and freer today than I did last week when I began this project!
Thanks for giving me space to share, Libby, and for providing your wonderful blog..
Debbie G 04.24.08 at 1:05 am
Well said, Libby. And I keep reading it as ‘Clearing a creative path.’ And I do much the same when I get a chance to get at my clay.