I just received a nice helping of yarn with my library book drive-by, from the knitting group stash. Quite a bit of it is my own handspun which I donated, and other yarn I'd passed on.
Some of this stuff has its own frequent flyer miles. It's all great for Izzy dollmaking.
My stash. All spun by me or upcycled, hence the small amounts.
On a different topic, my art exhibiting life may have ended, there being no opportunities in the foreseeable future, all the buildings closed, the organizations struggling to survive.
So it may be that I move on. I do have some as yet unseen framed pieces to exhibit if the planets ever get in the right configuration again, but I'm reconciled to looking at my next phase.
I had a wonderful run, plenty of rewards and awards, nothing to sigh about. And it's possible I've said all I need to in fine art, the framed work you see exhibited and juried, all that. I've taught hundreds of adults drawing and printmaking to open those doors for them.
My exhibiting life lasted nearly forty years, so I'm okay with it. I'll still make art, always have, but with different purposes in mind.
Not the first time I've reinvented my art life. This is separate from my professional life in which I did all sorts of interesting work, always did art anyway at the same time.
I wrote when Handsome Son was very young, sold loads of stories, serious nonfiction, verse, humor essays. Three, blessedly unpublished, novels wherein I learned the short form was my thing.
After seven years, enough sales to pay son's medical bills,close to a million words, and many writing workshops taught to adults, a jointly written book on learning disabilities, my work used in graduate special teacher ed textbooks, I decided I had said everything I could in word form, and turned to seriously working in art.
So now this may be another exciting crossroads. Life's about forward movement. Also a banquet. And my plate's been heaped over and over. Now thinking about the next course. I don't do things just because I always have. So I'm open to enjoying whatever I can next. And to blogging about it.
Yes, we will emerge to a new world.
ReplyDeleteI think it's already happening inside us. Crises change who we are as people.
DeleteYou've had a wide variety of experience! Covid has changed a lot and it will affect our future in some ways I imagine. However, I believe some of the things that have gone away for now will come back. It may be a year or more, but some will return. If I were you I would just concentrate on doing whatever makes you happy!
ReplyDeleteI agree. It's what I've always done. There will be more experience to come.
DeleteYes - the next stage awaits. What a wonderful perspective - and what an enriching life it leads to.
ReplyDeleteCheers,
Chris from Boise
And since none of us knows anything about what's to come, we're free to imagine.
DeleteIt sounds like your life has been filled with very rewarding experiences and things to do. I wonder if a lot of us are in this boat right now of trying to picture what is next for us - when we emerge, as Joanne says above. I was just thinking about this outloud with a friend today. I can't see that far into the future, but I'm thinking my goal at the moment is to simply stay open (with my heart and eyes and ears) to possibilities and opportunities. As for your art... I'm really glad you blog about your creative and artistic activities. :)
ReplyDeleteStaying open is really hard right now, since we're trying to hold onto what's familiar amidst chaos. But I think you're right.
DeleteA wonderful life lived by a wonderful person.
ReplyDeleteYou are still teaching. I learn from your blogs. Thank you.
We have to be willing to change with either the times or with our physical abilities. I once thought that the discovery of crazy quilting would be my life's work and now I'm beyond losing interest and instead have transferred my affections to creating fabric landscapes. Who knows what might happen in the future!
ReplyDeleteExactly. You can't make the same art forever. It does take courage to change course though, because other people have a lot invested in not having you change. They're used to the person they know doing the things they know.
Delete