“Can I speak to you for a minute, Valerie?” Samuel (not his real name), an extremely bright and talented cellist, had started showing up to class late, looking suddenly much thinner, with dark circles under his eyes. I was concerned. One day he asked to speak with me after class. We went to find a …
In part 1 and part 2 on this subject I’ve been looking at how tuning into your inner smart meter can really help you become more efficient, healthy and happy as an artist. How do you read the dial on your smart meter? To tune in to your energy levels, for example, you can assign …
In the first part, I wrote about the idea of having an internal smart meter and how we can attune to it. For artists, who often work freelance or have unusual work schedules, this is particularly vital. On reading up about smart meters, it’s uncanny how far the metaphor extends, as you’ll see… Smart meters …
The other morning, I woke up with an image before me – the tail-end of a dream. Someone had installed a meter next to me on my right-hand side. I knew it belonged to me now – in fact, it seemed to be part of me. “I know,” I said to myself, half asleep, “it’s …
I never imagined that the many limitations enforced by coronavirus would act as a creative stimulus, but constraints can push us into new and unexpected territory. As artists, we often find it useful to impose deliberate constraints upon ourselves as a way of firing up new ideas.
How creative artists can support ourselves and each other under these unique circumstances.
A while ago, I began to realise that a strange thing was happening to me. Every time I was invited to a wedding, something went terribly and bafflingly awry. When one of my best friends asked me to bring something meaningful to place on the altar at her wedding I knew just the thing– a …
Robert and I have just completed another film poem, incorporating footage of children in Britton, South Dakota filmed by Ivan Bessie in 1939. Enjoy! [vimeo 67239318]
Recently, I’ve been taking theatrical impro classes which culminate in a public show, and they’ve sparked lots of ideas in me. Our teacher, Remy is extremely imaginative and adventurous, and so we never know exactly what we’ll be doing from one moment to the next. However, we do generally start the class with a warm-up. …
This week, I’ve written a guest post “What does it mean to be free to create?” on Lisa Peake’s Peake Productivity blog. It’s an area I’m very much still working on, and I’d love to hear your ideas too!