I've set up shop across the street from the JJ Bean roastery. I get a kick out of the image on the bag also being my address. Then I read the bag and realize we share the same mantra in our East Van pride, and I understand a little more clearly why I'm continually drawn here.
"JJ Bean's roastery is on Vancouver's Eastside. Our neighbours are artists, students, musicians and soccer fanatics - passionate people who love what they do. It's the kind of place that inspires us to focus on what we love, and to do it in our own style."
Funny, that's just what I was thinking...
Also relevant then is the upcoming Eastside Cuture Crawl which I was going to do an installation for in my studio but instead have decided to attend extensively Nov 18-20. The variety of mediums being worked in and the abundance of artist studios in my neighbourhood makes me so pleased I want to burst. It will be tricky to document without the taboo of photographing artwork, but I think an abstract video is in order. The Other Day On the Eastside will be posted here sometime in December.
Inspiration Strikes Strong and with a Thunder. But only where there is room for it.
Asking myself where the creative way forward is when I'm alone at the helm is a beautiful question to address. I'm not sure many people get such a blatant opportunity to examine their own process, style, and path.
I have been resistant to moving forward because of what it means I have to move away from. The past is such a beautiful memory, full of inspiration and great successes. Yet in the past there is no kindling for the fire that burns ahead- as I had once naively hoped.
And so somethingsomething studios is reborn. A studio of unrestrained creation. What I want most, and am most excited by, are the ideas that do not have to be condoned to be created. To create without the need to reach some professional standard or acceptance. Of course, the criticism has always been that this theory results in financial failure.
However, by restraining the productive time I have available, I force those projects that are less inspiring through the wringer. I have a spark that fuels my propulsion forward in a way that I haven't felt since before I was earning a living at this craft.
At the same time, some spectacular projects have fallen into my lap as a result of being present, aware, and open to them. As if by accident, I am now at the forefront of the Canadian studies being carried out by MAPS Canada and for the first time hold the rights to a project of great merit from the outset. I set out the other day with just myself and my SLR to see what would happen.
One day I will find a camera operator who enjoys me as much as I do them. One day I will again record proper audio for my interviews. One day I will see funding for a shoot BEFORE it happens. Until then, I am overjoyed at my half-assed attempt at pulling it off if for no other reason than to prove to myself that those things should not hold us back.
And so begins a new series titled "The Other Day in..." where these odd short videos that I whip together in mere moments shall find license.
And in this moment of writing a smile finds my face because as I write all of this to some future semblance of myself (because who else would care?), I also now know that you may be reading this Brownie, and I love you so truly that it makes me wish I had a post secondary education and could entertain you more with some literary wit. Hearing that you care enough to have read past posts leads me to want to do better in life so I can report great things from a solid, grounded place. Stay tuned.
“When it looks as though you’ve lost everything, take a hard look around because you are in a unique position to learn something.” Kurt Vonnegut Jr.
To be without. To have not. Every moment is defined by need in the essential sense of the word. What is it that you have to have right now, and only now, or in the very immediate future? I need salt. I can live without pepper. I can’t live without fresh flowers.
Blossoms: beauty in a pure essence. For it’s own sake. Not attached to ego or expectation, but with a glimmering hope it may have a chance to become fruit and begin to rot. None of which was important to the first human that gazed amazed at it’s vivacious form and colour. I will spend my last dollar on flowers, and flowers are free.
Everyone has their requirements in life. I don’t require a can opener. I am doing just fine with my 1 knife. I can not collect too many mirrors or vases. Candles. Plants. Television-less yet online. Today none of these possessions can matter- they need to be expendable. Abandon-able. Unattached to me.
Without is not a sad place as one may assume. It is a place of plentiful potential that one must choose to be in in order to remain. It brings with it the fat belly of Buddha, and requires great discipline.
Rain paints the industrial east side in a reflection of the pewter cloud that’s trapped above. Days have begun to model themselves after the trains, trucks and ships loading and unloading. The low cloud cover has made me short sighted. Somehow in finding the world simplified by necessity I’ve opened up the potential of shining a light into the fog. My backpack is light. The way forward is clear. The answer needed to ignite the nitris is also the first rule in Italian racing: never look back.
Creatively bursting at the seams, creative bruises make me flinch. I’m building a whole new team from chapter 1, ground up. It’s a team of 1 to start. We can’t build on mud and broken windows so we’ll have to excavate. That’s extremely painful when you’ve come to like the garden you’ve planted and the crazy animals that were once friends. If we don’t start on level ground everything will keep falling down, so it stands to be extreme. I’ve already dug the hole.
