The American painter Chuck Close, said, ‘inspiration is for amateurs’.
Famously, he’s never had artist’s block, because he simply trusts in the creative process. His advice for artists is to show up and start, and see where the process leads you.
We should draw comfort from this, we don’t need to feel inspired, or be in the mood to create. Art making is not a sacred activity, in fact every mark we make is a departure point, and every face, object, thought, or dream is ripe subject matter.
For example, right now, I’m not feeling particularly moved, but I’m writing anyway in the tiny pea-green kitchen of my clapped-out caravan. The chip-board table has a crook leg and it’s limping on every word. The valley is shrill with cicadas feeding off their own drama, and as if on cue, the westerly sounds along the ridge and a spotted gum drops its crown to the forest floor with a great crack like polar ice breaking. Yet I feel strangely cocooned in here, like a passenger in John Brack’s car. The van windows have sliced the yellowing hillsides into safe cigar-box paintings and stuck them to the ply as if they’re prints from the Heidelberg School. The western sky is rolling darkly on itself, teasing. Summer has arrived, and there’s just enough water in the spring to flush the dunny one more time…
There’s enough material right here on either side of these fraying insect screens for something…I’m not sure what, but I agree with Chuck Close, we don’t need to summon the muse before we start making, and we don’t need to travel far to find our subjects. Like Miro’s line going for a walk, pick up your pencil, tap your keys, and see where it takes you.
However, like the spring on our property, an artist’s reserves can run dry. I find the words of Australian artist and author, Shaun Tan, encouraging on this. And while he doesn’t like to use the word inspiration particularly, he does suggest that we must live a life that’s open to inspiration and experiences in order to create.
Our dunny door
In his book ‘The Bird King : An Artist’s Notebook’, Tan talks about the cultivation of creativity like a gardener. He sees the artist as a tree that must draw from a rich compost of experience ‘- things seen, read, told, and dreamt – in order to grow leaves, flowers, and fruit. Art, following the laws of horticulture, can only make something out of something else; artists do not create, so much as transform…’
Tan says, ‘artists need to work hard to make sure their creative soil is well tilled and fertilised. They need to look outward and actively accumulate a swag of influences to bring along with them when taking that line for a walk…’
This has been my year of travel. I don’t say that to brag, I’m not well travelled by any stretch, but transformative experiences happened, and new opportunities came about because I left the safety of what I already knew. The potters I met this year in the poorest neighbourhoods in India, over a wedging table in Bali, and in the villages and vibrant cities of China, all revealed to me new ways of seeing, and those experiences are informing my work in the most wonderful and surprising ways.
We don’t need to wait for inspiration. Inspiration is calling us to come and play, it’s courting us constantly. We just need to say, yes.
In her ‘Conversations‘, American poet Maya Angelou says, ‘Life loves the liver of it. You must live, and life will be good to you, and give you experiences.’
BOOM! I love that. You’ll sure as hell eat some shit sandwiches along the way, heck, you’ll even make some for yourself, but Angelou is spot on. ‘Life loves the liver of it.’ Amen, sister!
Next year, I’m pushing out into the deep, and I want you to join me.
In the coming weeks, I’ll be talking on the blog about plans that are brewing for making big clay magic with you in 2017.
Call me an amateur, but I hope you’ll step outside the caravan with me and fill your spring.
It’s gonna be inspiring, it’s gonna be transformative, it’s gonna involve passports, it’s gonna be JUST FOR WOMEN, and if anything potters – like a Summer storm – it’s gonna be BIG!
Stay tuned, or sign up to the newsletter here and be the first to hear all the juicy details.
xClaire aka Pinky & Maurice
Beautiful writing Claire. I think you might have a ‘great Australian novel’ inside you as well as a potting project. Going on a journey is a transformative experience. I came back from Spain, especially going to Montserrat with a desire for something great ‘brewing ‘inside me. Like you it is going to have to do with some kind of ‘Women’s business’. Can’t wait to read and hear about the project as it unfolds. I have a friend dreaming dreams for running quilting and sewing workshops on her property and building cabins to stay. I think we are all looking in different ways at helping people to tap into creativity and getting away from consumerism.
Thanks so much for reading Mary!
Having a great Australian novel inside me would be a great thing wouldn’t it! I think I’d even settle for a mediocre, or an average novel! Ha! 😉 I’ll keep taking the line for a walk and see where it goes. I recently met a local writer who has a very small writing gang, and she thought they might let me join their posse.
How are your students all going with their stories?
XClaire
Hi again Mary,
Sorry, I couldn’t see all of your comment before!
I can’t wait to hear more about your travels and how they unfold. Your friends dream is a beautiful one, and needed too I think! We have some similar feelings about our bush property that it might become a retreat for artists, at the moment it’s an important retreat for us. It’s been great to have a place where we can go that forces us to disconnect from our phones and screens. I write on a screen there too, but it’s great that I don’t get distracted online when I’m mid way through a sentence!
xClaire
I was thinking about what it is about going to a new place that is so affecting. One thing I noticed on the pilgrimage was that every moment seemed to be significant. I’ve tried to take that attitude back to my daily life here in God’s country on the North Coast. Hope to see you and Luke and the boys over the holidays.
thanks for sharing.. and I’m sure the Bali workshop will be wonderful
Hi Anna!
Thanks so much for taking the time to comment here 🙂
The workshops at Gaya are so unique, and this one I think might be particularly special.
Feel free to join in the fun!
xClaire