A List of Projects is a List of Dreams

One of the things I love about being an artist is that there's really never an end to making things. Even if one project isn't taking my attention, something else is. There are a lot of projects currently in the works including my Yes I Am photo project, my New Orleans vacation assemblage, and my coconut shell mobile.

Then there are the half-abandoned projects, like the numerous half-completed counted cross stitch pieces I have sitting around. The pile of books I started reading that I want to go back to. The home improvement ideas that range from "almost done" to "just a sketch on paper". The stories I've started writing and never finished.

And then there's the list of Things I'd Like To Do Some Day. The list is always evolving. Sometimes I add things, sometimes I outgrow ideas and I remove them. There are no rules for this list. This is the list that keeps me going. Some ideas are fully formed, but just not ready to begin. Other ideas are nothing more than wisps. A color. A texture. A word. A line of a song. Sometimes I think about all the things I'd like to do and it seems so overwhelming. There's no way I'm going to get all these things done in my lifetime. But that's ok. That's not the point. The point is that these projects are dreams, and my dreams are what keeps me going.

Creation is the Ultimate Act of Faith

One of my favorite lines from Rent is, "The opposite of war isn't peace, it's creation!"

It doesn't matter much what you're making. What matters is the act of creation.

Make love. Make dinner. Make music.

Make someone happy.

Make a joke.

Make someone's day.

Make a dream come true.

Make a piece of jewelry. Make a date. Make time.

Make space.

Make-believe.

Make it happen.

Whatever "it" is, whatever you're dreaming, it's up to you to bring it in to being. If we are truly all divine, then it is within the act of making that our divinity becomes visible to others.

What kind of god are you?

Creative DNA

I'm working my way through a new book, The Crafter's Devotional. It's not exactly a workbook, and it's not a how-to book either. It's a set of 52-weeks worth of ideas and activities to help spark and nurture creativity. Today's entry asked an interesting question, along the lines of: If you had to only make one kind of art for the rest of your life, what would it be? What medium expresses your soul?

I'm not sure I have an answer. I am reading a book about assemblage right now, so that seems very appealing off the top of my head. It uses a lot of the same techniques and materials as a lot of other crafts I like. I can include beading, decoupage, altered books and scrap-booking, and all sorts of other things. The trouble is, I don't think I could ever actually limit myself to one medium. I enjoy dabbling in things, and although sometimes I do wish that I had more skill in one area or another, I'm generally thankful that I don't actually have to choose. Jack of all trades, master of none, is a very comfortable place for me to be most of the time.

The question did bring up another idea though. I have this old day-dream of some day making a living (or a retirement) running a small shop where my friends and I can sell our arts and crafts. I have so many talented friends: jewelers, photographers, a leatherworker, musicians, fine artists, seamstresses, assemblage-makers... the list just goes on. I wish there were a place I could gather us together to share our work and our worries, our joy, our struggles, and our successes. It would be wonderful if we could actually sell some stuff, but the real point is to have a community of people who encourage us to make what we want to make, and to have a place to share those items with the world. I've always imagined it being a little shop in a New England-ish setting, with lots of sunlight pouring through the windows and tons of foot traffic wandering past and drifting in because something in the window catches their eye. I don't know what we'd call it. I already have my own "brand", and most of my crafty friends do too, so we'd need a name for the shop that was its own thing. In the spirit of creative dreaming, I'm taking suggestions!