Angst: a philosophical anxiety regarding the world or one's own personal freedom.
When I was an undergraduate student (100 years ago), I chose to not pursue a "creative" field, even though it was (in retrospect) pretty clearly my path. I studied art and philosophy, but I didn't make art or philosophy. I was convinced that everything had already been done before (at least everything worth doing), and that was a good reason to not even attempt to make anything new.
The world we live in makes it nearly impossible not to see all the things people are making every minute of every day. NEW THINGS. The existentially angsty girl (that will always have a place in my heart) gets very agitated about this, and sometimes sorta takes over.
"FUCK, now I can't make that thing because that person already did."
As I continue to wake up and become a more conscious person, I find myself able to calmly say to that unfocused and fearful girl:
"Go back to bed, darling. Put your headphones back on. Scrawl in your journal. Smoke a cigarette. I'll handle this."
When I have my grownup goggles on, I see things differently. The new things that people make don't petrify me, they reflect back to me the quality of what I want to be contributing to the world. When I'm my best/highest self, I rejoice in the fact that someone else managed to find success doing the kind of work that I want to do. It affirms that there is in fact an audience. There is a need. There is a market. There is a reason.
Things that my adult self is excited about, and my adolescent self is rolling her eyes at:
Grace Bonney's new book In the Company of Women: Inspiration & Advice from over 100 Makers Artists & Entrepreneurs. I haven't read the book yet (it's available for preorder) but...
These are the things that are exciting about this book:
- It puts Makers, Artists and Entrepreneurs into a category together. I believe in this.
- It's about women but more specifically: 60% of the people featured are women of color, queer women and women over the age of 60--people that are often underrepresented (or completely absent) from these kinds of discussions. I believe in this.
- It's going to be reallllly pretty bc design sponge. I believe in this.
I really want to write a book. One of the ideas I had was to make a book like this one. The fact that this already exists DOESN'T MEAN I SHOULDN'T STILL MAKE A BOOK.
Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts is excited to announce the launch of “Make/Time” – a new podcast series created by CraftSchools.us. Hosted by Stuart Kestenbaum, the series explores fine craft, inspiration and the creative process through interviews with established craft artists from across the field. The first three interviews feature Tom Joyce, Tim McCreight and Sonya Clark.
I've been wanting to start recording some of the conversations I have with artists and craftspeople about these very subjects, and maybe make a podcast out of it. The fact that this already exists DOESN'T MEAN I SHOULDN'T STILL MAKE A PODCAST.
Adam J. Kurtz is a NYC based artist and author of 1 Page at a Time and Pick Me Up.
His design and illustration is rooted in honesty, humor and a little darkness.
I've been working on being an artist and illustrator and writer of the very same variety. The fact that Adam J. Kurtz is already killing it DOESN'T MEAN I SHOULDN'T STILL MAKE THINGS BASED IN HONESTY, HUMOR AND A LITTLE DARKNESS.
I've never wanted to be in the Olympics. I don't even remember ever really watching the Olympics with any kind of regularity. Last week while at the beach, we watched a lot of swimming as a family. And you know what? Just because I will never be a professional swimmer does not mean I shouldn't get my butt to the pool because there are less than two weeks of Summer left before school starts. Byeee!
In unrelated news, here's this week's truthbomb, brought to you by my friend Michelle's dad. Prints soon.