"The Uses of Enchantment: The meaning and importance of fairy tales" by Bruno Bettelheim
"The Gift" by Lewis Hyde
"Seven days in the art world" by Sarah Thorton
"The lives of Artists" Calvin Tompkins
"Let's See: Writings on art from The New Yorker" by Peter Schjeldahl
"The $12 million stuffed shark: The curious economics of contemporary art" by Don Thompson
"The War of Art" By Steven Pressfield
Sunday, June 14, 2009
Sunday, June 7 Meeting
Conversation Only
Phoebe and Craig's house
OK, it's a week later. School is finally out (for me) and the Lakers have cemented their incredible victory. We are packing for our big trip and I am catching up with you all... (If you are not a Laker's fan, please just accept the fact that you do live in Los Angeles. Life will be much easier that way)...
That was a wonderful meeting! I am sorry that not everyone was available, but it was crunch time for many of us.
Present: Phoebe, Craig, Zelda, Sandy, Peggy, John, Cherrie, Beth, Judith
Our meeting was quite productive, free flowing and motivating.
Everyone was encouraged to come with ideas or topics of conversation.
I raised the question: Why do you make art? and What do you want to do about it?
The first part of the discussion gave everyone a chance to talk about where they started or what it meant to make art. For me, when Peggy said that it helps her been seen and when Sandy said "I wouldn't be Sandy Abrams, if I didn't do what I do", I felt touched and very much connected to these points of view. Of course, much more was said, and people were quite candid.
We bounced around the ideas of commerce, motivation, the role of the artist. It was my fantasy conversation coming true. I appreciated every one's participation.
After this we discussed our goals, big and small. We decided to set small term goals that we would like to achieve either by the next meeting or the fall.
I have written these down in our notebook and will only publish them here if you feel comfortable with that. Otherwise, they are safe in my hands.
We also decided to work on our "Elevator talk" a la the GYST program. We discussed having this together for the next meeting. This is a quickie description, introduction of yourself and your art.
Of course, those not present don't need to account for any of this, unless you would like to. Beth brought the GYST notebook, which looked enormous, but was filled with mountains of pertinent info. It is possible to buy this on disc. Perhaps it would be worth all of us pitching in and buying it for the group, passing it around and sharing. If anyone knows more about this let me know, please.
Other ideas/goals:
-By the next meeting, we decided to have concrete dates and information for our group show. Beth, please check in with Stu about this.
-Zelda suggested compiling a reading list, here on the blog. I love this idea. I will start it and anytime you would like to share anything I will add it. The more information, or any link possible will make it more concrete.
-We also came up with a loose list of the order of the next few studio visits. I've got this in my notebook and want to run it by the rest of the group next time.
I think that this "conversation" visit was a lovely success. We should continue to intersperse these meetings along the way!
Our next meeting: Sunday, July 26
Sandy Abrahm's studio
Long Beach
2:00
Address and directions to follow
Phoebe and Craig's house
OK, it's a week later. School is finally out (for me) and the Lakers have cemented their incredible victory. We are packing for our big trip and I am catching up with you all... (If you are not a Laker's fan, please just accept the fact that you do live in Los Angeles. Life will be much easier that way)...
That was a wonderful meeting! I am sorry that not everyone was available, but it was crunch time for many of us.
Present: Phoebe, Craig, Zelda, Sandy, Peggy, John, Cherrie, Beth, Judith
Our meeting was quite productive, free flowing and motivating.
Everyone was encouraged to come with ideas or topics of conversation.
I raised the question: Why do you make art? and What do you want to do about it?
The first part of the discussion gave everyone a chance to talk about where they started or what it meant to make art. For me, when Peggy said that it helps her been seen and when Sandy said "I wouldn't be Sandy Abrams, if I didn't do what I do", I felt touched and very much connected to these points of view. Of course, much more was said, and people were quite candid.
We bounced around the ideas of commerce, motivation, the role of the artist. It was my fantasy conversation coming true. I appreciated every one's participation.
After this we discussed our goals, big and small. We decided to set small term goals that we would like to achieve either by the next meeting or the fall.
I have written these down in our notebook and will only publish them here if you feel comfortable with that. Otherwise, they are safe in my hands.
We also decided to work on our "Elevator talk" a la the GYST program. We discussed having this together for the next meeting. This is a quickie description, introduction of yourself and your art.
Of course, those not present don't need to account for any of this, unless you would like to. Beth brought the GYST notebook, which looked enormous, but was filled with mountains of pertinent info. It is possible to buy this on disc. Perhaps it would be worth all of us pitching in and buying it for the group, passing it around and sharing. If anyone knows more about this let me know, please.
Other ideas/goals:
-By the next meeting, we decided to have concrete dates and information for our group show. Beth, please check in with Stu about this.
-Zelda suggested compiling a reading list, here on the blog. I love this idea. I will start it and anytime you would like to share anything I will add it. The more information, or any link possible will make it more concrete.
-We also came up with a loose list of the order of the next few studio visits. I've got this in my notebook and want to run it by the rest of the group next time.
I think that this "conversation" visit was a lovely success. We should continue to intersperse these meetings along the way!
Our next meeting: Sunday, July 26
Sandy Abrahm's studio
Long Beach
2:00
Address and directions to follow
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