Today someone in my sculpture class asked me what artists I liked. I couldn’t answer him and that shocked me. I had lots of names swimming around in my head but I was struggling to think of a single artist whom I feel my work is connected to AND of whom I am more than casually familiar with. I just couldn’t answer him. He asked me if I liked Coke or Pepsi and I told him neither, and that I liked root beer. I think there’s a lot to that answer. It’s been harder for me to find the root beer. But mostly, it’s been hard for me to find the time.
I’ve gotten to know the works of many painters, but not many artists that are doing whatever it is that I’m doing. This is a problem that stems from just having zero down time. I spend every “free” moment either trying to read for my next weekly paper, doing updates to the LRVS website, or our twitter, playing with Juniper, or trying to frantically get caught up on my sculpture class work, or trying to give my mentor the time and energy she deserves from me so I can glean the knowledge I need to get out of her. I study when I eat, I update the website while I am on the pot, and I read until I fall asleep. I even study during Juniper’s bedtime. There isn’t any space in my life to do the deep inquiry I desperately need to be doing so that I feel more anchored in my own artistic practice. So, I add this to my To Do List: Make a list of artists who’s work is in the realms of what I’m trying to do and do some research on each one. I pile this to do list on top of all the other to do lists and add a to do item to sort and order my to do lists. Obviously this is not happening and I just have to try to stay strapped in and get as much done as I can.
I’m dog paddling up white water rapids. I only pause here momentarily as an attempt to catch my breath. Five more weeks until winter break. Then we start up all over again in January. I AM enjoying the ride at least. Then again, I’ve always been a glutton for punishment.