My life feels so amazingly different than it did a year ago. Back then, I was working at an office job, feeling underappreciated and bored, but grateful to be supporting myself and my kids. Many mornings I cried as I got ready for my day, longing for work that would nourish my soul.
Then, in January, I wrote out a statement of intention about earning my livelihood in the arts. Within a WEEK, I was offered a part time art teaching position, and within two months, a gallery manager position. Was I nervous about accepting these jobs for which I had limited experience? Yes. But take them both, I did: challenging, fun, soul-nourishing work, with amazing people from whom I would learn so much.
I could never have anticipated the avalanche of great things that has come from taking this path. In the beginning, when I was anxious and somewhat stressed about my new roles, my wise and wonderful friend, Steven, asked "Well, do you like what you're doing?" Me: "Yes".
His reply: THAT'S WHEN THE GOOD THINGS HAPPEN.
Truly.
Friday, October 12, 2012
Saturday, July 21, 2012
Summer
This summer has been a unique experience for me.
I'm managing a gallery, which is really fun and interesting in and of itself. Plus, as the gallery is at an art school with a program of summer classes in the arts, I meet many people engaged in creative activities by choice. What I mean is that they value their experience in the arts so much that they use their resources of vacation time and money to be there. So every day I feel a part of a community that values the arts. This is my tribe. It's exhilarating.
The students I've met are so surprising - retired teachers, property managers, optometrists - all learning, risking and sharing the love of an art form. Then there are the teachers - book makers, potters, metal smiths, painters, printmakers - sharing their craft with warmth and kindness. How great is life!
As I'm in the gallery six days per week, I was concerned that I'd have no time or energy left to make my own art. But to my delight the opposite has proved to be true. I'm energized and inspired nearly every day to create. What a fantastic outcome.
Feeling pretty blessed today.
I'm managing a gallery, which is really fun and interesting in and of itself. Plus, as the gallery is at an art school with a program of summer classes in the arts, I meet many people engaged in creative activities by choice. What I mean is that they value their experience in the arts so much that they use their resources of vacation time and money to be there. So every day I feel a part of a community that values the arts. This is my tribe. It's exhilarating.
The students I've met are so surprising - retired teachers, property managers, optometrists - all learning, risking and sharing the love of an art form. Then there are the teachers - book makers, potters, metal smiths, painters, printmakers - sharing their craft with warmth and kindness. How great is life!
As I'm in the gallery six days per week, I was concerned that I'd have no time or energy left to make my own art. But to my delight the opposite has proved to be true. I'm energized and inspired nearly every day to create. What a fantastic outcome.
Feeling pretty blessed today.
Friday, March 23, 2012
Tuesday, March 20, 2012
the meditative quality of repetition
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| pile o pears in slanting light |
Here I am again recounting my experience of crocheting and stitching as meditative, soothing, healing. Maybe that's why my ancestral women did so much of it. Stitch by tiny stitch, healing the frazzled nerves of motherhood, of busy days on the farm, of stretching small resources. Me, I do it 'cause I love color and fiber and texture and form. Oh, and yes! It soothes my raw edges of working motherhood, of co-parenting, of too damn much to do in too little time. And then I cluster them in the last rays of sun on a barely spring day and I feel "Ahh....delightful!"
Joann Tomsche 3/20/12
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