On the one hand, they take materials in hand and make something. Craft, craft, craft. Depending on their discipline, they maneuver the materials they need (paint, voice, clay, what have you) to create objects, experiences, and ideas that alter something of the way we perceive and navigate our world. On the other hand, sometimes they …
Gillian Wearing: Confessions and Masks
Into our discussion of authenticity comes an artist whose work addresses this head on. Sort of. Gillian Wearing, whose name I did not know, is the first in Newsweek's list The 10 Most Important Artists of Today. A swift look at photographs of her work online suggest a woman interested in hidden layers of common human …
Improvisation, Freedom, and The Will to be Yourself
"In a self-protection mode, we are not truly free to teach, learn, create, improvise, or love." In going through some old papers the other day, I came across a remarkable little article by Dennis B. Plies, a professor of music at Warner Pacific College, in which Professor Plies addresses improvisation. The title of the article …
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17 Steps to Beating Resistance
Keeping the themes of "The War of Art" (by Stephen Pressfield) going one more day, let me ask you this: how did the battle with Resistance go today? Here's how it went for me, and the 17 steps I took (or that I felt myself taking? Or that someone gave me the strength take? Or...) …
On Finishing “The War of Art”
So 24 hours later, I'm through Steven Pressfield's The War of Art. Without looking back at my notes and highlights, here are the take-aways for me, the specifics the little voice inside me is urging me to pay attention to. Stop speculating about art's mysteries. Be a craftsman. Make the work. Every day. The mysteries …
JEFF BERRYMAN 