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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Taproot Theatre’s “Brownie Points”
Theatre as conversation starter: it's a metaphor we often pull out when we're trying to justify theatre's existence. "To teach and to please" was the catchphrase back in the 18th century, and Taproot Theatre's current production--Janece Shaffer's Brownie Points--manifests that ideal explicitly. One of the characters even suggests early in the play that there …
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 …
Two Pennies Left: Why The “How” of a Thing Matters
FYI, up front, this post is not about flowers. It is about content and form in art-making, conversation, and relationship. It's about the connection of human essence and identity to the fundamental, structural realities aesthetic forms demand. It's about the challenge of creating art wherein form and content create a unity of power …
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JEFF BERRYMAN 