Project Progress

PROJECT PROGRESS: To date, I have collected three gallons of pennies! Will tally them soon. Check here for Project Progress throughout the year.





Tuesday, April 19, 2011

Emotions and Progress

This project is turning out to be about emotions and ideas: Gratitude. Appreciation. Admiration. Community. Sharing. Participation. Creativity. Expression. Symbolism. Financial Concerns vs. Art For Art's Sake (a big dilemma for artists). Giving Back. Individual Taste. Merging Input.

And specifically for me it's about:  Staying Open. Being Patient. Allowing Things to Develop At Their Own Pace. Putting Myself "Out There." Separating Myself From My Art. Accepting That I Might Fail (and very publicly, at that). Being Flexible. Weathering Disappointment and Disillusionment (at times). Keeping Focus. Persevering. Facing Apathy. Risking Rejection. Feeling (sometimes) Over-Committed and Under Qualified. Needing Help. Creating Buzz. Second Guessing Myself. Listening. Personal Growth. Stretching Beyond My Comfort Zone.

The year is 1/4th over... 3/4ths to go. I have jars full of pennies, bunches of ideas about what to create, several suggestions for a charitable component. The project is moving along. An art teacher friend of mine has her class participating by collecting pennies and will be having them get on this blog to contribute their ideas. Other people have expressed excitement and a desire to be involved. I have other artists lined up to help with the actual creation (as a digital artist and maker of decoupage toilet seats and painted bark bustiers, I don't have much experience with sculpture or installations - actually, I don't have any (and that's the fun part)! I've received some good publicity about the project. I'm still psyched about it and am giving it constant thought and attention... So much so that it's probably taking most of my creative energy and my "real," or "other," or "old" media and art forms (the digital, the toilet seats, and the bustiers) are suffering a little from lack of attention and interest. But I love working on something new. Learning new skills and techniques and ways of expressing myself, ways of communicating thoughts, ideas, values, and emotions. I have no definite idea of what the final product will be... I only hope I can convey all of these wonderful (and not so wonderful) feelings. Certainly a year gives me lots of time to live with these emotions and let them percolate and congeal into something less ambiguous than the hazy sensations of comfort and discomfort that one generally feels. Once that happens, I think the final design for the project will become clear!