How’s about a little deep dive, darlings?
Artifice Season 5 wrapped up in June, and Season 6 is LOCKED AND LOADED, ready for release starting in August. I can’t wait! It’s…seriously the most diverse and vibrant overall season yet. Weeee!
It’s such a wonder to listen to other artists share their stories—the ebbs, the flows. It always leaves me reflecting on my own processes and happenstances. Any BOY have I had some processes and happenstances lately. 😵💫
I’m at the beginning of some things, the end of others, in the middle of more…it’s a ripe time for reflection. And my June Artifice guests had some lovely thoughts on life’s many seasons.
I am SO inspired by Michael’s story. It’s so clear his story is an art-filled one, despite the fact that the bulk of his career has been spent working in the sciences, and in business (an aside—I’m always talking about how creativity and artfulness don’t belong exclusively to professional artist, and Michael is a SUPERB illustrator of this principle).
Michael has lived so many places and done so many things. His life is filled to the brim with serendipity—and from his perspective, there’s nothing passive about it. He told me, “serendipity requires that you be a risk taker.” I couldn’t agree more!
We talked about curiosity as resourcefulness. We talked about the ways that art can transport us, and give us permission to feel things we don’t usually feel. We talked about actively believing in the smallest nuggets of an idea—watering those little seeds, keeping an open heart and mind to life’s possibilities.
There’s little I love more than thinking of life as the biggest art project of all. And I LOVE seeing older artists continuing to see their lives as actively-unfolding. It doesn’t matter how long we’ve done a certain thing, or been a certain way…our lives can ALWAYS pivot. It’s such a freeing idea.
Along similar lines, Shiloh and I talked about the evolution of our values as creative women in our youngish adulthoods. We both find ourselves in a period of individuation—thoughtfully considering which built-in [family, community-of-origin] values we actively choose moving forward, and which to mindfully shed.
Together, we lamented a bit on the pressure artists (humans in general?) feel to narrow and niche ourselves into such small boxes when we know we’re multi-faceted—when we have SO many interests and authenticities. “I’m every woman,” as it were haha. And we ARE! I think all of us are.
Shiloh reminds herself (and me) that it’s never too late to explore a new avenue, a new identity, a new way of being in the world. She said, “it’s always the beginning.” You can start anytime.
It is always the beginning. Every moment is the start of something. “Wasted time” is a bullshit concept ill-applied to the actively alive. And there’s no such thing as “too late.” Nothing is over until you decide it’s over (except relationships, duh).
And anyway. Three summers into a world-changing pandemic, global unrest peaked in so many ways, it is SO easy to feel that “too late” feeling—like beginnings are pie-in-the-sky, like positive change belongs exclusively to another time and place.
And I do feel those things so often, as I’m sure you do.
But…there are choices to be made, new trails to blaze, new projects to fall in love with. And I’m just really focusing my heart on those big new loves, dreaming and scheming away.
So. What are you beginning lately?
Thoughtfully yours,
Em
P.S. Bleed in Color is coming your way IN TWO DAYS! I have just…failed to tell you much about her. But I can’t wait to introduce her to you.
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