Let it burn. [a study in letting your art go]
In a recent Show and Tell with Becky Simpson of Chipper Things, she got a group of artists together to share and talk about our work. When the call to action for this came to my attention, I immediately signed up. And let me tell you, it was one of the best things I’ve done for myself in years. Yes. YEARS.
It was so nice to get in a group of fellow creatives and talk shop. I didn’t realize how much I had missed this. After grad school, I went into a phase of detox and rarely spoke of my work. Becky’s zoom call made me realize just how long it has been since I started doing that. SO more on that…later.
Today I wanted to talk about something that I mentioned in my show and tell…something that maybe not a lot of artists may do. Each year I like to wrangle the “almosts-but-not-quites” and gather them all up for a bonfire. Yes…fire. I like to release the work that no longer serves me or no longer speaks to me and I burn it to let it go forth into the universe.
I’ve been doing this off and on since high school. In my undergraduate studies, I remember a particularly challenging portrait we made for our final in life studies. I hated it. Everything about it…except for the hand. So I grabbed my scissors, chopped the hand out of the painting and took the painting to my bonfire that weekend.
Old drawings. Old sketchings. Badly painted life sessions. I have found it to be a great release of my work. In a second show and tell sessions, this time with artist Laura Johnston (an intuitive, artist, love ladies maker and creative human of awesomeness), I brought up my art bonfire again. This sparked (pun partially intended!) a round of chat about the “what-ifs” of this and from there it grew a well-spring of ideas. What if I burn one a week instead and document it. What if it turns into a performance piece. What if I use the ashes for another purpose within my art.
These zoom sessions have been so great for my creative reservoir…one that I didn’t realize was empty. So this Summer I am challenging myself to not only document the process and use the byproducts, but I will continue to see it as a means to free my art-soul up a bit. To let go of that which no longer serves me and to set it loose into the world again.
So, my creative friends…what do you do to release that which no longer artistically or creatively serves you? Let me know below and I look forward to continuing this conversation.
An art burn day capture
image description: two paintings in a burning pit on fire