“Rather than considering Max Jacob a failed cubist, a failed surrealist, a failed Jew, or a failure of any sort, I propose to view his marginality as a front, a narrow boundary that belongs to none of the systems it separates yet incorporates them all, something which contains signs of each system, which announces the new yet retains traces of the old.” — Sydney Levy Perhaps it is wise and ...
Failure
Necessary Risk
The issue of risk is absolutely central to being a creative person... I'm a very big believer in starting small and getting feedback from the world and course correcting there. (Source: Michael Ellsberg, The Necessity of Creative Risk Taking | Big Think) If risk-taking is fundamental to creativity as I've repeatedly insisted, then how do we assess what risks are worth taking, how do we to scale ...
Do. Repeat. Excel.
Bear with me for a moment. I'm about to repeat myself. I apologize in advance. “We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.” ~ Aristotle (Source: Excellence Is a Habit ) With so much new ground to cover, so many new ideas to voice, so many new images to birth, why, WHY am I doubling back? Why am I repeating myself? I really dislike repeating myself. It was a bit ...
Great Leaps & Subtle Changes
"The journey from semi-anonymity of the Cardew-inspired piece to the highly identifiable Spira bowl has involved a series of progressions, each one exploring new ideas and diverse thoughts, each of them different interpretations of the classic form of a bowl. Some have involved a great leap, others more subtle moves, all part of a potter finding his own way with clay." ~ Emmanuel Cooper ("Taking ...
Bold Creative Risk
Unfettered by prudence, caution, inhibition. Undaunted by convention or expectation. I have a hunch that many adults — midlife, midcareer, mid marriage, mid mortgage, midway to retirement — grow conscious, subtly at first and then slightly less subtly, creative impulses still linger from way back, dormant instincts to forge something out of nothing. No, that's not exactly right. More alchemy. ...
Midlife Loneliness
Good morning, midlifers. I have an addition to your reading list that sheds a ray of hopeful light on midlife loneliness — both why it's common, and how to counter it — that I highly recommend whether or not you've personally experienced midlife loneliness. Coincidently Josh Cohen' s "Why is midlife such a lonely time?" appeared in The Guardian yesterday afternoon, about 24 hours after three ...