Art is not always about pretty things, it's about who we are, what happened to us, and how our lives are affected.
Elizabeth Broun
Street Art, Genova
It is your duty in life to save your dream.
Amedeo Modigliani.
Every day here, I wander these ancient streets at some point.
And every day, I see something extraordinary.
I love this photograph. I love the art, and then I love way the tyre track has moved the chalk down and out of the confines of the original drawing.
And that's the other thing about life here in Genova. It's never just ordinary. It's never just street art, or light..
Madeleine L’Engle, Home
We are all strangers in a strange land, longing for home, but not quite knowing what or where home is. We glimpse it sometimes in our dreams, or as we turn a corner, and suddenly there is a strange, sweet familiarity that vanishes almost as soon as it comes…
Madeleine L’Engle, The Rock That is Higher: Story as Truth
Ran Ortner, Painter
... but then came to realise that art is not a cleverness contest. It is not one's capacity to be inventive. It is really an honesty contest ... the capacity to truly be that thing that you are.
Ben Ortner.
Ran Ortner paints the most extraordinary paintings.
I would love to live in a room with his work there on the wall, reminding me of the sea that I love, the sea I'm so far from now.
Here's a documentary (in progress).
Ran Ortner Trailer (documentary in process) from Todd Holland on Vimeo.
A Fabulous Book by Andrew Simonet, Founder and Director at Artists U
Taking power as an artist means going from beggar to partner. Artists who are strong partners thrive. They find resources, connections, and audiences. They don’t wait for opportunities; they create opportunities. Everyone we deal with is a partner (not a parent). Funders, presenters, museums, record labels, and critics are all partners. When we step up as responsive, responsible partners, we can go anywhere.
Simonet, extracted from his book, Making Your Life as an Artist - a guide to building a balanced, sustainable artistic life.
Every artist should read this.
Really. It's that important.
As Val wrote when I posted the link on Facebook, Good resource and point of view with concrete actions to take. They need to give this to students in school.
Val Oliver, an Originator/Creator/Writer/Director/Producer.
Making art will never be an entirely reasonable, rational pursuit. Excess, immersion, wildness, and obsessiveness can all fuel our work. But that doesn’t have to be the way we deal with all aspects of our lives.
Protect the wildness of your art practice. Keep the radical parts radical by cutting out the chaos.
Sustainable means your life can work over the long term. A lot of artists’ lives are built for 23-year-old single, frenetic, healthy, childless workaholics. That doesn’t last. Our lives change and our needs change.
Sustaining is radical.
(Starving is not.)
I Think I Have Stories to Tell Tonight ...
I'm almost sure I have things to say ...
I was accepted by the NYC gallery, as one of their photographers but I couldn't afford them. There was a lot of money involved and, in the end, it seemed more about money than art. I would have loved working with them but by the time Gert and I reached the end of the contract, it was clear. And so very over.
Today a client ... a friend, the lines often blur, sent me a pdf of the book she's been writing. It's full of my photographs from that time when I was working with her, having some of the most excellent adventures and wandering the world, photographing so many friendly and talented artists.
So I'm excited about that.
And I won a prize today. Last Friday, I almost couldn't breathe for stress because I was two weeks behind on my rather intensive marketing course. I sat here at the computer, Saturday, Sunday ... Monday, and mostly caught up. And somewhere along the way, I posted news of my one-day photography workshop for women. It sold out in 12 hours. So I won the prize that I had taken no notice of last week. I was 'that' far behind. I shared the winning with Chris, the one we all knew would win.
I transcribed two Genova interviews this afternoon, then wrote them up as short pieces for a most exciting new Ligurian website launching soon. Photos were sent. And now for the rest. These were the shortest interviews.
It's been slightly manic of late. Life is humming. I'm attending a Māori hāngi in the months ahead. Photos and stories shall surely be posted because I can see how that event might become one of those big old delicious stories, out there on Flanders Fields.
There's talk of Norway and a favourite friend at the end of summer. Lots of photography. And I'm organising a series of 5-day workshops in Genova. If you have ever wanted to work with me then this is the one because I have a truly superb group of Genoese people willing to work with me. However my webpage is still under construction. It's all there, just not the 'Buy' button nor dates. I'm currently looking at July, earlier if there's time for anyone to be interested, then September, October, November.
However, I will get that under control in the days ahead.
Amy Turn Sharp is one of the poets I love best and she has finally published her first collection. I wrote. I have ordered. News of that will follow. Kay McKenzie Cooke is another favourite poet. She has also published a new book. I want to get there too. And Ren Powell is writing and will publish again, I'm sure of it.
Life is good. It's slightly surreal. I'm busy. I'm babysitting Miss 9 for this week-long crocus vacation, and sure enough, there are some little yellow beauties out there in the garden. And in-between everything else, I'm reading my way through a most excellent book ... the Man Booker prize-winning book, The Luminaries, by Eleanor Catton. I shall be sad when it comes to an end.