Interesting. I’ve been contemplating the same question about creative expression, but more prosaically, asking myself “What’s the point?”! One conclusion I’ve reached is that I enjoy the process as much as, or maybe more than, the end result. Another is that what rattles around my head might chime with someone else on the page, and I suspect many of us crave understanding and connection. Unlike you, I’m hopeless at handicrafts, but I also pour energy into the food I make as well as tending to the plants in my modest outside space. I find huge satisfaction in realising my “vision” - although, of course, there’s still lots of trial and error! So yes, creativity, just because - why not?
This resonates with me so much! And I think that's the thing I fear may dribble away over time - the making of stuff just because it's fun, or grounding, or whatever. Cooking, gardening, even just chatting with someone close about the shapes you see in the clouds - it's all creative. But the dissolving of boundaries between the making of things and their publication must impact the process, and where there is such cultural pressure to Insta everything or turn it into a printable or a mini-course - I'm only too aware of the irony of writing a blog post here on Substack declaring that not everything has to be made public! Perhaps that's it - it's part of the wider dissolution between our private and public selves? Making for ourselves is a way many of us try to keep a hold on the private?
Indeed. I suppose one boundary we can impose on ourselves when publishing something close to our hearts is to hang onto exactly that: it’s a personal perspective. We have to be prepared for the fact that someone might not like it. Bending to something consistently palatable, ie clickable, diminishes the originality in an instant, right? So, in fact, putting it out there isn’t only creative, but brave too!
A valuable reminder, yeah 😊 Where the latest clash comes, I guess, is between the creatives who depend on their ‘art’ to make money and the AI-generated stuff that increasingly shapes what people click on, what the algorithms foreground etc. I’m so glad that’s not a path I have to navigate, but I’ve worked with so many young creatives and it’s a tightrope they wobble along precariously or just take themselves off. Much to the detriment, I fear, of the artistic content that gets in front of a public, let alone is able to shape discourse 😔
I love the crochet craft work on the tree. I saw lots of this type of work in the villages and towns we passed through in northwestetn parts of Portugal in 2022.
It's beautiful, isn't it? Yarn bombing is a bit of a thing here, but my favourite was the Biggest Crochet Christmas in the World (!) that was made in a small seaside town a little down the coast from us at Cortegaça. All the palm trees that led up to it had their trunks blanketed in granny squares too!
Thank you, Megan - and you're very welcome! I'd never heard of Vivian Maier before and she and her work just took me into those very Woolfian spaces! She could easily have been written into 'Mrs Dalloway' - can you imagine?!
Another superb and interesting piece Michelle and you have eloquently put into words how this ‘Jack of all trades’ creative feels most of the time 🫣. ‘Art for my sake’ definitely my new mantra xx
You know that I think your artwork is exceptional, Nic! I'm really glad you found yourself in the piece, though - I do have this fear that we could lose something really precious (amongst much): just making for making's sake, for the sheer messy, knotty pleasure it offers the maker. That and the side-eyes it might elicit from those in the vicinity! Thank you for your kind comments 😊
You are too kind! I found this really hard to put together - so many different strands that could be woven - rather as I experience knitting! 😊 I'd really recommend the exhibition, though, if you head city-wards at all x
Interesting. I’ve been contemplating the same question about creative expression, but more prosaically, asking myself “What’s the point?”! One conclusion I’ve reached is that I enjoy the process as much as, or maybe more than, the end result. Another is that what rattles around my head might chime with someone else on the page, and I suspect many of us crave understanding and connection. Unlike you, I’m hopeless at handicrafts, but I also pour energy into the food I make as well as tending to the plants in my modest outside space. I find huge satisfaction in realising my “vision” - although, of course, there’s still lots of trial and error! So yes, creativity, just because - why not?
This resonates with me so much! And I think that's the thing I fear may dribble away over time - the making of stuff just because it's fun, or grounding, or whatever. Cooking, gardening, even just chatting with someone close about the shapes you see in the clouds - it's all creative. But the dissolving of boundaries between the making of things and their publication must impact the process, and where there is such cultural pressure to Insta everything or turn it into a printable or a mini-course - I'm only too aware of the irony of writing a blog post here on Substack declaring that not everything has to be made public! Perhaps that's it - it's part of the wider dissolution between our private and public selves? Making for ourselves is a way many of us try to keep a hold on the private?
Indeed. I suppose one boundary we can impose on ourselves when publishing something close to our hearts is to hang onto exactly that: it’s a personal perspective. We have to be prepared for the fact that someone might not like it. Bending to something consistently palatable, ie clickable, diminishes the originality in an instant, right? So, in fact, putting it out there isn’t only creative, but brave too!
A valuable reminder, yeah 😊 Where the latest clash comes, I guess, is between the creatives who depend on their ‘art’ to make money and the AI-generated stuff that increasingly shapes what people click on, what the algorithms foreground etc. I’m so glad that’s not a path I have to navigate, but I’ve worked with so many young creatives and it’s a tightrope they wobble along precariously or just take themselves off. Much to the detriment, I fear, of the artistic content that gets in front of a public, let alone is able to shape discourse 😔
So true.
I love the crochet craft work on the tree. I saw lots of this type of work in the villages and towns we passed through in northwestetn parts of Portugal in 2022.
It's beautiful, isn't it? Yarn bombing is a bit of a thing here, but my favourite was the Biggest Crochet Christmas in the World (!) that was made in a small seaside town a little down the coast from us at Cortegaça. All the palm trees that led up to it had their trunks blanketed in granny squares too!
Oh fabulous 🎄
😃 That was Christmas Eve, 2024 🎄
Amazing 👏
I remember adoring ‘To the Lighthouse’ when I read it years ago. Woolf is so good at portraying one’s interior world.
The exhibition sounds fascinating. Thanks for sharing with us!
Thank you, Megan - and you're very welcome! I'd never heard of Vivian Maier before and she and her work just took me into those very Woolfian spaces! She could easily have been written into 'Mrs Dalloway' - can you imagine?!
This a beautifully put together piece.
Thank you so much - I really appreciate your comment. It took some work!
Another superb and interesting piece Michelle and you have eloquently put into words how this ‘Jack of all trades’ creative feels most of the time 🫣. ‘Art for my sake’ definitely my new mantra xx
You know that I think your artwork is exceptional, Nic! I'm really glad you found yourself in the piece, though - I do have this fear that we could lose something really precious (amongst much): just making for making's sake, for the sheer messy, knotty pleasure it offers the maker. That and the side-eyes it might elicit from those in the vicinity! Thank you for your kind comments 😊
Don’t ever let anyone say that you can’t write - you write wonderfully
You are too kind! I found this really hard to put together - so many different strands that could be woven - rather as I experience knitting! 😊 I'd really recommend the exhibition, though, if you head city-wards at all x