EVOLUTION IN ART IS INEVITABLE
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Sometimes in our art practice we feel the call to move elsewhere in our work. It seems to arrive as a stirring and a quiet dissatisfaction with what we’re making. It can arrive even if we have worked for a while and have developed a solid working structure and a recognizable voice. It can come even if we have had some measure of success with the work we have been making – both in how we feel about it and how it has been received. We may have been consistently focused on an aspect of our artistic development, working with a set of intentions, or building a body of work…and, we know this has benefitted us greatly, yet we feel compelled to move somewhere else.
The work of an artist is to be attuned to these drivers that propel our work forward into new territory, as unsettling as they can be. And, more importantly, artists need to be willing to take risks in their work throughout their lifetime as an artist. Risking is the fuel of creativity, igniting our artist’s bones and drawing us towards something we have not yet discovered for ourselves. It’s how we are being called to evolve.
It may begin with a feeling of dissatisfaction with where you are, or it may be a feeling of longing towards something yet undiscovered. However it arrives for us, we feel it, and we can welcome it with our curiosity and courage, because that’s what artists do. That is what keeps us alive in the work and how the work offers back to us another layer of meaning and deep connection to self. Creativity expands us and calls forth our growth. This is natural and something we want to embrace in our art practice.
What often gets in the way of this evolutionary process in art-making is our attachment to where we have been, and the certainty that offers us.
Art-making is inherently challenging by its very nature. It strips away the conventional approaches that we typically use in our day to day lives and asks us to trust the unknown, to go forward when we don’t know where we’re going, or if there will be anything of value when we get there. So, we hesitate and we convince ourselves that we’re better served to stay put…after all, it’s working for us. We’re making our art and we have an approach that we know works…why mess with that?
At this point the inner struggle between staying and moving can become a drain on us, simply because we’re choosing security instead of the creative adventure. We want the results and the certainty of acceptance for the work – our own and others’. But as the dissatisfaction grows we lose connection with the very essence of why we make art in the first place. We have moved from creators to producers. We produce what we know we can do, and we have stopped evolving.
When we begin to place value in our evolution and the creative process itself, we begin again with seed planting, as the author and music producer, Rick Rubin, shares in his book ‘The Creative Act.’ We can regenerate an idea that we may have set aside when we narrowed our focus and set out clear intentions to work with. That seed can now be watered and explored to see what it could become. And, regardless of what comes forth in that process, the value is in what we discover and where that takes us.
It’s important to remember that when we evolve in our work we don’t abandon what we have done before, or where we have been and what we have learned. We carry all of our experience and learning with us as we meet this new place of discovery and innovation. Everything we connect and play with in this exploration phase is informed by what already resides within us – our artist’s internal library of information, sensibilities, knowledge and experiences. I find that extremely comforting, and at the same time something to pay attention to for its pull on me. It’s a delicate balance to hold.
As I recently faced this need to move elsewhere in my own work, I recognized the inner struggles that were bubbling up and active within me. They were familiar in many ways, and invited me to pay attention, get curious, and extend compassion to the part of me that was unsure if moving somewhere else in the work was such a good idea.
While I was comfortable sharing some of my early experiments with my peers and private communities, I noticed I wasn’t talking about this more broadly through my social media platforms. I was holding back a space from external commentary because it might have felt confusing or conflicting for me, and I needed to be my own counsel here. I knew that I needed to protect my sprouting efforts from my inner critic’s trampling voice. And, for me, there is nothing like exposing myself to others to bring up those inner voices for me to work with. So I asked myself if I could give myself permission to hold a space for me not to share, to just do the work and reflect. This seemed so important to do.
I am still in the deep exploratory seeding stage with my work right now, but there are things that are beginning to form and feel more solid for me. And, as a Creativity Coach, I am learning from my own experience and understanding some of the nuances of this time and cycles of the creative work. Here is what I know and understand so far:
Artists must evolve in their work and it will generate discomfort to do that.
We will know when the time is right for that if we are attentive to our inner stirrings and longings. Apathy towards what we are creating is likely a clue that a move is coming, or needed.
The value in moving elsewhere in the work is in what you’ll discover and the reward you’ll feel in the growth and evolution, not the end product itself. That need for a result – a successful work of art – needs to be set aside at this time. We need to revisit and renew our healthy relationship to failure.
If you can commit to what you’re doing as valuable and set-up both an internal and external space for yourself that allows you to not judge anything too soon, you’ll give yourself the best opportunity to connect with what is wanting to come through.
Being choiceful about who you share your budding attempts with is crucial. This may be the time to generate some selective privacy for yourself. Your audience will understand and you can also educate them as to why this is necessary and a vital part of the creative life and work.
You will be carrying with you everything you know and have created. Nothing is being abandoned or negated. You are building on your own history. Trust this implicitly and open a space for things that are unfamiliar, out of your typical and habitual approaches. It’s actually easy to stay with what we know and where we have been…it’s much harder to move away from that. So, we take it with us and see what else is possible by asking that very question of everything we’re doing – what else is possible in what I already know and do?
It will take as long as it takes…and there will be a strong pull to go back to what is comfortable. Stay where you are and don’t surrender to what is easy. You’re an artist and you know how to do hard things, you do it every single time you choose to make your work. Remember who you are and why evolution is essential to you finding lifelong meaning in your creative work.
You’ll be surprised, unsettled, unsure, and invigorated. You’ll feel very alive…and you’ll remember that art-making is a force of nature, a force within you that must be expressed fully.
Take the leap…it will be worth it.
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