Ricë Freeman-Zachery's Blog, page 2

Destination: Creativity Blog Hop!

Starting Monday, we're going to have nine days of chances to win one of nine copies of my new book, Destination: Creativity. I wanted to give you a heads-up so you can plan to visit their blogs and toss your name in the hat by commenting on their posts.
Monday, October 3rd: Melanie TestaTuesday, October 4th: Seth ApterWednesday, October 5th: Mary Beth ShawThursday, October 6th: Carla SonheimFriday, October 7th: Lisa Myers BulmashSaturday, October 8th: Melissa ManleySunday, October 9th: Deryn MentockMonday, October 10th: Jen CushmanTuesday, October 11th: Jill Berry
I'm so lucky to know such generous and talented people, and I can't wait for you to visit their blogs and get to know them and their work!

The Big Reveal: Thomas Mann's New Book!

First, some background to explain why this is so exciting to me: last year during the Big-Ass Eastern Road Trip, when we drove ("we" meaning The Ever-Gorgeous Earl, who drove every stinkin' inch of the entire trip) 8002 miles through 29 states, attending art retreats and doing book signings, we went to Bead& Button in Milwaukee, where we met up with Tonia Davenport, my Lovely Editor, and I got to introduce her to Thomas Mann. Now, of course they already who who the other one was--of course. They're at the top of their respective fields, so of course they did. But they hadn't met, and I got to do that. And now, a year and a half later, the fruit of that introduction arrives: Tom's brand-new book with North Light, Metal Artist's Workbench: Demystifying the Jewelers' Saw. So you can see why I'm kind of jazzed, right? I love being a matchmaker for artists and editors, readers and artists, organizers and instructors--all of those people.
Tonia gave me a head's up that the advance copy was being shipped to Petaluma, where Tom's teaching. When we met up with him yesterday, he'd already received it but hadn't had time to open it. I convinced him to let me keep it until this morning at breakfast--nothing like being put on the spot when you're seeing something for the first time, huh? He's a great sport, though, and this was WAY fun for everyone. See?

Breakfast Panel Discussion at Art Is Petaluma

Hello, my little chickadees! We're in Petaluma, California, for Art Is Petaluma, and my gig this morning was a panel discussion with some of my favorite artists: Keith LoBue, Thomas Mann, Michael deMeng, Albie Smith, Leighanna Light, and Thomas Ashman.  The topic I gave them was their other passion--what other abiding interest feeds the work they do? I used my stitching as an example: the handwork and altered clothing is something that supports the writing I do as My Real Work--when I do handstitching, my brain relaxes and gets ideas.
Never mind that it was early and some of them had jet lag (Keith flew in from Australia, and I had to go down and call him and wake him up; but that was OK--he's worth the wait, right?), they were fascinating and funny and inspiring. Here's a snippet where someone in the audience asked how they dealt with their own internal critics. Listen especially to Keith's recitation at the end--everyone loved this a lot.

Destination: Creativity--Wait! There's More!

First of all: yes. We really did go to all those retreats. We didn't fake it or phone it in, using the map and the little toy truck and plane to pretend we went when actually it was just me sitting here in front of the computer doing it all virtually.  We really did travel all those 19,600 miles last year, the two of us out on the road. That's why I'm pretty sure there will never be another book like this because 1) it's not the kind of thing most people are going to spend a year doing and 2) I am not going to do it again. Oh, no. Not unless someone buys us a tour bus. You know, one of those with a king-sized bed, an on-board chef, and a jacuzzi. So this is pretty much a one-of-a-kind thing here. I hold this book in my hands and remember last year and go, "Whoa. What a ride!" And just think: you get to share in all the fabulous parts without having to experience the hairy coffee carafe in the La Quinta Inn & Suites in Columbia, South Carolina.
You're welcome!
I realized this past week that almost everyone thinks the book is about our travels to various art retreats, with photos and stuff. Yeah, that's in there, for sure, but it's way, way more than that--documenting the retreats was only a tiny part of the reason we did this book. The real reason was to show that these gatherings are important for lots of reasons and then--and really important!--show you how you can snag a little bit of that energy and community and inspiration even if you haven't ever been to a big retreat and don't really see any chance of going in the near future. Cos I know they're expensive, and I know times are tough, and I know people need hits of inspiration now more than ever. People who think the book is just about going to the big retreats ask me if I don't think this is a bad time, economically, for a book like this, and I go, "Eeek! You've got to read it! It's the opposite of what you're thinking!"
I want you to experience the big retreats. They are, literally, life-changing. Everyone should go to at least one, and if you can swing it, go to as many as you can. Dale Wigley, does, and you can read what she has to say about them. At 82, she hardly ever misses one of them, and that right there says a ton. I don't know about you, but I want whatever she's found that gives her this energy.
While there are those of us who can spend our entire creative lives working in isolation, never meeting up with anyone else who shares our love of rusty stuff or old fabric or wax or collage, most of us really crave spending a little time with people who Get It, people who think painting is more interesting than politics and encaustic is more entrancing that television. People who would rather talk about color than shopping and would rather be playing with dye than getting a pedicure. But many, many of us (hello! That would be me!) live in creative isolation, in communities where there aren't art groups or cooperative galleries or art walks. I know this, and you know this, because you've heard me whine here before about how I've tried to form a local group of people to meet in the evenings and sit and sketch and stitch and knit or whatever, and just talk about stuff. Nothing formal, no meetings, no dues, no agenda--just people sitting together doing what they love and talking about ideas.
I have failed. Over and over (I even got a group going at Barnes and Noble, years ago, but after the second meeting, when the topic of discussion appeared to be, for the second week in a row, "Why My Life Sucks Because I'm Not Rich," I gave up).
While I obviously don't have a clue about how to get a local art group going, I do have ideas about how to organize small, local retreats--even if it's just you and a couple of friends. Because I think that, if you do that, it can grow. With luck, it could turn into something more permanent, like--whoa!--an art group. See? You come at it backwards.
Now, this isn't about creating more big, national retreats. Not at all. I really don't believe we need a ton of those competing for attendees, and the ones we've got are doing a great job, in my opinion. But I do think we need something in every state, something smaller but no less inspirational and well-organized, so that everyone, no matter where they live and how limited their budget, can find a way to experience the energy of taking good workshops and meeting top-notch instructors and sitting down and talking with other creative people. It would be good for instructors who are trying to make a living teaching, and it would be good for attendees. I think it would be good for the big retreats, as well, because I think once people get a taste of how fabulous a retreat is, they're going to want more of it.
For something like that, I think you have to start out small. Your goal isn't to get huge; it's to make something available to the people where you live. So there're tons of tips in the book to help you think about how you might make that happen, starting with maybe just you and your cousins.
Then, because I know that that wouldn't work for everyone--you're too isolated, or you really don't want to hang out with other people, or you have no organizational skills for stuff like this (me, again! While I know *how* to do it, I don't have it in me to actually *do* it), we included five complete workshops that you can do at home, by yourself (or, of course, with friends or your next-door neighbor and her sister-in-law). Step-by-step instructions and detailed photographs will lead you through projects by fabulous nationally-known instructors who really, really generously agreed to share the instructions that are their bread and butter: these people make part of their living teaching these workshops, and they've made them available to you for the price of the book. I don't know about you, but people's generosity just continues to amaze me. If you ever get a chance to take a workshop from one of these people, please do. And please tell them thank you.
So you get "Las Vegas Drawing Extravaganza" with Carla Sonheim:





And a "Wrapped In Silk Bangle Bracelet" with Deryn Mentock:





"Neptune's Necklace" with Melissa Manley:





A "Centipede Stitch" with Daniel Essig:



And "Free to Create" with Jesse Reno:


How's that for diversity? And fabulousness? You get to experience a top-notch workshop right now, without having to wait or pack or go through airport security. (Plus you'll find out tips for when you *do* pack to go to a big retreat. Think "warm socks.")
How did I pick these workshops? I picked stuff I wanted to know more about, stuff I didn't know *anything* about but found intriguing, and I tried to make it as broad as possible: painting, drawing, stitching, wire-work, and metal work.
So the scope of the book is really broad: it's a yearbook of our personal adventure, and it's information about retreats--the really big ones (Artfest, Art Unraveled, Art & Soul), a boutique retreat (Adorn Me! which is just about jewelry), some of the huge shows that aren't really retreats but that offer tons of workshops (Bead&Button, International Quilt Festival), and a small, local retreat here in Texas (Shady Ladies, now renamed as Artful Texas, I think). That last is what I want to encourage in every state. Sure, it's a ton of work. Sure, you won't make a ton of money. But one of the things I learned from talking to organizers is that they didn't go into this from, say, a job in banking, thinking, "This seems like a way to make a ton of money." Most of them went into it thinking, "I'd love to be able to take workshops closer to home." They wanted something they'd enjoy, so they made it happen. I'd like to see that happen on a smaller, local level, too. I want an annual retreat in Texas, and because Texas is a really big place, I think it could do with more than one. And if there were one in New Mexico? We could drive to that. Ditto Arkansas, and Oklahoma. And for y'all who live in places where other states are even closer? You could probably make a day trip to any one of a number of states if they had a retreat that was offering a workshop you wanted to take.
Anyway, I really believe there's something here for everyone. Melissa got to see our advance copy, and she says it's like a yearbook for instructors and attendees. Christi Friesen saw it, and she said she's even more intrigued about teaching at a mixed media retreat (she's pretty much booked up with bead shows and international teaching, but we're working on her). People who wanted to get into one of Dan's workshops but couldn't make it to Valley Ridge? They can learn his fabulous centipede stitch. The organizers who generously hosted us? They can use the book to show people, "See? This is what we're all about here."
And us? Me and The EGE? We get to look at this thing we created together and go, "Wow. What a ride!"
So now if anyone says, "Oh, that book that's about Ricë and The EGE going to art retreats," please tell them, "Wait! There's more~~a whole lot more!"

XO

Destination: Creativity--The Life-Altering Journey of the Art Retreat

Been wondering what it's all about? Here's everything you could want to know about our new book~~

Woo-Hoo!

Look what showed up on our porch today: Check the brand-new link over there on the left--ready for pre-order at amazon.com. Yay!
There'll be more--we've got a lot planned in the next couple months, so stay tuned~~

The Fabulous Jeanie Thorn

You know me + rocks. I love rocks! So when I saw what Jeanie does with rocks and welded steel, well. I had to find out more. And then it turns out that she's really fun to talk to and is enthusiastic and excited about what she's doing--a bonus!
Go here to see her work--if you go to the available work, you can see the pieces I mention in our conversation.
As always, you can listen through Notes from the Voodoo Lounge in iTunes (there's a link over there on the right) or go to my podcast host blog page at libsyn.com, or you can just click on the cute little player below.

You know me + rocks. I love rocks! So when I saw what Jea...

You know me + rocks. I love rocks! So when I saw what Jeanie does with rocks and welded steel, well. I had to find out more. And then it turns out that she's really fun to talk to and is enthusiastic and excited about what she's doing--a bonus!

Go here to see her work--if you go to the available work, you can see the pieces I mention in our conversation.

As always, you can listen through Notes from the Voodoo Lounge in iTunes (there's a link over there on the right) or go to my podcast host blog page at libsyn.com, or you can just click on the cute little player below.

You know me + rocks. I love rocks! So when I saw what&nbs...

You know me + rocks. I love rocks! So when I saw what Jeanie does with rocks and welded steel, well. I had to find out more. And then it turns out that she's really fun to talk to and is enthusiastic and excited about what she's doing--a bonus!
Go here to see her work--if you go to the available work, you can see the pieces I mention in our conversation.
As always, you can listen through Notes from the Voodoo Lounge in iTunes (there's a link over there on the right) or go to my podcast host blog page at libsyn.com, or you can just click on the cute little player below.

Creative Time and Space: What's In Your Head?

So how's it going with you? Have you been thinking about time and space and, most important: have you been thinking about your attitude about your creative life and how the time and space in your actual daily life reflect the way you think about what you do? 
Whew.
Go back and read Chapter 6: Mental Space, and really spend some time thinking about what goes on in your head all day long. If you're like most of us, there are recurring patterns of thoughts that fill your brain. Maybe in the morning you're thinking about what you've got to do that day, and your brain fixates on something--doing taxes, maybe, or getting someone to come look at the furnace or trying to figure out what's wrong with the sewing machine--and it's there, in your head, over and over all day long. Or maybe you hate your day job, and as you plod through those 8 hours, your brain is kvetching about your co-workers and the insane workload and how cold the office is and how much you hate your boss and how many years you have left until retirement and whether that's even going to be a possibility in this economy. Maybe you have big concerns--an illness, an aging parent, a rebellious and foolish child, a distant partner. Maybe there are several of these going around and around and around in your brain all day long, never leaving any space up there to think about color or pattern or what if's. 
What can you do? Well. All kinds of people will tell you all kinds of ways to work with this, from drugs to therapy to church. I don't know about any of those; all I know about is one thing. Oh, wait:  I do know about drugs! I know about St. John's Wort and estrogen, two things that have seemed to make a huge difference in my own brain's functioning, and in a good way. But that's just me, and I don't recommend those to other people any more than I would recommend cutting off all your hair and dyeing what's left a brilliant orange:  what works for me won't necessarily work for you. 
But, sweeties, if you've been around The Voodoo Cafe for very long, you know I've been maybe just the tiniest bit of a worrier my whole entire life. The unfunny, non-Monk-ish part of OCD (obsessive-compulsive disorder) is the obsessions, the worry, the things your brain won't let go. Oh, they don't show you that in movies and on tv, because that's not funny. It's not sexy or quirky or cute, like wearing tissue boxes on your feet or touching every parking meter as you walk down the sidewalk. It's tedious, it's tiring, it's scary. I've dealt with this all my life, since as far back as I can remember--grade school, way, way before I had any idea what was going on in my head. So I can kind of speak to the whole issue of worry and obsession, and I've thought rather a lot about the way my brain works. In the years since, I've come not just to live with my brain and its oddities but to understand and even admire much of what goes on in there. In truth, I love my brain, and I do what I can to have a really great relationship with it. You don't need to have OCD, or any other brain weirdness, to benefit from getting to know your brain and how it works and what makes it happy.
And the one thing that has worked for me more than anything else in  learning how my own brain works, what makes it miserable and what makes it happy and how to give it--and me--some degree of peace, is simple. Not with drugs, not with therapy, not with snapping a rubber band on my wrist every time my brain starts telling me I'm going to end up as a toothless, homeless bag lady covered in scabs, sleeping in a dumpster.
What has worked for me? Meditation. Meditation has worked wonders. Now don't start rolling your eyes and heaving the big sigh and grousing about how I'm getting all touchy feely over here. Nope. I don't use beads or chants or any of that, because, for me, meditation isn't a part of a religious practice. For many people, it is. For me, it's about learning to know my brain, so it's about mindfulness meditation. And while I don't have a regular practice--meaning I don't sit down and meditate regularly--there was a long period of time when I did, and I learned a lot--a ton, an amazing amount--in that time. And I'm trying to get back to doing it regularly because I know there's a ton more to learn. And, also, it just feels great. Once you get into meditation and discover that little bit of bliss, you want to be there as often as possible.
OK. I am not a meditation teacher, and there is a lot I don't know, so I can't guide you here. You're going to have to go out and find out what you need to know from some better source. I'm sorry. All I can tell you is my own experience and what I've learned so far, and that is:  
~~I am not the thoughts in my head.~~Everything is in constant flux--change is happening right now. And now. And now. And now. Ad infinitum.~~It is possible to separate yourself from the thoughts in your head and create space around them, and that's where creativity can flourish.
Once you learn to observe your brain and see, dispassionately, what it's doing, you can step back and take a deep breath and move on. When you're hit with a wave of hopelessness or despair or sadness, you can breathe and know it will pass, rather than heaving the big sigh and taking a package of Oreos and spending the rest of the day in bed, wallowing in self-loathing and crumbs. 
What does this have to do with creativity? Everything! When you find yourself obsessing over something--your child's drug problems, your money worries, your job--you can resist grabbing onto that thought and, instead, let it pass by. You can find out more about how to do this with any good guide to mindfulness meditation, but the secret, for me, is this:  in the morning, when I wake up, I make a list of the things I need to do that day. This is where you put the concrete steps you have to take to deal with your child and your money and your job and your sewing machine and whatever else has to be dealt with. Put them on paper, and schedule the things you need to do, and then let them go.
That, of course, is the hard part:  letting them go. But it's not as if you're in denial. What I've found is that, by writing down the things I have to do, even when I clear them out of my head, they're simmering back there, behind the scenes, and ideas and solutions will pop up unexpectedly while I'm doing other stuff--typing, brushing my teeth, going to the post office. Write them down, but don't latch onto them and begin obsessing. You train your brain just like you train anything else--remember what I always tell you? You teach people how to treat you by how you allow them to treat you. You teach your kids how to act by how you allow them to act. Same with your partner, your animals. And your brain. If you allow it to obsess over something, going on endlessly about it, it will keep doing that (put another way, you're reinforcing neural pathways).
If you teach it to let go and make room for ideas, it can learn to do that, as well. What I believe (and people will argue that I know nothing about brain function) is that if you latch onto a problem that's been plaguing you for weeks and you think about it consciously, you're going to be going over the same ground you've been going over, following those ruts, those pathways. If you step back from it, let it go, free up some space--the creative part of your brain can work on them from another angle, along with everything else it can do.
[I'm wishing Roz were here, because I'm thinking she could provide a wonderful metaphor about a happy, well-trained dog being allowed off-leash to do her work without the restraint of the human trying to obsessively micromanage every step.]
What you want to do is to train your brain to engage in creative habits, not non-productive obsessing. Look on page 97--"Theo and His Creative Brain." Theo is an adult, and he's got things to think about and worry about just like all the rest of us, but he doesn't let those things occupy the space inside his head. I don't know if he keeps a to-do list or not. I don't know how he deals with the stuff we all have to deal with. But I do know he fills the space in his head with something besides the ruts of obsessive worry and useless pondering.  Imaginary performance art! Now that's the kind of thing you want filling your brain when you're standing in line at the DMV.
OK. That's enough from me. I hope this gives you something to think about. Maybe you're sure mindfulness meditation isn't for you. That's OK. But if you've maybe tried it once or read a little bit about it, maybe you want to try it again (I'd suggest at least six months to a year of regular practice, but I don't want to terrify you). And if you've read some stuff that didn't resonate, read something else. I'm not suggesting a reading list because I don't have one; most of what I've read about meditation came through reading about Buddhism, so I don't have good, not-tied-to-religion-or-philosophy titles to suggest. Maybe someone else does; feel free to tell us if you do. I was put off by most of what I read, in fact, and it took me a while to find my way.
Next: Baby Steps, the steps I'm taking in my own life to free up every more Creative Time and Space. Oh, yeah: the link. And, oh, yeah:  there will be photos!
XO