Wednesday, December 19, 2012

Living and Thinking à la Patrick

Last night Ben caught me humming the last part of the SpongeBob SuqarePants theme song repeatedly while reading in bed, and asked about "Eric". I knew He wasn't "Eric" but I couldn't remember His name and we became increasingly awake and throughly annoyed annoyed. Thank goodness for Google. Suffice it to say, we didn't have to try to get to sleep wondering. Remember those days?

Ben hates SpongeBob. Probably as much as he hated "The Nanny". It's the voices, you see. Me, not a Big Fan, but I've always felt comfortable/frustrated/fascinated with/by Patrick and appreciated SpongeBob's patience. This morning, I found out why.

This is parts of an email I sent just before I found out why, to my drawing group, in response to a lovely email describing how one member works, and how we probably don't need to meet in Jan or for a while outside class. Bear in mind our application is for 2014, and we find out if we get a spot by the end of January 2013. 

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So here’s where I come from. Half of me agree we’re getting ahead of ourselves, but I also understood/assumed if we didn’t get Refinery, we’d go after somewhere else. Which leads me to my need to discuss and gauge consensus/feedback at earlier stages in projects to make sure I’m not assuming things or at least gain a measure of understanding on how we all think individually and collectively. (sic: I'm learning the three of them already know each other possibly very well.) I’ve been told that setting the framework first is a Japanese approach by an American that worked a while in Japan; Judith Ritchie tells me it’s a weaver thing.

I’m away Feb/Mar,... (sic: and there's no guarantee I can return to the Friday morning class subsequently, it being the most popular time slot but I somehow manage eventually. ) But I’m VERY available after I mid/late Mar, especially if we meet in town or on the beach.

I’m a slow thinker, and it takes me a long time to understand what I read or hear, and longer to work out my ideas. As such, IF we are to have a common theme/idea/thread/concept around which to build an exhibition, if possible, I’d appreciate if the discussions can take place early. (sic: the other three are engaged in drawing/painting a lot more and a lot longer, whereas I had none between 1974 and 2008 and only go to Ronette's class.) So I’m in dire need of help from the group. I also must first establish mind pictures to really understand things.

I also get ideas and inspiration from discourse, (I even say things out loud to understand what I’m thinking, as in the last couple of days preparing for this email,) and from knowing people and their life stories, processes,... why people draw/paint/make, what they get out/make them happy, tastes in art/artists, etc. This explains,...why I seldom listen to music during the day but usually have the radio, podcast or audiobook playing.

I also have this thing about group exhibitions needing to look more than/different from an exhibition where a group of people bring disparately-worked pieces to show in a shared space. (sic: And we had one brilliant idea at the last meeting.)

... What I was hoping to ponder were 1) do we need a unifying concept/idea/theme, and if so can we throw some ideas around to mull over? And 2) related to that, is (sic: the idea we had) the only thing we work on at this time? And 3) how do you work, i.e. the kind of things I wrote here. I was going to suggest going to Jane Evans (by way of coffee in town,) and “shoot the breeze” to learn more about each other; going to Refinery/discussing the space was on my list, too.

So, that’s me. I hope you all have a lovely holiday. If you’re coming into town and have some time to kill but nobody to kill it with, drop me a line. Or call. Though I wouldn’t quite say, let’s Skype, until I’m in the Winterland.

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So I'm interested to know. How do you work? How do you think? Which part do you spend a lot of time on?  What is your version of a good group exhibition? From the participant's point of view vs a viewer's? I didn't do well with my last group so I'm gung-ho in making this group work, for the group and for me.

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Yeah, more food, cookbook, and foodie TV posts to come. It must be the season. 

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