Showing Your Work as a Creative Process

 

Do Not Go Gentle, acrylic, 40x30, (c) 2011

An opportunity to show your work… is an opportunity to be creative. At the very least, showing your work is a way to acknowledge your creativity. That may sound like artist’s ego talking. Probably is. AND I believe that acknowledging your own creativity — affirming it, celebrating it, shouting it from the rooftops — is essential for an artist’s growth.

My creativity has felt a little stagnant lately, and one of the missing elements is not interacting with my work by putting it on public display. Selecting and arranging my art for an exhibit inherently involves taking a close look at my “babies” and giving them my own stamp of approval: This or that piece deserves the honor of being shown.

No matter how hard I am on myself — and I tend to be my toughest critic — when I enter a show, I have to engage with the work and discover something worthwhile. I have to admit that I LIKE this or that painting (or jewelry) enough to show it. I have to wire the painting, add a price card. I have to submit photos to the exhibit organizers. Most often, I have to pay for the privilege of publically saying I like these creations of mine.

As a stimulus to my creative process, choosing to enter an art exhibit is priceless! I’m in a show this weekend (see below for the “commercial” — you’re invited!). I can’t wait to see what happens next in my studio.

Happy creating — Linda

P.S. Houston art lovers — You’re invited to “Visions of Artists Alive and Well” on Saturday, 1/21, 1-5PM, at JoMar Visions, 902 Hardy Street. I have 7 pieces in the show, including my most recent work, “Do Not Go Gentle…” and “Vortices” (triptych), plus prints and clearance items. See you there! — Linda