"There’s nobody living who couldn’t stand all afternoon in front of a waterfall...," wrote Agnes Martin. "Anyone who can sit on a stone in a field awhile can see my painting. Nature is like parting a curtain, you go into it...as you would cross an empty beach to look at [...]
A Boston street sign that has been hacked by MIT students. (Photo by Alessondra Springmann) I have a confession to make...Asking for help is tough for me. Ditto for collaborating. Yes. I love people. I love being a connector and introducing creative folks to one another. I love [...]
Bill Viola, Catherine's Room, 2001. Video installation. (Photo © Bill Viola courtesy tate.org) Resolutions It's the New Year, which means that many of us are taking stock of our personal habits, both good and bad, and resolving to do better. But how many things on this year's list [...]
"Life is going to be difficult," says artist Patti Smith. "Ride with it." (Photo via cbc.ca) “In art and dream may you proceed with abandon. In life may you proceed with balance and stealth." These are the words of rock legend and National-Book-Award winner Patti Smith. The advice is [...]
(Drawing by Kate Holden) If there is one piece of advice I could give to artists of all disciplines, in all stages of their careers, it would be this: make art. Period. Writer and art critic Sigrun Hodne posted this simple, but brilliant drawing on her blog, Sub [...]
"In my personal life, if I don't have a project, I don't have any discipline," says performance artist Marina Abramovic. Discipline and daily ritual were one of the subjects of her 2002 piece The House with the Ocean View. Abramovic spent 12 straight days living on three open platforms in [...]
Last night I came across this quote in my friend's office in Philadelphia. Creating art that resonates or impacting the world around you isn't the result of ambitious ideas or flawless execution. It's the result of doing. Start. Now. You can explore more Gwarlingo posts about the creative process [...]
"What has been planted is the I want! I want! of advertising, which thrives on envy and dissatisfaction. Advertising tells us that happiness can be bought if we will only put our minds to it." (William Blake, "I Want! I Want!" from For Children: The Gates of Paradise, 1793. [...]
(Photo taken in Copenhagen, Hovedstaden, DK. by Zephyrance via Flickr Commons) You're curious. Open-minded. Creative. You're an artist or arts lover who isn't afraid to be challenged. Gwarlingo, like the arts in general, is about seeing the world in a way we've never seen before. Whether it's [...]
"I can remember very well writing 'Thanks for the Ride' because my first baby was lying in the crib beside me...I was twenty-two."(Photo: Alice Munro by Derek Shapton) The Challenges of Motherhood Alice Ann Laidlaw was born in the rural town of Wingham, Ontario, the daughter of a [...]
Every day we're faced with the decision of how and where to focus our attention. Sustained attention may be the most endangered resource in our modern age. We often forget that we have a choice about how we spend our time, as well as how we use technology. No one [...]
A ballerina by British street artist Banksy (Photo courtesy banksy.co.uk) When Gwarlingo readers give me feedback, I listen. You've been telling me that you'd like to see more articles about process and the challenges of being an artist. I've appreciated your emails and comments. Today, I'm excited [...]
Distraction is the only thing that consoles us for miseries and yet it is itself the greatest of our miseries. -- Blaise Pascal Our day begins with good intentions. Feeling rested and focused, we set our priorities. We resolve that today will be different [...]
In 1965 singer Bob Dylan was burned out after a grueling tour; he was sick of reporters' questions and tired of performing the same old songs. Dylan told his manager that he was quitting music for good and proceeded to disappear. He squirreled himself away in a cabin in Woodstock. [...]
Ai Weiwei's Blog: Writings, Interviews, and Digital Rants, 2006-2009 has been good company the past few days. Between 2006 and 2009, Chinese artist Ai Weiwei used his blog as a daily notebook where he posted thousands of photos, documented his artistic practice and personal [...]
Edward Hopper, Automat, 1927. Oil on canvas, 28 in × 36, Des Moines Art Center. This week a reader sent me a copy of "How to Feel Miserable As An Artist." This marvelous list was created by illustrator Keri Smith and is part of The Artist's Survival Kit, which [...]
Kim Uchiyama's studio is located on a quiet, tree-lined side-street in Lower Manhattan. On a crisp fall day in mid-November over tea and brunch, I visited Kim in her Tribeca apartment. We spent the day looking at art and discussing her new painting series, her artistic development and [...]
An Artist Gets Audited A visual artist I know once told me about an audit she endured with the IRS. My friend is a professional artist in New York City with her own studio. Her work is shown at galleries and museums. She has received grants, been accepted [...]
Today is the birthday of writer Grace Paley. Although Paley's writing output was modest during her 84 years -- some four dozen stories in three volumes: The Little Disturbances of Man (Doubleday, 1959); Enormous Changes at the Last Minute (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 1974); and Later the Same Day [...]
Writer Nova Ren Suma has just published a new essay of mine over at "Distraction No. 99." Although the assigned topic was "inspiration," my piece covers a range of subjects, from library book censorship to the financial stresses of being an artist. But the central theme concerns the value [...]
Sol LeWitt, "Horizontal Brushstrokes (More or Less)," 2002. Gouache on paper, 22-3⁄8 x 22-3⁄8 inches (Photo courtesy Craig F. Starr Gallery. Art © 2011 The LeWitt Estate /Artists Rights Society, New York) "Metronomic Irregularity I" by Eva Hesse, 1966. (Image courtesy the Brooklyn Museum. Art © 2011 [...]
Today is the birthday of jazz legend Sonny Rollins. At the age of 81, Rollins is still touring, making new music, and recording records. The long, remarkable career of Sonny Rollins is a good example of how sustaining it can be for an artist to have time alone to think, practice, [...]
You may not know graphic designer Milton Glaser by name, but you undoubtedly know his work. He is best known for the “I ♥ NY” logo, his "Bob Dylan" poster, the "DC bullet" logo used by DC Comics from 1977 to 2005, and the "Brooklyn Brewery" logo. He also founded New York Magazine with Clay Felker in 1968 and was [...]
Anna Schuleit creating Room for Five, a collaborative project for the Eastman School of Music (Photo courtesy the artist) Welcome to the first installment of "Creative Spaces," a regular Gwarlingo series that will focus on the creative habits and work spaces of visual artists, writers, musicians, filmmakers, and other [...]
Leonard Bernstein working in a studio at The MacDowell Colony (Photo courtesy The MacDowell Colony) What do Quentin Tarantino's Resevoir Dogs, Michael Chabon's The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, and the musical Grey Gardens have in common? All of these works were created during a residency at [...]