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February 20, 2006
unitarian artist's way: week 3
by gl. at 2:42 pm
we created critic & ally cards last week: on one side was an image that represented our artistic critic, and on the other was an image that represented our artistic ally. we placed them on small pieces of matteboard:
ally: 
when i'm at my most self-critical i feel like the man in the box, trapped & small without a future. the blank space around the image is intentional: if i was animating it, it would shrink more and more until it disappeared completely. adopting the oppposite as my ally, the box becomes a window open wide and smiling into unknown blue. these are actually both the same size, but they're different orientations.
then i ended up making another one, which i like even better:
ally: 
you can't beat these for quick personal imagery. the fish packed close together correlate pretty closely to a similar "lost in the crowd" metaphor i used in the last collage we made and bears, for whatever reason, have often found their way into my poems and images. the butterflies around the bear are symbolic of an event that happened to me on the way to my first burning man.
earlier in the evening, we also wrote letters to our "addictions," the things we love to be distracted by rather than doing art. we read them aloud; here's mine:
my very dearest interweb:
oh, i use your affectionate nickname because that's what all the cool kids do, and i so want to be a cool kid. they're so smart and witty and passionately geeky and very, very attractive -- of course you would want to hang out with them. i must tell you my heart flutters, dear internet, when i hear the chime that announces new email, and then my stomach sinks when i find just spam and random listserv mail.
i'm sure you know by now how interesting and fascinating and absorbing you are -- there's always something new to discover with you. and you know what a curious person i am: i can ask you dozens of questions at any time of the day or night and you never seem bored or irritated. in fact, you encourage me to ask more! you have no idea how rare and wonderful that is.
of course, you never ask questions of me, and when i try to talk about myself, you never listen. over 10,000 sent-mails and 3 regular blogs and it's like i've been talking to myself this whole time. c'mon, internet! isn't this supposed to be a 2-way relationship? or is it always going to be all about you? you know i love you, but something has to change.
posted by gl. | February 20, 2006 2:42 PM | categories: artist's way