Welcome to MissouriBendStudio!

This is an online journal of my artistic investigations and a way to communicate about my work, ideas, quandries and queries! I welcome comments and conversation and do hope you enjoy these musings. My artwork is available in my shop MissouriBendStudio on Etsy.com or on my website.

Translate

Monday, December 3, 2012

Back to the Practice or, Some Things Are Not For Sale

Greetings friends....hope you are enjoying the start of December. Here in South Dakota, where one might expect winter to be in full swing, we are enjoying a sunny day with 59 degree temperatures...what gives? I am NOT complaining about this and am hoping that the winter weather holds off for us until after Christmas travel....so far, it's working!

So....I've been thinking....and coming to some realizations. Maybe many of you who have read past posts on this blog are clued into the ambivalence I feel about making art "for" the marketplace or making art which entails marketing it afterward. I started the daily drawing practice in early January of this year, which became a new Etsy shop, MissouriBendMusings and I kept that up pretty well until October of this year when a number of events coincided, including a case of burnout. I stopped making the "dailies" for many reasons and nothing new has been posted in that shop in quite some time. While I took the time to regroup, I began making other work and have felt less and less inclined to add them to the Etsy shop and have just put most of these latest new pieces on my website. I did find that I missed that daily practice and what I began to understand was that I had heaped the marketing and selling on top of a practice that was based in all things opposite, one that was more spiritual in nature. For me, a daily practice is about quiet moments, about the joy of making and about leaving a trace of having been. The joy was/is indeed in the making and in the ritual, while the photographing, the posting, the marketing became a chore. There are nuances here that are important, because it's easy to fall in step with that constant drumbeat to brand, brand, brand and market the work on all possible sites. Lots of people enjoy that process and I applaud them, but it's not so much a part of me, it seems. What I do enjoy is the sharing and the conversation and that's what I'm doing here on this blog....yes, there's always been a bit of marketing, but this blog is about sharing the work and enjoying the friendships I've made with people across the globe.

There's a new daily practice taking shape and I'm happy to share them with you, but they aren't going into a shop or on a website....they are quietly making a stack on the table in my studio, the date of their making written in pencil on the back.....here is a week's worth of 3x3" daily collage pieces.








I'm just quietly gluing bits of paper, most of which are Japanese paper of various kinds. There is a tiny leap of joy to see what happens when one piece of paper covers another, creating a layering and a muting of color....sometimes the brightly colored bits are on top, but sometimes there is more beauty in the layering that creates subtlety. The pieces are tiny and fit just so perfectly in the palm of your hand....I'm happy to make them and not have to market them. I'll share them with you here from time to time, but not on a regular basis....this is about the practice.

But, I do have a few other new items to share and these can be found either in the MissouriBendStudio shop or on my website. If there is a link underneath the image, it will take you to the Etsy shop, otherwise if you would like a better look, please feel free to visit my website: www.robertspizzuto.com

Meditation no.5

Meditation no.6

The pieces above are the latest in the Meditation series, where I am again making use of the layering. The tiny bits of text from books are glued to the sheet of Japanese paper underneath the beeswaxed sheet. The red fragment of paste paper is stitched to the top. I think no. 5 measures approximately 15"x 9" and no.6 is about 8"x8". Somehow my ruler has taken a walk and I can't measure them at the moment!


I found a couple of pieces bristol board with the teabags adhered to them, so this piece came about from some fragments of earlier pieces that didn't get finished. Actually those little cups were initially part of a side panel on the latest Ancestors piece, which I'll show you next, but in the end, that piece became much more spare and the cups found a home here! Almost forgot that newest Notes from the Ancestors piece, no.13, which can be found on my website.

Notes From The Ancestors no.13

I'm trying to simplify life a bit, so I can spend more time in the studio, reading books, and getting back to reading other blogs. So many interests to pursue! Always glad to hear from you with questions and comments. Wishing you a happy, safe holiday season....I'll be back before too long.....until then, enjoy!



14 comments:

  1. Hi Patti, I love your new daily work and I applaud your decision not to worry about marketing. I too, find that it takes some of the joy away. I was really happy to have finished a small series of chakra collages, but then I realized I still had to attach hanging hardware, photograph them, blog about them, etc... They're going to a shop so I'm not even creating any listings and it's still a lot of work/time!

    Come by and visit my blog if you have a moment :) and of course, enjoy the season!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Deborah...will pop over to your blog shortly! Thanks for your comment....don't you wish we could afford assistants? Some people love doing the behind the scenes work that is often so necessary! Look forward to seeing the chakra collages you mentioned!

      Delete
  2. It seems like we are all needing a little calm before the race to Christmas. I feel the calm in these pieces. The Pairing is exquisite.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hope you are finding some calm during the crazy times....so glad the pieces bring some calm. Glad to hear you like the Pairing....it's always a nice surprise to find that parts rejected from one piece were meant to live somewhere else! Cheers!

      Delete
  3. I so agree with your thoughts. I haven't ever gotten into Etsy nor do I advertise my 'makings'. I sometimes do a craft or gallery show but that's about it. For me, its all about the process. My time is spent exploring, thinking about what I'm doing in a deeper way than I would if I were wondering "will this sell" or "have to do this to make it sell". I feel so very, very fortunate to be able to work for myself, at my own pace, with no end game ahead. The hours spent 'playing' in my studio are the true value to me - as a person and as a creator.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Penny....yes, I'm in complete agreement. Now that I'm back in the workplace and not relying on selling the work for the extra needed income, the pressure is off and it makes a world of difference. We are "groomed" as artists to feel that success is being successful in the marketplace, but I am not one who prefers to be entirely in that arena....it can't help but change the work! Good for you that you are able to be free!!

      Delete
  4. It's as if you are reading my mind! I've been thinking the same thoughts and speaking them out loud to only the closest of friends. Wondering why I chose to too much in a month that is already so full. Your work is lovely, as usual.
    Oh yes, I've managed to keep up my Circle Journal this entire year and thoroughly enjoyed sharing it with anyone who will spend time looking through it (them now!) but when they mention having them printed into books I cringe at the thought of the marketing of it!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Carole....always good to know we are not alone and not crazy or so very off-base with our thinking. Always that two-edged sword of having the work be made into something else (in your case printed into books) and then all the stuff that comes after that!! Keep up the work that is the most meaningful....I think the world needs us to do that! Best wishes to you!

      Delete
  5. ahhhh, the bits of words melting into the meditations, the barely there layers of the daily collages! bliss! thank you for delighting me with these today!

    as for the art and marketing dilemma, i truly believe there is not a right answer. only different paths that are life-giving in the particular season one finds themselves in. i'd like to cheer you on your quest to finding life and giving up the burdensome and unnecessary. it seems that you are finding the best path for here and now.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Anca....love that simple description you used "barely there"...which is what delights me in making them....the covering up and creating the subtleties. The fullness of life is so much about the nuance....all those bits that pass us by, because they are so easy to miss. And you are right, absolutely, about the marketing....no right answer for everyone. And even as individuals, the "right" answer shifts, depending upon any number of circumstances...thanks for your words of support!

      Delete
  6. Hi Patti - no matter where they end up - you are making, making lots and making lots of beautiful things and that is enough. The eternal quest to understand how best we can be in this arty world - the joy of the making and the measures of success. There are no easy answers I think, and its OK to move between what works for us, for now, and then change back if needed. Enjoy making and the weather!

    ReplyDelete
  7. The daily practice, it seems to me, is just that - practice (in the best possible way); it provides its joy-of-doing, and in the repetition and revisiting builds up a core of ... what, exactly? Yours has such beautiful results - less really is more in those tiny pieces; they inspire me to begin this myself, and what better time than the present - "Starting here, right in this room, when you turn around" (the poem is at http://www.panhala.net/archive/Be_ready.html).

    ReplyDelete
  8. I understand what you mean. I just decided early on not to "market" the etsy shop to the extent that some do. I don't do anything with teams, I rarely make treasuries.

    I'm just doing the work and putting it out there. But I love the photography part - and my favorite part of that is making the little detail shots - I looove all of those and they are my secret stash of inspiration for future work.

    I've taken a break til the 28th. Desperately need it.

    Look forward to catching up after the holidays!

    Peace and grace,
    Karen Anne

    ReplyDelete
  9. mmm I love the 'barely there' work too Patti and so readily understand the need just to make art for yourself, your own quiet enjoyment. I think some work is just meant to stay home. The balance question is a tricky one and we all battle with that. No easy answer is there - not that you are asking. I just think most creative souls struggle with the dilema in finding enough time to create, time to read and gather inspiration, time to sit and ponder, let the thoughts flow. With out all this there is no hope of creating. I hope 2013 is a particularly beautiful year for you Patti. x

    ReplyDelete

I'm happy to hear from you...comments and questions are welcome!