Wildflower abstraction - 2004
One thing I've learned: I need to remember to "restock the well" that feeds my creative process, hopefully before I completely deplete my resources and exhaust myself. Usually, this requires only a small amount of time devoted to off-topic, aimless diversion, free-association, and fool speculation.
Julia Cameron's work recommends "artist's dates" at least once a week, a goal I have a hard time meeting. But I did some profitable blog browsing yesterday, which resulted in finding out about the OUT/EX film series. The films were all based on found footage repurposed by the directors to tell their own stories. Each piece dredged up a new stream of memories and associations.
I continue with my unreasonably enthusiastic devotion to my new 3x5 card PDA, toting it in my cargo pants pockets. Rather than describe the films, I made some notes that I thought it would be fun to share.
- "The Human Story" by Ryan Wylie - I remembered (with a jolt of shock) that I once saved a little girl from drowning. The weirdness about this memory is that, even though it may be one of the most important things I've done in my life, I forget about it for years at a time. Swimming pool party, lots of adults around, I noticed before anyone else did, and I reacted. I remember that odd feeling of time slowing down, and the mother screaming as I pulled the child up to the air. After she was ok, I didn't know what to do with the idea of it all, so I put it away. Deep storage memory. When it comes out, I am stunned, then I put it back in its box.
- "Untitled" by Elizabeth Henry - What ever happened to those movies I used to watch when I was home sick as kid with the synchronized swimming?
- "I dream" by Rohnny Rogers - I went back to summer twilight moment at the Pulgas water temple, which, IMO is a piss-poor exchange for the Hetch Hetchy canyon of Yosemite National Park.
- "Sunday School" by The Bran Flakes - The Monty Python associations from the animation style led me back to some dark lonely times in high school, stuck somewhere I didn't want to be, watching tv, hoping to pass the time until I would be released.
- "Crystal Liu" by The Stars Have fallen - I was completely engaged during this film, just hoping the chandeliers would really fall, and the crystals could come unstrung and turn into beads of water. Wouldn't that have been cool?
- "Battle Brigades" by Tyrone Davies - Does anyone else remember making scratchboards by coloring a paper first with a random bunch of colors, then covering the paper with black crayon, then using a stylus to scratch in a design?
- "Swamp Dirge" by Tyrone Davies - I really need to see Lawrence of Arabia. I heard a great interview with Peter O'Toole not too long ago on Fresh Air.
- "Eulogy for Memory" by Karl Lind - I wished I'd been able to see the fishing cormorants in the Nagara River when we traveled in Japan.
At least I didn't ponder on a grocery list. We didn't stay for the last one,
So let's hold the filmmakers harmless for my random accessed memories. The OUT/EX series looks promising, based on the first screening last night. Shout-out to the co-sponsors Loaf-I Productions, The Lost Media Archive and The Pickle Company. Wondering why Patrick missed it.
Two more thoughts: The theme of the evening, a reclamation of discarded film into new art, reminded me of another NPR piece I heard about a symphonic composition incorporating sounds generated by the electro-magnetic radiation of one of Iceland's first computers. The audio piece is archived of PRI's The World.
Second, the picture at the top of this post - I made it in my first major photographic adventure after doing the Artist Way stuff for a while. I took a workshop on photographing wildflowers with the Rocky Mountain School of Photography. I'd just gotten my D70, and one of the other participants had an 80-400mm lens that she let me borrow o the last day of class. It was the first time I'd handled a lens with vibration reduction (or one that expensive). Nearing the end of the workshop, I had made all the straight shots of flowers, and I just spun the barrel during the exposure. This is probably a technique that hundreds have used before, but the idea was news to me. I like this image as a reminder to grab onto, play with, and honor my creative ideas and let go of the outcome. Engage in some fool speculation. And see what happens.
Comments (1)
Hello Ann,
Thank you for visiting my blog and thus allowing an easy introduction to yours! Photography is one of my creative u-turns (as discovered in The Artist's Way exercises) and I am delighted to see your work! The coffee latte photo in your next post is absolutely gorgeous. The idea of a box lined with aluminum foil is new to me. I'm working with a 35mm and am really at the very beginning of knowing anything technical. Love your idea of refilling the creative well with off-topic exploration. Can't wait to explore OUT/EX, too. ...
Posted by Lisa Allen | February 22, 2007 10:15 AM
Posted on February 22, 2007 10:15