This weekend has been a "getting down to business" type of weekend....taking care of details for an exhibition (oh, why does writing an artist statement have to be so hard?), cleaning house, setting up a website for the new joint venture with Dave (details coming soon), and getting things done, generally speaking.
I'm glad for this little break in metalsmithing, to be honest. Yesterday I said "waiting for motivation is for amateurs", which I strongly believe to be true. If you wait for inspiration or motivation, what you produce will only be produced sporadically. Of course, there is that small population who seems to be inspired *at all times*, and I find myself a bit jealous of those people. However, I have learned through experiences at art school and in life, that sometimes you have to Just Do It (thank you, Nike). My motivation has been lacking this past week...I'm not sure if it's because I've been recovering from a cold or what, but it has been a struggle. One thing that has helped has been to put on a TED talk or documentary in the background, which keeps my interest and keeps me in my seat for a good amount of time. If I have been unable to physically work on the pieces I'm working on, I at least try to do research for parts of them, or like today, work on my artist statement.
Do you wait for inspiration/motivation? What do you do when you are struggling with motivation?
I have problems. Sometimes There are weekes where I don't get to make anything. As you mentioned, in school I was incredibly productive. Unfortunately, as everyone knows, life comes first. This for me just means work. When teaching four to five classes a semester it is almost impossible to find the motivation to come home from work and go back to work. The good news is that I am blessed to work in my field. I teach jewelry design and metals! This rocks. It keeps me motivated AND I see new things everyday. When I am in a big rut, I usually browse the internet and look at all of the great jewelry and metals blogs I suscribe to using google reader. If this all fails then I usually work on the computer. This includes similar things like promotional materials, artist statements, updating the resume etc etc.
ReplyDeleteI have a cup of coffee. Or I look through a book with nice pictures of beautiful jewelry. That usually motivates me. :-)
ReplyDeleteArthur, I would imagine that you have to have some serious self discipline in order to keep up with the demand of your work schedule as well as artwork. You really teach 4-5 different classes a semester?! How do you keep your thoughts organized?
ReplyDeleteSometimes a cup of coffee helps me, or tea, and definitely looking at inspiring designers. Seeing how motivated other people can be definitely helps!