In a new series, acclaimed artist Jennie Moran explores the road to developing a successful art practice.
Jennie is a visual artist whose work explores hospitality as a creative and connective philosophy.
In this article, Jennie Moran has a challenge for you…
An exercise in defining a creative practice. This is annoying but worthwhile.
You will need:
– Paper
– Pen
Part 1
Close your eyes. But first read this:
Imagine your creative practice as a physical object; a multi-dimensional jigsaw piece occupying space in the shared cultural landscape around us. Like an external lump of you, doing stuff in the world. Tell me about it.
What is it like to encounter this lump?
Is it a solid thing?
Is it made of fragments?
What is it like to touch?
What sort of texture does it have?
Is it heavy?
What would it be like to lick this lump?
Does it have a colour?
What would it sound like if it made noise?
Does it move?
How?
Is it hard or soft to touch?
What is it like for the lumps that are next to it?
What would happen if we dropped your lump on the floor?
What does it smell like?
What is its exterior surface made of?
How does it communicate with other lumps?
What temperature is it?
Does it ever change?
What elements stay the same?
Does it have a theme tune?
Can light pass through it?
Where is this lump happiest?
I want you now to describe your creative practice, as though it is your first time meeting it. Describe this lump in as much detail as you possibly can. Write what you see. Make sketches of it. Address this lump with tenderness, like an innocent pure thing.
Part 2
Now we are going to imagine removing this multi-dimensional jigsaw piece from the cultural landscape around us. We are going to explore what happens – not to you or your lump (that is not interesting right now) – but to the shared cultural landscape around us. Let us operate on the belief that your practice is performing a function in the world. It is holding space poetically. It is bringing something interesting and vital to the table. No other practice is doing the same thing, in the same way. Your lump is singular. Its contribution is distinct from any other creative practice. If we take it away, there is an impact on our shared space. Where your lump was, a void will appear. Certain things just won’t happen anymore. I want you to describe the void. I want you to tell me in as much detail as you can what will not happen if we remove your practice from the cultural landscape.
We are plucking your multi-dimensional jigsaw piece out of operation and flinging it into space. The aim of this destructive act is to decipher the urgency of your practice; to reveal what exactly it is that cannot ever be replaced. If you can figure out what the urgency is, you can cultivate it and care for it and protect it.
Task complete.
Congratulations! You are host to a creative practice. This is something you can’t not do. What an honour. And a burden. Here is indisputable proof of humanity. Look after it. Enjoy it every day.
Read more from the Get Creative series here