Finding your path

through walking it

So I’ve been toying with the idea of starting a sub-section of this C.S.A. on finding one’s path as an artist.

Being one myself, I can attest to how nebulous it can seem. Having a pre-made path would be nice sometimes, but so often being an artist requires stepping off of known paths to find new ones in the brush.

I do believe there is a path I am on, but it continues to unfold with each step. Meaning I am often finding my way by walking it. This strange relationship between searching for a path and being led by it, is what I think is at the core of being an artist practitioner. It’s what makes it exciting, mystical and beautiful, but also what makes it confusing, angst inducing and risky.

Of course, there are practical skills - techniques and strategies one can learn to help them along the way. There is a level of professionalism and preparedness that often separates artists who are able to make it work, from those who are not. These more practical, nuts & bolts aspects often get overshadowed by the more romantic stuff; the passion, the craft, the impact the love - these are what attract us to the arts, but these alone do not a career make.

As with all things there is a balance to be had. It’s a tricky one to maintain- it resists formulas and standardization as the path to unique artistry must be unique to each artist.

One of the greatest metaphors I’ve found for my own path and approach to it is hiking. I do a lot of hiking, especially in the Blue Hills and especially now that the weather is less hostile.

I find being out in nature, surrounded by the handiwork of powers higher than man’s, has become more and more necessary for me these days.

Hiking is all about paths. But the idea (at least for me) is to move amongst these paths in a non-preordained way - wandering, exploring. It isn’t about arriving at a specific destination, because the destination is the journey itself.

On my most recent hike, I had thought about bringing a drawing pad with me, in case an idea for a MassQ came while I walked. But in my haste to get to the hills I had forgotten to bring it. So I was without a way to sketch…

Or so I thought…

I noticed a stick on the side of the path. I picked it up, almost instinctively, and as soon as my hand wrapped around it, it clicked

forget a sketchpad, I had an entire world to sketch on.

I found a flat part of the path where the way wasn’t too full of stones and began dragging that stick across the ground, making shallow grooves in the soil. A furrow became an eye, an ear, a pair of lips, a chin, and soon I had a giant earthen face on which to design my MassQ.

What MassQ would be on such a face? Without knowing where this was going, I went to work, digging with the stick, erasing errant lines with my foot, taking a step back to survey, and then going back in. At this scale it was a full body activity, like fencing or conducting.

Out of these series of grooves cut into the earth came a MassQ:

I was thinking about traffic lights - how they indicate when to move forward, when to slow down, when to stop, or proceed with caution. And how the path I was on didn’t have such a system. That I would need to be my own set of traffic lights. I thought about how at some points the path is shown and at others, it is hidden. It was a simple design. Maybe too simple. But it was enough to get started.

At the core of the actual art-making is a process of discovery unique to each artist, a path only they can take.

Doing something that requires that you not know the destination, and basing your livelihood around such an act, is kinda wild.

Everyday on this path feels like you’re finding it anew. It can wonderful, and it can be nerve-wracking.

What I am continually learning is to not worry so much about doing it wrong, or going the wrong direction. Sometimes you have to get lost in order to find your way. All one can do is choose a path and walk it… see where it goes. That’s the only way you learn a place. And in learning it, you’re better able to help others find their way through it too.

Maybe I will start that sub section, what do you think?

Let me know. Till then enjoy the path.

Peace,

-Daniel