Consideration.
It’s a word we don’t give much consideration to. We all know
when someone has been inconsiderate of our time, talent and needs but we don’t
think a great deal about the times when we ignore the needs of others to get
the stuff we want done done.
Now a certain amount of ruthlessness is necessary to be an
artist. Life has so many ways of creating demands on our time that there has to
be a way to filter some of them out or we’d never get anything done. But even
being a ruthless artist with the Work as the focus of our lives, there is a
place for consideration.
First and foremost there is consideration of the work of
others. Yes, yes, I know, ask an artist abut their work and watch as the
listener’s eyes roll back into their heads and they loose the will to live, but
for other artists listening to our own should be a duty, and obligation, a
sacred trust.
If you don’t have time to listen to another artist talk
about their work, their struggles to find the creative spark, squeeze the
energy out of a too full day, scrape together the money and the equipment to
get the job done, then you cannot hope that they will do the same for you. Tell
the truth, aren’t your cats and house plants starting to cringe when once again
you approach them with the latest whine about why you haven’t gotten more work
done?
By acting as a sounding board for a fellow artist you might
just learn something of value. There are folks who know a whole bunch more than
I do about a whole bunch of things and if I am too busy to take a moment to
hear what they have to say, then there is an excellent chance I won’t learn about
all of that big ole bunch.
Take the time now. You might not be here tomorrow or worse
yet the person who has gained all of that knowledge might not be here to share
it with you and you have to admit that there are places in your day where you
could actually give up a few minutes to be enlightened.
If you won’t listen to your fellow artists what about the
nice folks who do so much to make things happen for artists like you, the
gallery owners, club presidents and museum directors and the news folks who
usually get it wrong but them that’s because some snotty artists wouldn’t talk
to a lowly reporter from a local paper/television station/radio station.
Look, you make art, they make news or at least report the
news which gets made and that means every so often you will be the subject of
that news item. If you aren’t you should be nice to them anyway so that when
the time comes they look forward to another chance to get a juicy sound bite
from a well-informed insider.
You want them to come to you so that you can show them how
to get it right and not have to spend the next six weeks standing around the
coffee pot crying about how badly the press distorted your words/ideas.
Give some consideration to the folks who aren’t there yet
but are trying their hearts out to get there and damn sure wish that someone
who was there would give them a hand so that they could get that much closer to
being there.
Yes, that does mean the kids, but it also means making sure
no artist no matter where they are in their journey to mastery feels like
someone, especially someone known in the community and respected by the local
artarazzi is looking out for them and willing to take time away from their own
work to lend a hand to someone on the way.
The trouble with the art community is that it takes so long
to get really good a what you are doing when you do you are well on your way to
being past your expiration date and if you aren’t cultivating younger
enthusiasts, the whole thing will die out before it gets re-seeded and then you
have to whole deforestation thing to worry abut and it seems like a little
consideration isn’t much to ask to prevent creative erosion and nurture a
renewable resource.
And then there’s the clock question. You are aware that the
clock is ticking? Lurking there somewhere inside is that ticking time bomb just
waiting to go off an lay you lo and if you haven’t managed your consideration
well there you are, laid up in the shop at the mercy of the Croaker and your
own work comes to a screeching, burning halt, cause we all know that the
medical profession, (If it is so professional how come they call doing it
practicing?), won’t give one minute’s consideration to your concerns or
desires. They do what they want, when they want and your needs be damned.
So before you go back to wrapping those presents or fixing
another batch of cookies, rumming a fruit cake or stuffing a bird, consider all
of the things that would pile up if you weren’t able to get up tomorrow and hit
the deck running.
Is all of the work you are focus on ready to be stowed away
for a while if you can’t attend to it? Have you organized your life so that the
bills get paid and the lights stay on and the cat gets fed? Have you made sure
all of the folks you enjoy and appreciate know how much they mean to you and
know that the worst part of not being able to maintain full speed if the fear
of disappointing them?
You know Scrooge learned it the hard way and frankly I’m not
all that hot for ghosts of Christmases or any other holiday, I just want to keep
doing the things I have been doing, and I can get all of that done without
visitations at midnight, two and four.
That’s too scary for me and it is far too much like being back in the hospital
where they wake you up to check and see if you still have a pulse. Funny, if I
don’t seem crabby at two in the dark thirty that’s a pretty good indication
that I am not pulse worthy.
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