An explanation...sort of

Friday, February 22nd, 2008, 12:09 pm

Sorry about not posting for a while folks. I'm a bit preoccupied with things for the moment, but promise to post as soon as I'm able to take a breath.

Tags: stress

Art vs. Craft

Friday, February 8th, 2008, 12:56 pm

This has been on my mind lately. I am concerned with how we throw around the moniker "artist" so loosely. So often we assign the title to those who have not utlized imagination at all.

When we look at a painting, we do not call the individual who hung it up on the wall an artist. The paints, the canvas, and the frame, heck, even the gallery lighting, all contribute to the effect of the artwork, but the artist is the one who wielded the brush and layed the paint (or whatever medium) onto the canvas.

So it goes with the performing arts. Yes, the performers have a talent which many do not possess, but the true art comes not from the performance, but from the idea of the performance. It is the choreographer, the songwriter, the playwright, the composer who is the artist. The performers are merely the paint on the canvas wielded by his/her skillful hand.

When I knit a sweater from a pattern, no matter how beautiful it is, I employed very little imagination to craft it. I may have a skill that others lack, but I've not contributed to the  idea of the finished project except in my chose of yarn colors. Same goes with my dancing--I am skilled at the craft of ballroom dancing, but I am only an artist when I choreograph.

Tags: rant

I did it Again…

Tuesday, February 5th, 2008, 1:02 pm

Or rather, I’m doing it again. I’ve signed up for the Washington DC Breast Cancer 3-Day. It’s not ‘til October, so I have plenty of time to start training and to raise the funds. This year my goal is to double what I raised last year. I want to raise $5K. I think I can do this.

I’ve also volunteered to become a trainer. I survived Cleveland. Surely I can pass on my “lessons learned” to others to help them get ready for this walk.

My only obstacle is that I don’t have a team this year. Last year I walked with a friend. Another friend is interested but really doesn’t want to do any fundraising. If she decides to not do this, I’ll have to find a team so that I won’t end up with a perfect stranger sharing my tent.

Tags: cancer, 3day