Maintaining a Spirit of Play-Beginner's Mind


I Had a Sweater This Colour ©Janice Mason Steeves 2011

My work of the past year has been one of going into the studio with no preconceived idea of what I will do. I enter in a spirit of play I am balancing the technical skills I have learned over many years as an artist in one hand, with the idea of knowing nothing in the other.

"The thing is to become a master and in your old age to acquire the courage to do what children did when they knew nothing." This quotation, attributed to Hemingway, (or was it Henry Miller?) is about this balancing point of knowing it all and knowing nothing. In the excellent book, The Creative Habit by Twyla Tharpe, she says, "You cannot manufacture inexperience, but you can maintain it." "In it's purest form, inexperience erases fear. You do not know what is and is not possible and therefore everything is possible".

There is a surrender to the process, a giving up of control to the dialogue between yourself and the work. Anna Maria Maiolino in her artist's statement in her show in Barclona last fall at the Tapies Museum, spoke about art...She belonged to a movement called Brazilian Neo-Concretism, where the work of art is not seen as an 'object', but as a "quasi-body, an organic being". Maiolino's creates work that is co-produced through the relationship of her materials and her body. She accepts that different work appears at different times in her life. But it is inter-connected, all of the same body.

On the blog, Zen Habits, there is a wonderful post, "How to Live Life to the Max with Beginner's Mind". Mary Jaksch gives us 11 tips for how to do this. Here are two of them.

Discard fear of failure. When did you last start something new? Was it maybe a while back? As children we are always starting something new. Then, as we go through our twenties, thirties, and further, we become more hesitant about being a beginner again. Why? Maybe because we don’t want to look silly when we fail.
There are always plenty of people ready to snigger when we take the first wobbly steps. But it’s our choice whether to take notice or not.

Tip: Immerse yourself in your actions and forget the watchers.

Use the spirit of enquiry. Beginner’s Mind is about using the spirit of enquiry – without getting stuck in preconceived ideas. There’s a Zen story about this:
A professor once visited a Japanese master to inquire about Zen. The master served tea. When the visitor’s cup was full, the master kept pouring. Tea spilled out of the cup and over the table.
“The cup is full!” said the professor. “No more will go in!”
“Like this cup,” said the master, “You are full of your own opinions and speculations. How can I show you Zen unless you first empty your cup?”
You can see how this story applies not only to learning about Zen, but to learning about anything at all. The spirit of enquiry is the mind that is open to the unknown, and empty of pre-conceived ideas.

Tip: Focus on questions, not on answers.

Letting go of control is a key factor and not one that is easy to achieve, especially when as artists, we have deadlines and perhaps expectations from galleries. It's necessary to embrace mistakes and surprises. Uncertainty is our companion.

Meet the Owners of a Scottish Castle

Anne Tristine Nguyen, Ali Orr Ewing, their children, Ava, Atticus and their dog, Harriet Beecher Stowe. Dunskey Estate, Portpatrick, Scotland Anne Tristine Nguyen and her husband, Alistair Orr Ewing are the owners of Dunskey Estate near Portpatrick, Scotland where I will teach a painting workshop in September. Dunskey is a splendid Edwardian castle on 2000 acres of ocean-front land with miles of walking trails. As well as daily workshop sessions in the studio on the top floor of the castle, our small group of artists will enjoy breathtaking hikes, superb accommodation and fabulous meals. Not having met owners of a castle before, I asked Anne if I could interview her to hear a little of their background story and that of the castle. Can you tell me a little of your personal story and that of your husband, Alistair Orr Ewing? Anne emigrated to America when she was ten years old, but it was at an art gallery in Saigon, her birthplace, where s...

The Importance of Silence in Art

Gathering Light 60x60" Oil on canvas © 2014 Janice Mason Steeves Michael David Rosenberg, the musician known as Passenger, sings, "See all I need is a whisper in a world that only shouts." In the workshops I teach, I find that one of the most common problems with paintings is that they shout. Most have too much going on: too many small shapes, too much texture, extremes of colour, too many lines, too much, too much. One thing I say most often as I walk around the classroom working with students individually, is 'make bigger shapes'. But not only bigger shapes. Quiet shapes. Where can your eye go and rest in the painting? That isn't a consideration in much of contemporary painting or much of contemporary life. Ours is a noisy world both visually and auditorily. Ours is a world that shouts. People are afraid of silence. I wrote a blog post 3 years ago about planning a retreat in my own home, where I shut off the computer ...

Liminal Time

The word liminal comes from the Latin, limen meaning threshold. an in-between place, a place of transition, a time of waiting and not knowing. Dawn and dusk are considered liminal places. Crepuscular animals, like foxes and coyotes are most active at this time of day, a time that is considered a magical time in Celtic spirituality and to Indigenous people which is perhaps the origin of their designation as tricksters. As I write this, the northern hemisphere has just passed the vernal equinox, where day and night are of equal length.We are in a liminal space between winter and spring right now, unsure if we will have one more storm or snowfall before spring finally settles in. We're also in a liminal place as we live through this pandemic with the anxiety and discomfort of not knowing. A time of great transition for the entire world, wondering what we've learned from this and what lessons we'll carry forward. Author and Fr...

Janice Mason Steeves

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