Art + Psychology Link Love
Your weekly digest of a niche of this astounding Substack writing community and some elaboration, connections, and hopefully community-building
See this post if you aren’t sure what this roundup is all about.
Reminder: I draw connections between what the writers are sharing and my understanding of how that relates to art + mental health but this doesn’t mean that the original writer intended that or agrees with it in full or part … I always encourage you to go read the full pieces whose snippets capture your attention here to find out what the writer’s piece intends and offers.
Grounding Us Before We Begin
Beginning this week with some words from
of in her Photo Essay: Luscious Lupines (do go look at those beautiful flower photos) …“It can be hard to justify the limitations we need to succumb to sometimes. Whether health related or responsibility related, we just can’t always do every thing we want to do. But we can still have hope. Sometimes, hope is everything.”
From the past week or so then …
Psychology and Creative Process
of writes in Analogue
about how being forced to or choosing to take time away from screens while doing the creative work we often do on screens changes the process and experience and perhaps outcome …
“I don’t believe in the badness of phones, but I believe in the badness of my own brain, and how cutting myself off from the machine in my pocket leaves me feeling more awake, smoother, sometimes more bored. But then it’s good to be bored, and scrolling is its own, panicked, kind of boredom – the static thrum of it filling my head which, admittedly, longs to be filled.
In Berlin the cafes where I’m working have signs up everywhere sternly proclaiming No Laptop, and sometimes this is ignored, but I’ve been enjoying the excuse to work without it. Editing on paper is soothing – the dopamine rush of slashing through paragraphs and pages, writing make this better or this just isn’t working, sometimes deferring problems to later, sometimes forcing myself to think about them then and there. And it’s faster, shamefully much faster, without the internet.”
Psychology and Creative Productivity/Flow
From of in Studio Update: UFOs!
“Except for the period back in the late 90s and early 00s when I was very, very prolific, writing has always been a challenge for me. I love to do it, and I feel that I’m average-to-decent at it, but sitting down and doing it and coming up with ideas has always been a challenge for me, even going all the way back to high school and college. It’s just hard.Writing is hard. I think that means that it is the most important thing that I do, even if I only touch one other person’s life.”
Psychology and Artistic Identity
From of in Finding Your Direction
“I spent a lot of time worrying about my purpose. I felt like I needed some grand reason for existing in the universe. And even though I run a diversity and inclusion consultancy - striving to make the world of work more fair and positive for more people - and work to support people’s emotional health through creative wellbeing, I still didn’t feel like I was justifying my use of oxygen on this planet. Somehow, nothing I could do felt like enough.”
Allegra goes on to talk about shifting perspective from (I am paraphrasing), “how do you want to be remembered?” to “how do you want to be right now?” This is something I resonate a lot with right now. So much of my life has been built on creating experiences and preserving memories for some future time when I can look back and be proud or happy or … something.
Psychology and Creative Business
of shared a new piece for her Mother-Artist series called Sticking to your principles as the noise gets louder
that really takes a “yes, and” approach to being all of the different things that you are …
“It’s not a new phenomenon where it feels as though happiness/values are put in an antithesis to making money. As if the two cannot co-exist but rather live mutually exclusive to each other.
Why?!
Why can’t you lead a life of personal creative fulfillment, while ALSO being a present mother, while ALSO making good money?
Why do we have to choose this OR that, and not this AND that?
Like with everything, I refuse to accept a truth I don’t believe to be true. But this doesn’t mean that I don’t recognize the challenge to create my own truth of coexistence.
It’s HARD.”
Art in Community
From of in A playlist and a pregunta
on the magic of sharing music we love with people we love …
“Sharing music is one of my love languages.
Back in the day we made mixtapes. We recorded tapes, burned CDs, made art, gave them to our friends for graduation or birthdays or for no reason at all.
I miss all the analog beauty of it.”
From of in Dancing in the SF Pride Parade
on how sharing your art form with a group as a public performance can be about so much more than getting the steps right …
“Dancing in Pride wasn’t the emotional, introspective experience I had expected when I thought about dancing my first time as an out queer woman, but it was exciting. And it taught me a good lesson in humility and flexibility. I was there to give my time to others and celebrate the freedoms of the LGBTQ+ community in San Francisco and advocate for more around the world. It was not the moment for me to try and get approval for how well I was doing. The best performers are ones that give to the audience free of expectation, and the audience can feel that so they give back out of joy, not obligation.”
The Power of Experiencing Art
of shared If life were a performing arts festival
which celebrates all of the inspiration, community, connection, creativity that one can find at these events and asks why we can’t have this in everyday life.
“If life were a performing arts festival
We’d sit in tents and listen to storytellers
And poets and singers and comedians
Who’d spin us around with their sounds
And heal us with their voices.”
of in curiosities #3
adds to a favorite topic of mine - how reading can heal/improve/expand us …
“To read is to challenge, to unlearn, to see—a world beyond stereotypes! I firmly believe that if we only read books that confirm our existing views, we will continue to stereotype and have a minimal view of the world. We are all biased, and that has to be the starting point for all of us to truly expand our minds and unlearn our biases.”
Short Shares
A few more poignant passages that I felt moved to share:
From
of in The Last Chapter of Maura + Me“I don't think time has to be the blur of chaos and hyperproductivity that we have created, for recently I have lived the purity of living it in presence and connection.”
From
in Modernist Maker 010: Carrie Stettheimer“Carrie’s work on the Dollhouse was labour-intensive and thorough, to ensure that every inch of the space and the objects in it were unique. She hand-sewed tiny rugs and wove miniature carpets; she created replicas of their friends’ books for the library, including a tiny Van Vechten title. Even the mah-jong tiles in the library, monogrammed silk-covered hairbrush and the feather-trimmed lampshades were hand-made.”
Shoutouts
Thanks to
of by for including my letter writing piece in the “published” roundup.What I Wrote This Week:
I also write the monthly …
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Thanks for including me! Much appreciated
Kathryn,
It's the little moments of connection that really matter. Thanks for putting all these great ideas together.