relocated by the gophers
When I was in Estes Park for my guild lecture 10 days ago I had a lovely dinner with some of the guild board members. Talk meandered around quilting and art of course. One of the board members is involved in creating an arts program for a school in Oklahoma. We had a great discussion about the lack of art in many of our schools, what that means for future generations and what this particular school is doing to make things better for their students and community.
blooming in the middle of the path
It has been my experience that one of the key lessons of making art is learning how to get through the ugly stage. Most art has an ugly stage…that point where you can’t stand it and think it is hopeless and maybe you should simply give up and become an accountant! But, no matter how ugly you think it is if you keep working at it the art develops and becomes a thing of beauty. It is magical when it comes together! So many things in our lives have an ugly stage that just needs to be gotten through; kids, home remodels, marriages and gardens to name just a few.
blooming despite the pocket gopher attacks
My garden has had an extended ugly stage thanks to a plethora of pocket gophers who think my yard is a 5 star gopher resort! But I do have some stalwart bloomers who won’t give up and bloom despite the gophers. Today let’s celebrate perseverance in art, gardens and life. Cheers for the Ugly Stage!
Tags: art in schools, perseverance, pocket gophers, ugly stage
We could also call it the “dormant” stage. That implies a period of rest; leaving things alone; letting it be.
Sometimes, it takes me years to fall in love with my own work.
I take the ugly stage particularly hard, i.e. crying in frustration; crumpling things up. So, one of my teachers told me: “if things aren’t working out, put it aside and work on something else.” He said he worked on several paintings at once, for the very same reason. And it turned out to be a helpful practice for me, because things I absolutely hated, I would see a couple of weeks later and wonder what was wrong with it?
Hi Kitty,
Yes, dormant is a good descripter also. The problem is to not let those dormant things linger too long. Pushing to work through those ugly/dormant stages is so important. I like working on multiple pieces at once too…but I thought that was simply my ADD!