Updated: 4/1/2004; 11:01:06 AM
3rd House Party
    The 3rd house in astrology is associated with writing, conversation, personal thoughts, day-to-day things, siblings and neighbors.

daily link  Friday, March 19, 2004

Happy spring!

I got out for a walk today, dressed in layers. It wasn't too cold, 30's F and the sun peeked through the clouds occasionally. There's still a lot of snow left from the storm earlier in the week, and we've had light flurries every day. This weekend it's supposed to be in the 40's, with Sunday the better of the days - sunny. I hope that's true because I'll be out at Plum Island sometime on Sunday.

Saturday is the first day of spring. StarIQ gives the following forecast:

Sun in Aries (today): This is the first day of the astrological year as the 12-month solar cycle begins again. Aries is the sign of the pioneer, the independent spirit and the warrior. Choose a new activity to challenge you, rather than passively waiting to see what life brings. This is a time to cut a fresh path of your own making. If it doesn't take you where you want to go, try another direction. We are all beginners now, so it's natural to make adjustments as the new season unfolds.

 

The New Moon in Aries (Sat., Mar. 20) just hours after the equinox marks a double beginning, a time for starting over, taking risks and leaving the past behind. Impulsive Aries behavior, though, is toned down by a tough square from serious Saturn, a reminder that our actions have consequences. Be bold, but with a purpose, to turn this lunation's fire into a lasting flame.

Enjoy the weekend, everyone. And Happy spring!

 
6:17:25 PM  permalink    trackback [] 

OCD

A new exhibit in Boston looks at obsession and compulsion in art. Several artists, working in traditional forms like drawings and photographs or more playful media like sugar eggs and bubble wrap, explore the phenomenon. From the introduction on the exhibit’s website:

It could be argued that all forms of artmaking contain an element of obsession; it drives the will to create and underlies most great works. Though most artists accept their obsession as a means to an end, there are some who explore the nature of obsession, itself, and the statements that an obsessive act can make.

Jason Dean works with bubble wrap. I thought his statement was particularly interesting:

The act of art making itself is a particularly human obsession. Everyone has the desire to create, but how can an impulse to pop bubbles be transformed into a meaningful act?

 

Unlike the search for food and the need for sleep, art making benefits the individual in no seemingly direct way, yet what culture hasn’t devoted a large part of their valuable time pursuing such a fruitless endeavor? What purpose does it serve other than to express oneself externally into the environment, to leave a mark of one’s existence, to communicate…

So do you have an obsession or obsessions? Can you, do you, use it in a meaningful way through your art or writing?

 

One potent example from this exhibit is Matthew Nash’s images of war icons made out of candy. He points out that M&Ms were invented to give frontline troops portable chocolate:

The images depict war through its childish incarnations, sweet and innocent and naive. It is eye-candy, no less deceptive than FOX News or a Pentagon briefing, for their sweetness and simplicity often mask unspeakable cruelty.

(Image: Matthew Nash, "Infantry, June 5, 1944" from the series The Children's War)

But to be meaningful, art doesn’t have to make a political statement. It can be highly personal, such as Nancy Havlick’s exploration of Armenian family traditions through the making of panoramic sugar eggs. And then there’s Luke Walker’s video montage of on-the-street shots of people’s rear-ends, which I thought was pretty funny.

 

Sometimes I think any sustained writing effort, whether poetry or fiction or non-fiction, requires a certain amount of obsessiveness or you'd never get around to it. As the introduction to the exhibit says, we live in a culture that “glorifies the opposite of obsession – distraction.” We either have an obsession that keeps pulling us back to our creative efforts or it's an act of discipline. Or maybe for many of us who aren't so obsessed it's both - we have a desire to create but we also need to set up some structure or discipline to make sure we do it. Hence the "morning pages" of The Artist's Way, writing groups we join to support and sustain our efforts, art classes, an enforced turning off the TV in the evening, and so on.

 

Does obsession drive your creative work or disclipline or both? Do you keep returning to the same themes over and over? What's meaningful for you?

 

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“OCD” runs from March 19 - May 9 at the Mills Gallery at the Boston Center for the Arts.

Nancy Havlick, “Sugar Egg Rug” 2004

 

 
9:19:10 AM  permalink    trackback [] 

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