KEEPING THE FLAME

[TIGER GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!]

Which Artists (in Any Field) managed to keep the creative fire alight throughout their whole lives.
Picasso
Miles....

but very few others I can think of.
I wonder, how DO you keep the creative fire? How do you embrace change and keep moving. How do you avoid looking back- which is crucial.

I can imagine all the funny guys (let s all lipsync now...Cartman, Johnny, Jazz Police...)who will crack jokes as a reply and then check OZ forum about 100 times a day so as to reallt get off on themselves.whatever. But maybe there will be a few interesting responses to this,

much love Jacki and Tiger

[NLo]

You press on. You think, read, write, listen, consider at length the things that are going on around you - both musical and otherwise - and your place in relation to them. You don't expect too much from the world at large; probably you owe it more than it owes you anyway. You maintain a dogged faith in the things that you do, because if you didn't, you wouldn't do them. You value the considered responses (whether they're favorable or not) of anyone who has engaged seriously with your thought and your work. If you have done anything you're pleased with then you look to the manner in which it came about, and try to replicate that rather than the thing itself. You benefit from the company and the wisdom of sympathetic colleagues and friends. You try to moderate your frustration, diappointment, cynicism, and self-loathing, although sometimes these things threaten to get the better of you. You live in hope that one day music might be acknowledged as the positively vital force it is able to be, but you don't waste too much time lamenting that this is not the case right now. As best you can, you press on.

[vickijane]

I agree with Nlo.

tigerrex said:

Which Artists (in Any Field) managed to keep the creative fire alight throughout their whole lives.
Picasso
Miles....

but very few others I can think of.
I wonder, how DO you keep the creative fire? How do you embrace change and keep moving. How do you avoid looking back- which is crucial. Iquote]


Well… it’s alleged that Picasso stubbed out cigarettes on the face/s of his women.
Miles spent long periods doing nothing but lying around his house watching TV, taking lots of cocaine and often refusing visits from friends (in his own words “I became a hermit”) but I wouldn’t advocate either of those two options. Both were great prolific artists with a lifetime of evolving art. Having said that, neither was always busy being ‘positively prolific’. For me the creative experience is helped by learning new things, maybe some more reading or a walk in the park, certainly time alone with your thoughts is important, this might help further your own understanding of the creative process and what works for you and maybe even improve your already impressive playing, Mr. Rex.

[march]

Could it have something to do with the process? How much do we as artists rely on a specific process that we tie to the idea of creativity? Maybe we need to not take anything for granted. We need to question everything we do. The idea being that we can uncover previously hidden burdens that are part of our creative process. Obvious examples include composing without an instrument, checking out music you may not have heard before......
I always find that reading interviews with some of my favorite artists helps heaps. Recently I've been reading lots of Henry THreadgill interviews. I think there are also some interesting theories on the creative process on Steve Coleman's website: (m-base.net i think) and in turn he mentions a whole lot of others, including Ernst Levy.
I also reackon that this process is the painful option. TPG mentioned it in another post: a lot of work needs to be done. Maybe more than we ever thought or thought we were prepared to do.
This reminds me of a Stravinksy quote that a great Melbourne trumpeter told me: When asked about the role inspiration plays in his creative process he says (something like) "Why would I leave my creative process up to something as unreliable as inspiration!"
Just some thoughts

[tinky]

Are you saying avoiding looking back is crucial??? We certaintly can't look forward, unless you know Dr Who. Do we look sideways, up, down, inside, outside?
Why embrace change, is change proven to be good?
The only word that works for me right now is search. That might lead anywhere, even to where you are.

[tugsey]

Search yes - but as March said the burdens of awareness can test you. We need to ocassionally admit that as your awareness grows, the journey can get pretty grim -I think inspiration should be allowed its part in the process , not necessarily as the energy that drives the search, but as energy that can revitalise you when you get weighed down - whatever inspires is often ephemeral and transient anyway. One thing I know for sure -the search for inspiration itself is a no-brainer.

[Geoff]

I guess you have to add that energy and inspiration can be entirely separate. Energy can be a constant,whereas inspiration rarely is.
Psychology on this is complex though. In Eastern philosophy you can find plenty of examples of how to elevate the mundane and everyday to the level of inspiration - but is it the inspiration to create or is it the stuff of survival - is there a difference? I wonder if some real shit happens in the nexus between these two forces.

[johnnymastropaulos]

tugsey, by burden of awareness, do you mean action becomes harder when you have an increased knowledge of it's context and results? In non-abstract terms - DO YOU MEAN IT IS HARDER TO PRACTICE WHEN YOU KNOW HOW MUCH YOU HAVE TO DO? or on the creative side - that knowing how much good music is out there makes you feel that your own work is somehow pointless, inferior, and incredibly un-original?

Of, course I'm reading my own problems into your post here.

also,

I think MarcH was talking about releasing burdens (or rather creative blockages and railroaded creative process) as an important developemental step in becoming MORE creative, MORE productive. am I right Marc?
Discussions like this become very difficult if we start using one word for two different concepts.
I know for me, (in terms of blockages) feelings of insecurity and fear have constricted me creatively in the past, and made me less myself than I could have been. I'm very slowly learning to get over this. But it is hard.
It's interesting that Tiger brought up miles as an example of constant creative energy.
Miles' greatest skill, I firmly beleive was that he was SO MUCH HIMSELF. as much as any of the great artists and musicians throughout history.
While I'm sure he had insecurity and fear, I don't think he (often) let these get in the way of his creative process. (Doo-Bop aside). it would be amazing to have that strength I think.


Stravinsky's quote is gold. couldn't agree with the old corpse more.

PS. TIGER: just because I'm funnier than you doesn't mean that I always have to be funny. I'm also smarter, better looking, more widely read, a better conversationalist, and a better lay. It's a pleasure to be any one of these things just to make you feel bad, which makes me feel good. It's lucky for you that you can play the alto saxophone.

[tuggsey]

I agree scrota - I may have railroaded Marcs comments during my research of a crate of Shiraz.He may have been talking about challenges rather than burdens - some are self imposed to bring about breakthroughs in perception -and then others just happen....usually with the onset of awareness made more acute by what you have learned. I wouldnt say that this is negative - dark maybe - and no, I;m not necessarilysaying action becomes harder - only that if you really are internally driven,your course of action is under constant review - so changes in direction have to be negotiated so you can choose to either stay on the path or take a diversion -neither is easy to do(its easier to just stop) in my experience but hopefully you get better at that.
Creatively speaking, awareness is a two edged sword - sure you might be overwhelmed by what is outside of you - or maybe it compels you to do something amazing- awareness of whats within should be the foil for that, but fear can make you feel like it might be easier to have nothing inside you at all.....

and leave you (inexpressibly to unravel)
your life, with its immensity and fear,
so that, now bounded, now immeasurable,
it is alternately stone in you and star.
Rilke.

[isaacs]

Writing from Arthur Boyd's Bundanon property

Great thread

These things help me:

*No drugs or alcohol (when alcohol is used like a drug)
*Eat really healthily
*Don't screw anything that moves
*Early to bed, early to rise
*Get some exercise
*Nurture loving relationships and avoid destructive ones
*Work productively and respectfully with non-artists (promoters, media etc)
*Keep your house in order (both literally and metaphorically)
*Don't get too weird and/or overdo the delusions of grandeur

I find staying on the rails with those things more of a point of discipline than issues directly surrounding the art-making itself. To the extent that I am on track with the above, the rest is (relatively) easy.

[timothystevens]

admin said:

*Don't screw anything that moves

Care to rephrase?

(Sorry. Someone had to say it. I know what you mean, of course.)

[isaacs]

Too funny Tim :-)

Necrophilia figuring prominently in the path to artistic salvation

Not

[tinky]

I think fear is a big one to get over. Fear of doing the work, fear of not being as talented as you thought, fear of nothing original to offer. I've had all them and more and still battle with some areas.
Interesting list Mark, I use nearly the opposite of all of those, esp the drugs and drink. Seriously I recon sometimes getting a bit (right,a bit) out of it has helped me break through some barriers. The big thing is to try to take the experience to sobriety so that you don't rely on the stimulus. Still a we dram before a gig can help settle, but then nothing matches the power of a focused mind, confused? Me too.
It seems to me that the best artists simply do what they do. No need to try to be new or clever, no caring for whats hip or not. Simply expressing what needs to be expressed.

[isaacs]

Hey Tinky.

Needless to say I'm just sharing what works for me nd has been my framework for maybe the last 10 years. I feel the last 10 years has been most productive for me (in the best sense) so I figure the recipe will stick until further notice.

Drug are really medicines. Medicines have their place. They can also have side-effects that outweigh the benefits. I have self-medicated plenty. I'm just off my prescriptions for now. If I feel I will be better on them I'll go back on.

[Kenny]

I want my meds!