[Today’s featured artwork for Day 3 of the 365 Days Project is by Kesha Bruce]
Ditch the rules. I had plans on exactly how I was going to tackle this 365 Day Project. I had decided that I would write one introspection per day as I arose each morning for the next 365 days. But every time one would come to me, it would be followed by an explosion of seven or eight more. (See Day #1) Then more would float through my brain at various points throughout the day, clearly not interested in arriving all neat and tidy, one at a time, in a morning package as I had planned. I already have 16 written down. And it’s only Day 3. So much for rules.
#3 – Rules rarely work in an Artist’s world.
Pure creation is organic and messy – it can’t be reduced to an orderly series of steps, unless I’m reproducing what I’ve already done before. And even when I’m not creating, I still question most rules because their ultimate goal is to confine and constrict movement. I’m not a rebellious rule-breaker, but I’ve been called a sh**-disturber because I’ll want to take rules apart and reconstruct them differently. I’m always asking, “But what if……?”
The Dalai Lama XIV suggests: “Know the rules well, so you can break them effectively.”
Kesha Bruce’s portfolio and blog can be viewed on her website: Kesha Bruce
The 365 Days Project
In 2012, Serena Kovalosky committed to writing an article a day for 365 days as an exploration into the lives of artists and the value of creative thinking in our society.
Experience the full evolution of the project! Click below to read the entire collection of articles.
Descriptions of the images included in this post:
That They Might Be Lovely
Kesha Bruce, New York, USA
Archival pigment print
This Ground is Dry
Kesha Bruce, New York, USA
Ink, gouache, collage on paper
Ha! Rule following. My cousin is not a rule follower. She breaks rules without trying. If you say turn left she will go right. I admire rule breakers, path blazers, heart followers, risk takers, “I’m defined by you!” forsakers. These are those who go zig when the rest of the herd go zag. They are the seekers that find the cliff, stand on the cliff’s edge while their compatriots shout pointing their bony fingers, “You Must Stop! See the cliff?” You look at them, stare back at the drop, shrug your shoulders and jump. Suddenly a huge condor flies under your fall and you land on its back. It swoops down. You lose your hold and fall bottom first into a clump of sage brush, which breaks your fall. You look up and see a dozen horrified faces staring down at you. You stand. Brush yourself off. Give all your friends a nod and walk on. Now the moral of this story is DO NOT rely on condors and sagebrush – that would be just foolish, a Pandora’s box. But know your heart and follow it even if it is the ‘Road Less Travelled’, (which in terms of the poetic reference has now been travelled a lot). And if you abide by your truth you may step into a few messes, but you also may walk out through once locked doors into freedoms only travelled by those who dare. She smiles as she with glee finishes her fourth cookie of the ‘only two-a-day’ rule. They were small. Really.
My! What a beautiful tale you weave! Cookie rules are the easiest to break…LOL!! – SerenaK