A Day Away, A Haircut, and Crawl

Life has certainly been a juggling act lately, with not nearly enough time for working in the studio. I try really hard to spend those days I'm not working or busy with outside appointments in the studio...but sometimes a day away refuels the creative fire more than anything else can.

Last week I had a day just like that. I left home in the morning and didn't make it home till bedtime. It was a day spent with artsy friends and even time all to myself. I had time to catch my breath, treat myself just a little and just enjoy being away from the pressures of life in general. It was the kind of escape we all need once in a while.

I started off the morning by meeting with my mentor, Brenna Busse, to take a trip to Circa Gallery in downtown Minneapolis to check out the Barbara Gilhooly show that is there till the end of this month. Barbara was a Lowertown artist (she moved this past summer) that still exhibits locally. I love her work and this show was inspiring--to both Brenna and myself. For one thing, I was just amazed by how productive she is as an artist. A large chunk of the exhibit included 100 6x6 paintings--all completed this winter, I believe. Even if they were small--that's a lot of work. They were painted on birch wood panels. Part of what I liked about them was how she built layers upon layers of color, carved into the wood and even used sandpaper to reveal multiple layers of paint. 

Seeing a show like that makes you want to run right home, lock yourself in the studio and get busy. But then I remembered ... this was my day.

I said good-bye to Brenna and made a call to see if I could make an afternoon appointment for a hair cut. I've been dreaming of a new cut for a couple of weeks. I felt the need to get rid of some hair. Really. On so many levels, I just needed to get it cut off. It felt too long, too bushy, too everything. And I felt like a new hairdo would put me in a spring-sort of mood. I've just had enough of  snow and winter (I had to wipe snow off my windshield that very morning, damnit) and even if it didn't look like spring outside, I needed to feel like it inside. And hooray, I got an appointment with a new person who finally gave me the short haircut that I've been wanting to get for the past year (there were several failed attempts). I left the salon feeling like a new woman. I got my sassy back.


From there I met up with one of my WARM buddies...we hung out, talked art until it was time to go to our very first Critical Response for two of our fellow Protegees. I think I will write about this more in-depth at a later date, but basically it is a process developed by dancer Liz Lerman for artists to give one another feedback about their work that supports the artist rather than tear them down. (I do not have fond memories of critiques in college many years ago). It was an interesting experience. It definitely felt good to connect with other artists and experience a "critique" that could be both supportive and informative. 


It's been several days now, but the experiences of this one day are still swimming around in my head. I want to spend time in the studio and work on the projects in my head...and while I have done some painting, what I'm really focused on is getting things ready for the Art Crawl. Bigger projects will have to wait, cause the Crawl is next weekend!

I'm not quite sure how it's all going to come together, but I just keep going. I've made my lists, keep finishing things on those lists, and know that somehow it will all get done (more or less) and I'll be ready for another Crawl.

I'll let you know how it goes.