January 1, 2022

Something I thought about:

• Materiality and the pleasure of nonprofessional creation. I liked voice lessons, knitting, and baking specifically because they were for me — not anything I’d ever master enough to do professionally. They were a way of relaxing and of getting out of my head. Challenging but not stressful. Play, essentially. I haven’t been playing much. Writing, which was once such an outlet, changed as soon as I started thinking of publishing, and it also changed with the various quick turns in life: moving to Switzerland, having a child, starting a doctorate, and then existing during a pandemic. So I'm going to play a bit and see what happens – give myself creative space and time so that I can have an outlet again while pushing through the upcoming tight, academic timelines. And the experiments will be material – a true break from the screen. Fresh perspective.

Something I did:

• Signed up for some self-directed online art classes — specifically book art/sketchbook related.
• Read a lot.
• Journaled a lot.
• Got a vaccine appointment for the child.

Something I read:

• Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Sáenz
• Syllabus by Lynda Barry
• I am now obsessed with Marimo moss balls (sorry – algae balls!) https://jonnysun.bulletin.com/287466686220433
• I liked the simplicity of this: https://austinkleon.com/2021/12/21/finding-a-form-that-accommodates-the-mess/

To find a form that accommodates the mess, that is the task of the artist now.