Unsticking Mechanisms

We are all familiar with the concept of “Writer’s Block”, but that is just a subspecies of a much more widespread malady (the veritable “common cold” of aesthetic identity) that for lack of a better term, we’ll call “Stuckness”. Recently, some light was shed on this chronic ailment by the comedian, actor, writer, and banjo player Steve Martin while he was being interviewed by Charlie Rose on the eponymous talk show:
http://www.charlierose.com/shows/2007/12/12/1/an-hour-with-steve-martin
Charlie was probing Steve about why he doesn’t do stand-up anymore, and Steve quoted the painter Eric Fischl, saying that in therapy one seeks to retain one’s discoveries, while in art one abandons them. Art making is a way of always emptying oneself out. And while this may keep the art fresh, it also increases the likelihood of an on-going identity crisis.
A colleague of mine came to me recently with all the symptoms of a small bout of Stuckness. Erica Mott is a Chicago based performing artist who lives in the overlap between theater, dance, installation, and spoken word. She is interested in socially engaged performance, in site-specific work, and in creating environments in which all voices can speak and be heard. www.ericamott.com/
She works with teachers and artists and students in public schools through the Chicago Arts Partnerships in Education (CAPE) and through other arts education programs. She is comfortable with all these multiple identities, but often feels Stuck trying to explain to others who she is artistically. As we chatted about this dilemma, we cooked up a little thought experiment that could serve as an Unsticking Mechansim for anyone interested in a little aesthetic Echinacea:

Imagine a series of course offerings you would teach to emerging artists at an idealized university

Here is the list we came up with for her:

Inciting Self-direction 101

Creating Transformational Space 102

The Body Mask and the Internal Landscape 103

Excavation 104

Incipient Mythologies 201

Interviewing and Engaging Communities, but with a Better Title 202

Stillness and What It Isn’t 203

We were both tickled by the list, and Erica found it useful in clarifying and naming her own work for herself. This small exercise certainly won’t FILL the emptiness an artist needs to keep on growing, but it just might help some artists identify WHICH emptiness needs to be explored in order for the work to be any good.
At the end of the Steve Martin interview, Charlie Rose asked the entertainer if he had any advice to give on how to make it in show business. Steve’s answer was not about finding the right agent or going to the right parties, but rather: “Be so good they can’t ignore you.” That advice, if taken to heart, will either paralyze you, or point you to the next good emptiness.

Arnold Aprill
Founding and Creative Director
Chicago Arts Partnerships in Education (CAPE)
www.capeweb.org