Yesterday I wrote a blog post about finding
Vision and Voice
in your artistic work.
Today I am re-writing parts of the post because I realized something big. (More on that later.)
In December I signed up for and attended an online class with the intriguing title, “Finding Your Voice.” Signing up for the class may have been a signal that I am wanting to express more depth in my work. Or it could have been me wishing that taking the class would auto-magically make my vision and voice appear.
The class was a great disappointment to me. Not only did the presenter not really talk about finding your voice, halfway through the class I realized (again!) that finding your vision and voice is an inside job. There is no class or book or outside oracle who can tell you what your vision and voice are. Finding your vision and voice is about self-excavation and self-discovery more than anything else.
And then one day it just occurred to me: I understood…I understood what my Vision was. It came in an anti-climatical and quiet moment of understanding, and after all of that worrying and angst…it now seemed so incredibly simple. Vision was not something I needed to acquire or develop, it had been there all along and all that I needed to do was to “discover” it. Vision was simply the sum total of my life experiences that caused me to see the world in a unique way. When I looked at a scene and imagined it a certain way…that was my vision. — Cole Thompson, “How I Found My Vision“
What makes me, me? How do I want to take up space in the world? What makes my heart sing? And what do I want to say with my work? All of these questions help me to understand my vision.
We don’t see the world as it is, we see it as we are
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Vision isn’t the same thing as voice. If we never express ourselves, we muffle our voices and are unable to share our vision with others.
It occurs to me that I have often held back my voice for fear of criticism or ridicule. And I’ve compared myself to others wishing I could be more like them rather than expressing my unique point of view.
It took me quite a long time to develop a voice, and now that I have it, I am not going to be silent.
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As I officially closed my photography business last weekend and began to look forward to how I wanted to show my work in the future I realized that my ideas about what I wanted to create and show of my work had changed. While I had made a lot of “pretty” pictures during the past ten years I hadn’t created significant bodies of work that told a story. I no longer want to just show images of Minnesota landscapes or flowers. Instead I want to create cohesive bodies of work that express some idea or feeling.
I realized that my two projects, Wild Altars and Makers Hands, were the only cohesive bodies of work that I have created. And I never really did anything with my Makers Hands images. There are several other photographs that I treasure but they don’t express a cohesive idea or feeling (except maybe beauty).
The Big Aha Moment
As I was reviewing this post (most of it written yesterday) it hit me. I’ve been expressing my vision and voice all along, whether it was in seeing beauty every day outside my window or in choosing joy each and every day. My vision is a vision of seeing simple beauty, practicing presence, being grateful, and choosing joy every single day no matter what else is happening in the world.
I’ve said before that I often think that I should be more like others, more dark, political, full of angst, activist, meaningful, funny. You name it, I’ve thought it. But I’m not those things. While I care deeply about people, politics, and racial justice, the contribution I want to make is one of experiencing and sharing joy, beauty, peace, and gratitude.
What I want to do this year is not express more but to create projects that I am proud to present as a cohesive bodies of work. After yoga class today (yes, on New Year’s day my teacher is doing her online Soma Yoga class. Yay!) I plan to sit down with my journal and think about project ideas for the new year.
How do you express your vision and voice?
Wishing you a joyous and beautiful year.
May you walk in beauty.
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