Balance within creativity - residency at Arteles - 2017
Part five of my Finland residency blog series. Finding balance, waking up at 6.30 am, visiting a smoke sauna and a map of creativity.
This blog is an edited version of one you may have read on my previous website.
Everything began to feel like a downwards slope with the balance tipping towards leaving Finland; I would be returning home in 10 days. No time to waste! I spent more time reading. I wanted to mull over what I’d been exploring and turn it into some semblance of order - some sense of a finished exploration of things. You can read more about my previous weeks in Finland here.
I knew now that paper models work really well for me, but did I need to explore them further? I had started with them and come up with an idea for a sculpture, but was it finished? I felt like it was, but maybe there was more to explore? I was assuming that having visualised a finished piece, unless I actually made it in metal it wouldn’t move any further forwards. Drawing was also been hugely beneficial towards the start of the residency as it’d freed up my brain from my usual work.
Ideas were coming to me more often when I was in my work space. I was still having flashes of inspiration during down time, like meditating but increasingly in my studio.
It would play out after I’d been out for a walk and was reflecting and processing in my work space. I’d often create something based on those adventures. There was a balance to be found here. It felt to me like my brain needed the structure of the workplace before it would release ideas. Often waiting until I was writing, therefor distracted in some way, and then the ideas would come rushing forth.
Early morning walk at Arteles looking over the lake.
CREATIVITY
I came to Finland to unleash my creativity and find a balance between my client led jewellery and my self-directed designs. I was stopping myself from being creative, even here, in a number of ways. My automatic response when I think of a new idea is; what’s the outcome of this idea, what’s the finished design going to look like? Rather than doing this, the book I was reading (Wired to Create) explains:
“Those who derive enjoyment from the act of creating and feel in control of their creative process tend to show greater creativity than those who are focused exclusively on the outcome of their work.”
So, when I’m making jewellery, rather than always focusing on the outcome I need to focus on my enjoyment within the making process. It was a revelation to realise this is why I enjoy making client’s commissions; I already know what the finished piece should look like, I don't have to worry about it and I enjoy using the skills and the process of making the piece.
On Friday we woke up to thunderstorms, followed by flurries of snow followed by blazing sunshine. It was like Finland was giving us all the weather in one day, giving me a little taste of home!
STUDIO TOURS
Friday afternoon brought about a continuation of the studio tours. One of the painters had been working away consistently and, it felt to me, every time I turned around she was working on something different, so it was a treasure to go and look at all the amazing pieces she'd been working on.
As she talked about her work she made an interesting point that has really stuck with me; a lot of her working time was contemplation. She mentioned that she often puts a painting to one side if she’s not sure where to go with it. It sits at the side of her so it’s always in the corner of her eye, if it continues to bug her she can start painting again. If it doesn't then she knows that it's finished. She also explained how hard this was to explain to a client, that a lot of the time spent working on a painting or sculpture is often just thinking, looking and watching to see what the piece is telling you it needs.
In relation to my creativity this took me back to my trouble with wanting to know what the finished piece will look like! Maybe this is a way for me to develop my creative process, to involve time when I'm not physically working on the piece. I can start making a piece of jewellery, put it to one side and let my brain mull it over while I work on client work. This could be a great way to add making new work into my day to day studio life without feeling like I was compromising.
SMOKE SAUNA
On Friday evening we went to the local smoke sauna, Kauhtuan Sauna . It was quite an experience! This was our first time in a public mixed sauna and with the promise of a dip in a lake! After we’d travelled there (two cars and three trips), we paid our money and got ready for the smoke sauna, we watched what the other people were doing and followed their lead! There were little wooden mats to sit on, so you didn’t get covered in soot from the smoke which stuck to the walls. One woman asked us if it was our first time there and marked us all with the black soot from the sauna walls. Once we had warmed up enough we walked outside to the lake and slowly, because we knew it’d be cold, walked backwards down the steps into the water. It was so very very cold. There was a pump to keep the water moving so it didn't freeze over and a few metres beyond that - the lake was still frozen. It was so cold that my face contorted into a grimace while I was also laughing about how cold it was and trying to say how lovely it was. It was punch-the-air-out-of-your-lungs cold and such a shock to the system. Bizarrely it did get easier the more I did it, and the last time I managed a few paddle strokes which could definitely have been mistaken for swimming.
We spent a lovely evening here, going in and out of the different saunas, one was a smoke sauna and the other was a regular sauna like we had been used to at Arteles but the Finnish like their sauna HOT and we were finding it difficult to keep up with them.
GIANT MAP OF CREATIVITY
On Saturday I had an idea of a way to consolidate all I’d learned, how to turn it into that finished exploration of things I mentioned at the start of this post. I knew it would all link together but I didn’t quite know how, I wanted to map it out. I started with a large piece of paper, I wrote creativity in the middle and got to work. Everything started spilling out, I systematically went through all my notes and for a good couple of hours I worked with an intensity and focus that I hadn’t felt in a while.
Towards the end of the day I had a huge mind map which covered everything I had been thinking about for the past few weeks. I kept adding to it as I went on when something popped into my head but this felt finished. It’s more a study of the entire creative process, rather than specifically things that work for me. It now has a place on my studio wall and I often look at it to remind myself of all the potential elements that balance with each other in order to make creativity work. It's a messy and complicated thing . It can be difficult to understand but I like that I have this now.
A note from 2022 editing Jen - This year I plan to turn this into an A3 poster that would be available to purchase, if you’d be interested send me an email here.
LOCAL WILDLIFE
My giant mind map of Creativity
NEW WAYS OF SEEING, OR SHOULD THAT BE HEARING?
On Saturday we did more studio tours, one of the painters had been working in a separate room, so I hadn't really seen a lot of her work. It was absolutely fascinating to go into her space and see everything she had been working on and it was very relevant as a lot of her work features balance!
We had an interesting discussion about the building up of your work with layers which led on perfectly to the DJ's work.
She so perfectly explained her love of music and building something new when she was DJing that it opened my eyes (ears?!) to music in a way I hadn't appreciated before. She explained that to her, music can express things that words can't, it allows people to escape and get lost (in the music) and the mass of humans. She explained her work as being a collaboration, as soon as she starts building up music she gets immediate feedback about her work from the people dancing, she can instantly change it and get inspiration from the crowd, to constantly change and improve it. Around every corner and behind every studio door in Finland I was finding more and more things that were opening up my mind to new ways of looking at things.
Sunday started earlier than usual. I was wide awake at 6am. I didn’t want to waste a moment while I was still in Finland so I got dressed, put my hiking boots on, took my camera and went for a walk around the lake.
It was so quiet on my walk and a lovely way to reflect and think about the things I had most recently been reading about. All of the time and cognative space to think or contemplate whilst I was in Finland was so invaluable to my work.
It's something I don't get to do at home when I’m balancing work, my personal life and all the other things that come with being an adult. Who knew that the daily cognative load of living would be so taxing on the brain. It steals the balance away from being creative.
I now know that walking is one of the things that gives me the balance I need, perfectly captured by this quote . . .
“a connection to our inner selves and our stream of consciousness is undeniably what makes us creative”
SHOW AND TELL
One of the artists suggested a show and tell evening on Sunday about what we do as artists at home. We all knew a little about the projects we were each working on whilst in Finland, but we hadn’t seen much of each other's previous work or even websites as we might usually have done. I spent some of Friday deciding what images I was going to use and planning what to say. I wanted to tell the story of what I do, where and when I started and why I wanted to be a jeweller. As seemed to be the way of everything I was doing in Finland, at that moment in time I was reading about something very relevant "passion". Wired to Create was explaining that once you’ve felt that spark for a particular subject. When it really grabs your attention; it’s likely you’ll follow it for the rest of your life, there is no expiration date for something you're passionate about.
This made me think about my days at school and one particular art teacher I had who had a passion for jewellery which she certainly passed on to me. This was when I fell in love with jewellery and found so many amazing jewellery role models. My desire to learn more about it hasn't wavered and thankfully jewellery making is a seemingly endless subject, there are so many different techniques to learn, there is always some way to improve. The more I make jewellery the more I feel it is becoming an intrinsic part of who I am, it has become my identity.
Watching everyone talk about their work was fascinating, it was awesome to see so much creativity and talent in one room. It also helped give a better understanding of each person and the projects they were working on. It broadened the picture of them as an artist. To hear everyone talk about their passion and to see the progression in people’s work over years was facsinating.
WORK LIFE BALANCE
The finite timescale of Finland; knowing I only had one month, made it easy to be productive. I wanted to get a lot out of the experience and being in Finland, so I kept pushing myself and my work. Any time I could, I’d jump to experience something new. This is in stark contrast to my time at home where I go through waves of feeling productive and feel like I need a couple of days with nothing in my diary to get jewellery made at the studio.
I’d been watching the way everyone was finding balance in their day. Spending time on one project, switching to work on something else for a while, then taking some time out, maybe a break for some food, then back to work on a different project. I thought about the way I work when I am at my studio in Edinburgh; I often focus on one thing, until I’ve completed it. Sometimes this can be great and I'll get through a lot of little tasks. However if I work solidly on one project that takes up days of my time, other things like designing, blogging or even posting on social media are put to one side and it upsets the balance.
In Finland having my living and working spaces just a short walk from each other made it easier to find a balance. I fell into the pattern of mixing up my days with lots of different activities which was invigorating. Before Finland I tried to keep my personal and work life very separate, I was strict about when I worked but limiting my creativity to my working hours was stifling it.
I think there's a different balance to be found when you're creative and everything you do has something to do with your work! I could work late if I wanted to, writing some mornings, or taking a walk through the park on my way to the studio. The balance was to be found in variety and keeping my mind fresh and seeing new things all the time.
My trip to Finland wouldn't have been possible without funding from Creative Scotland and Arteles who have residencies all year round for different disciplines.
If you’d like to help stay creative; why not take a look at my online shop and find some jewellery with your favourite landscape on it.
