Stop thinking about art works as objects, and start thinking about them as triggers for experiences…because we say, ‘Art is something that happens, a process, not a quality, and all sorts of things can make it happen.’ … [W]hat makes a work of art ‘good’ for you is not something that is already ‘inside’ it, but something that happens inside you — so the value of the work lies in the degree to which it can help you have the kind of experience that you call art.
–Brian Eno
In Billy Collin’s Introduction to Poetry he describes a classroom of students who want to strap the poem they’re reading to a chair and torture a confession out of it. They even begin beating it with a pipe in order to find out what it really means. I would love to share with you the story of how I accidentally became an artist, what my creative process looks like (including the important role of crank calls, sketchbooks, secret projects, legal stimulants like coffee, instructions on how to write well, the sometimes indistinguishable difference between lying and creating artwork, children’s books, and the occasional stifling environment), what all artists secretly desire out of you, and how to establish a friendly relationship with an artwork so that it serves as a trigger for experience (and you don’t have to metaphorically beat it with anything). I will be sharing images of my work and bringing sketchbooks for you to peruse.
Join us
Sunday 19 July
Potluck dinner begins at 6:00 pm
Katie begins sharing at 6:45
at Sophia House
4547 Gibson Avenue
Saint Louis 63110
