Structuring an Art Practice with ADHD Part 2
I'm restructuring my full-time employment working model first
It’ll be worth it, I promise.
If you’re new here, I’m SLART, a British Outsider Artist documenting my journey and art practice.
I’ve recently got a new studio space (more on that soon) and I’m restructuring my employment model from full time office to either hybrid or remote, I work full time in a tech job you see, it’s paying the bills. I’m trying to see the positive side where I can create art freely without fear of making ends meet.
On Friday 5th, I had an interview for a “Web and Growth Engineer” role which had flexible working options. A good sign was that they approached me on LinkedIn initially. I had a chat with HR first, then a chat with VP of Marketing and then a group call that included me presenting my growth plans for 20 mins then 40 mins Q and A.
I feel like I held my own, I was not perfect by all means, but I gave it my best shot. By the time my next post rolls round here, you’ll know if I’m a “Web and Growth Engineer” so send positive vibes ✨
The Art Practice Bit
I’m grateful to have stumbled across the work of Blackbird Rook. His essays have resonated with me and has got me thinking in terms of exploration rather than pandering to what’s en vogue, or looks ‘sellable’. Not that I do that, but I feel like, with the new studio, I’d like to evolve my art practice. Blackbird Rook recommended a book by Lawrence Weschler - Titled: ‘Seeing Is Forgetting the Name of the Thing One Sees: Expanded Edition’
It’s a biography of the late artist, Robert Irwin and its recommended as one of the best art books.
I’m only 20 pages in so far, but from what I can grasp, Irwin was a strong willed individual who was independent from a young age. What stood out was his emotional security.
His art practice, I can’t say much as yet, but from what I’ve seen in videos is that he was a great experimenter, who used spaces that exist to create art within. It’s got me thinking outside of painting, as much as I adore painting, there’s a whole wider world out there that could be explored.
“Art in a sense is a continual inquiry into the potential of human beings to perceive and know the world with an aesthetic bias”
Robert Irwin
Blackbird Rook mentions in this video below, some examples of using your studio as a laboratory and your art as the experiment. I’m not a man of science but this way of working piqued my interest.
One example he give was (paraphrasing) “How can I depict the feeling of a spring morning?”. Using your own curiosity to use art as a way of thinking and experimenting, rather than through expression alone as I have done previously. It goes without saying, there’s no right way ‘to art’, but I’m excited about taking things in a different direction.
I said last week that I’d come back with a polished structure but that was never going to happen in 7 days. My intention now is for my practice to unfold into a natural structure that works for me, including the new space in that.
See you next week. Feel free to tell me about your art practice in the comments.
Bye for now.
If you’d like to support me…
