January 2014, It wakes me up every day, A Creative Life

This Quarterly will focus on artists who have written essays in a recently published book, Living and Sustaining a Creative Life.  Autobiographical essays by visual artists but edited and compiled by Sharon Louden.  Though they are of the visual kind, the insight, commitment and structure for a creative life can transcend genre.  Here are a few of my favorite in the book (full disclosure, some are friends!) and their work, quotes and web sites.

There has been some push back from the book.  First page, Sharon Louden writes "In 1991, I graduated with an MFA from Yale..." Right there, you will lose any sympathy from most of us.  She was also a recent Visiting Artist at Vanderbilt a few years back.  But Thankfully, I read on...  Paperback is $31, you can get the Kindle Edition for $8.99.  Sorry for the hanky quotes, it's late.

ADRIENNE OUTLAW, Nashville

AMY PLEASANT- Birmingham

"During  critique in graduate school the topic of :life as an artist" ensued, and my painting professor,Stanley Whitney, said "Even if you had every day for the rest of your life to paint, it still wouldn't be enough."  And it wakes me up every day, and I follow it.  And at the risk of sounding melodramatic, it is the greatest thing I know."

RICHARD KLEIN-Stephan Stoyanov Gallery

"This reminds me of "Gotta Serve Somebody", a song by Bob Dylan from his gospel period: "You might be somebody's landlord, you might even own banks but you're gonna have to serve somebody."  Indeed, in the museum I need to serve institutional interests, but in the studio there is a bigger and meaner taskmaster:  art history."

TIMOTHY NOLAN- CB1 Gallery

"Recently I heard Chuck Close on Charlie Rose saying "Inspiration is for amateurs, the rest of us just show up and get to work."

BILL CARROLL

"When I was in art school the model was de Kooning, who had his first one-person show at 40.  You didn't think about showing the first ten years out of school."

SHARON LOUDEN

"I think that this book shows that artists are self-sustaining.  And that has been consistent over many centuries, long before this market ever happened."