The title of our blog series is “Harmony and Balance Through Art”. That has always been Sandy’s premise and the genesis of her business/website name…”Art to Harmony”. It has been my personal intention to seek balance and harmony through art in terms of my left brain and right brain activity. Although I may be starting to achieve some balance in that direction, this past month, we (both Sandy and I) have been going unstable and a bit out of control relative to our art “work” and “life”. We in fact have lost some “balance and harmony” as a result of our art “work”.
The month started with me needing to “commandeer” the kiln and glass studio to generate the five finished pieces for the LAS jury. I did it…and was successful in being accepted by the jury and admitted as a member-artist of LAS. That was a good “end”, but did it justify the “means”? I met the deadline I set for myself…to be juried in August…but did I really have to? There would be another jury opportunity in November. I could have done things in a more relaxed and harmonious way…sharing the kiln that week…not be spending every day “working”, albeit art, but it was work at a stressful pace.
Then, “tit for tat”. The next two weeks have been commandeered by Sandy. She had two deadlines she “needed to work”. One was for an order she received for 24 cheese plates to be used as gifts for a company’s Board of Directors offsite meeting at the Grand Wailea. Having this order was really nice. The customer paid in full upfront…also really nice. But even though the meeting isn’t going to be until the beginning of October, Sandy’s work ethic said she had to get on top of it NOW!
To further exacerbate the situation and add to the unbalance, another good thing for Sandy is that she is scheduled to participate in an art opening with her dear friend, Lynette Pradiga, a multi-media artist (see her website www.lynettepradiga.com) on September 1st. They will be showing at the Indigo Art Gallery in Kihei through September 30th. She has plenty of glass art to satisfy the needs for that opening…but NO, she needed additional turtle motif pieces to show. Needless to say, with all on her plate, Sandy has been in high speed frantic mode. “Balance and Harmony” were pushed to the wayside.
A few days ago we realized how out of control we had gotten and “tried” to hit the brakes. Sandy actually broke stride…briefly…to finish a pattern bar piece she had been working on before the “great push”. The resultant bowl is shown in the photo with this blog entry. Doing “production” glass reminded her of her days as a production potter…not so fun days. We are re-assessing our priorities. They have definitely gone off kilter and need rebalancing. There’s a lesson learned here. Just because art work is “art” and a right brained activity, it can be unbalanced. “Work-aholicism” (the computer objects to this word but you know what I mean) is not just a left brain affliction…it is something that right brainers need to deal with as well.
We are pulling back on the reins on this run-away stage coach… not easy to do. We will restore a balance and harmony…in art and in life…after next week. We do have tat opening at Indigo in a few days and then we have to get our work together for “hanging day” September 4th at the LAS gallery in Lahaina. That’s where Sandy and I (now that I’ve been accepted into LAS) bring some of our art work for display through September. It’ll be my first time so I can’t quite back off on the push…not just yet. But after the 4th, Balance and Harmony will again prevail…I PROMISE… and the Art to Harmony CEO agrees!!
Aloha
Bob