“Hold fast to dreams,
For if dreams die
Life is a broken-winged bird,
That cannot fly.”
-Langston Hughes
Holding onto hope is perhaps one of the most important and fundamental parts of living a good life. Finding your way to optimism when things are their darkest helps ensure the strength to carry on no matter what comes next. Hope helps us navigate troubled waters, it buoys us above despair and keeps us moving forward. It takes great strength to maintain this but in building our resilience and believe that there is a light ahead, we can move through the tunnels of life emerging perhaps not unscathed but changed in ways that build new skills to get us through the next time.
Kristin Marting spoke to us from New York where she is the founding artistic director of HERE. As a people-oriented person and theater maker, the pandemic has been a very strange time for her but it has also been a time of great learning and change. Among the lessons she has learned from this time is the ways in which the structure of her organization must change in order to achieve greater equity. While HERE had already been moving in this direction, the events of 2020 have pulled this need into sharp focus and made it even more of an imperative. Marting also says she has learned a great deal about work-life balance and will take with her the wisdom to slow down and not overwork herself as a habit. This year Marting decided to send homemade valentines to her friends, a gesture that received tremendous feedback. To hear more about how her life has changed during the pandemic and more, listen to the complete interview.
Judith Page spoke to us from Brooklyn shortly after Valentine’s Day. Throughout the pandemic, she has been spending her time at home focusing her time on photography, something she can do in her apartment. For over a decade Page has incorporated photography into her work, combining it with other media. She uses her home as a studio and for the last year has been working on a southern gothic style series called Shadowlands. The series examines the new place Page finds herself in – namely her experience of suddenly spending the majority of her time alone in her apartment. To hear more about this series, one of her strongest artistic influences and more, listen to the complete interview.
A Few Words to Keep in your Pocket:
Let hope lift you through.
Interviews are available on iTunes as podcasts, and for Android please click here. All weekly essay pieces in a shareable format are here. The full archive of interviews here.
Books to Read
What are you reading? Add your titles to our reading list here. Kristin Marting is reading Octavia’s Brood: Science Fiction Stories from Social Justice Movements. Judith Page is reading The Irascibles: Painters Against the Museum.
Deadlines:
BBA Gallery in Berlin, Germany announces an open call for their 2021 Artist Prize. This competition is open to international artists working in all media who are at least 18 years of age. There are three cash prizes for first, second and third place artists as well as the opportunity for broad publicity. For more information, visit the website. Deadline for submissions is March 15.
Brainard Carey is an author, artist and educator. He is the director of Praxis Center for Aesthetics. He has written six books for artists; Making it in the Art World, New Markets for Artists, The Art World Demystified, Fund Your Dreams Like a Creative Genius, Sell Online Like a Creative Genius, and Succeed with Social Media Like a Creative Genius.