“The chief beauty about time
is that you cannot waste it in advance.”
-Arnold Bennett
Every moment is a new beginning. What’s done is in the past and the future lies, untouched before us. Whether we have made mistakes does not matter, it is the choices we make in this moment that propel us forward. Internalizing this endless opportunity for renewal is what builds strong, successful lives. When one does not allow the follies of what’s passed before to hinder taking control of what’s ahead, the world and the constant stretch of time become the canvas on which a masterpiece is rendered.
Rachel Adams spoke to us in late August from Omaha, Nebraska where she lives and works. She describes Omaha as a “blue dot in a red state” which means that the city itself has kept many of the pandemic safety measures in place. In her role as Curator and Director of Programs at Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts, she oversees three programming branches – an international artist residency, exhibitions and public programs. The center now has a new experimental and sound art venue that brings in a few performances each month. Since the beginning of the center 40 years ago, the mission has been artists supporting artists. This includes the artists coming in for residency as well as those exhibiting and around the community. To hear more about the center and Adams’ role, listen to the complete interview.
Kristine Stiles connected with us from Durham, North Carolina in early September. At the time, the circumstances of the pandemic were still quite unpredictable. A Distinguished Professor of Art, Art History and Visual Studies at Duke University, Stiles reports that she was able to remain online with her current seminar class about trauma in art, literature and film. Early on, Stiles made the case that a course such as this could not be taught with masked faces as it robs the ability to see students’ faces and was granted to teach the seminar online. Stiles began as a painter, initially painting herself as an African American. Eventually, she was told by African American colleagues that she could no longer do this and so she moved away from painting. To hear more about this and more about her evolution from artist to academic, listen to the complete interview.
A Few Words to Keep in your Pocket:
Allow yourself to be bold, to live in each moment as though it was your first, to look always for how you might be reborn in this moment. Or this. Or this…
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. Rachel Adams was reading Ninth Street Women by Mary Gabriel. Kristine Stiles highly recommends the documentary The Last of the Unjust.
Deadlines:
NARS Studio Relief Program offers three months of subsidized, work-only studio space to artists in need. This program focuses primarily on artists who have experienced financial hardship as a result of the pandemic. For more information and to apply, visit the website. Rolling deadline.
From 24 June to 20 August 2021, Marian Goodman Gallery and Holt/Smithson Foundation will present the first exhibition of Robert Smithson’s work in the gallery’s New York space. The exhibition, Abstract Cartography, will focus on a crucial five-year period in Smithson’s development: 1966 to 1971, a time when his “inklings of earthworks” began. This careful selection of artworks will trace Smithson’s radical rethinking of what art could be and where it could be found.
Brainard Carey is an author, artist and educator. He is the director of Praxis 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. His book, Making it in the Art World, is available now with bonus content here.