Out in the World

My exhibition Ice Stories: Dispatches from the Arctic now on exhibition at ArtPost Uki gallery until 10 April.

There’s a famous quote from Kahlil Gibran from his poem ‘On Children’

“Your children are not your children.
     They are the sons and daughters of Life’s longing for itself.
     They come through you but not from you,
     And though they are with you yet they belong not to you.”

Artists can look on their artworks as their ‘creative children’ and feel very emotionally attached to them, especially as they may have laboured long in bringing them to fruition. I often think of this quote every time I am in an exhibition and send my works out into the world.

Are my creative children going to be well received? Will they be robust enough to withstand stand the scrutiny of gazes? And then the clincher - will they be loved by someone as much as I love them?

These are hard questions to answer and can send you into a spin of anxiety. Which is why I think of this quote as a comfort. These artistic ‘children’ are not really mine - they are of me, yet not me. They came through me from life’s longing for self expression. Once on the wall they no longer ‘belong’ and can cheerfully go home with someone who will give them a happy space on their wall.

I’ve come to the understanding that in order to feel like your exhibition is successful, you need to release your artworks and let them stand on their own merit. Holding onto an expectation of sales is counter productive. It is of course great to not only break even, but make some money for your efforts.

However that is not always the case and you yourself have to be robust enough to know that you did your best and your artworks may need to come home with you again. You can always find another place to exhibit them.

The important thing is to pause, reflect and pat yourself on the back for getting your works out there and on a wall or plinth or other form of installation. That’s a major achievement!

Then you can move on and plan your next creation - or better still have one in the wings ready to focus on next.

I’m off on my next travel adventure to Japan to become inspired by another landscape and the stories in the stones and rocks which are revered in the Shinto religion. Perhaps the resulting artworks will become my next dispatches…

Pictured : Carol Robinson who gave the opening speech for my exhibition