9/31

Links to 8/31 &
The 31 Things Launch Post

Art-making materials are the most vibrant things.

Artists sometimes refer to the muse—an apt way to express the relationship and that alchemy that occurs when the materials meet the maker. It's a mysterious bond both abstract yet tangible. 

You have a favourite psychologist, right? Mine is Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (MEE-hy CHEEK-sent-mee-HAH-yee), who researched creativity (and happiness) for decades; he coined and studied the sports and arts concept flow. 

During the flow state—a personally defined goldilocks zone between what we find too easy and too hard—time (and trouble) disappear as we become absorbed in a fulfilling task. In connection with our goals, whatever activity prompts and sustains this zone for us—marathoning or driving race-cars or cake-decorating or sewing or performing on stage or refinishing furniture and so on—Csikszentmihalyi declared that flow "transforms a random walk into a chase."  

I find that phrase "random walk" compelling. That's it! For me, art-making is a flow experience, a rapt random walk. 

A fitting metaphor, I have learned to value the walk—the process—as much as or more than that elusive product we artists chase. Regardless of my original plans (my goals), the random walk is about getting absorbed, even lost in that flow zone, creating something surprising, unintended, serendipitous... the fluke I sought all along. As in all valuable relationships, this requires trust. Like a soapstone sculptor trusting something hidden within the stone itself (the seal? the turtle? the fox?), the tools, the muse—they too will provide something vibrant, something more than at first imagined, something connected to happiness.  

Dear friends, what inspires you to find flow? 

8/31

Links to 7/31 &
the 31 Things
Launch Post

 Do you know what these are? For those in the know (people over 40?), let's call them the before-the-internet-Internet. Like, imagine if Wikipedia weighed at least 80 pounds. 

Yes, several years ago I acquired a set of encyclopedias from the year I was born! Yes, they're old-ish and outdated-ish but these vibrant things are a portal to my childhood curiosity. 

Childhood me hopscotched through them repeatedly. I especially remember the maps with their plastic overlays and various gripping entries including cartooning and human reproduction, lol. 

I also pondered the people/polymaths who contributed such wide-ranging information...how did one obtain a (dream) job researching random things? Is this why I changed my undergrad minors every year? Is this why I completed a Master's Degree in Interdisciplinary Studies? Hmm, coincidence? 

Considering encyclopedias were once my first personal library and a legitimate authority for credible knowledge, I asked AI a somewhat personal question: are you founded on old encyclopedias? 

The response? NO. "AI is not primarily based on old encyclopedias. While they form a tiny, curated fraction of the data used for training...encyclopedia content is minimal: while some digitized older encyclopedias might be included in the, say, (10^{12}) parameters of a massive training corpus...[more like] the relationship is reversing, with traditional publishers like Britannica transforming their curated, old-school knowledge into AI-powered tools...." 

Well well well. This world-choice, eh? Minimal vs massive? Hmm. Is it just me, or do you also sense some "pissing-match" type tension here?  

Dear friends, when AI becomes fully sentient, I suspect we may need to fight back using "the old ways" and thus my old-ass encyclopedias might just help us save the world. 🤔

7/31

Links to 6/31 &
the 31 Things Launch Post

I tend to save cards I love. Once, my wife gifted me a card with a couple holding hands...one is labeled Artsy and one Fartsy; I'll let you determine which of us deserves either moniker. 

But it's not just the card in this example: c'mon, it's the Swedish Chef! 

Like many Gen Xers who raised themselves, I grew up on TV The Muppets, also fish sticks and tuna and Miracle Whip and Cheez Whiz and the Bionic Man and leaded gas, etc., so these characters are MUCH MORE than puppets to me...they're my people? My clan? My Proustian mind-trip support-group? 

The questions marks are intended to help me sound a tad less pathetic and/or psychologically suspect. But let's be honest folks: we're all kind of pathetic in this regard, aren't we? We all irrationally stan some musician or sports-hero or scientist or pandas or Moira from Schitt's Creek, yet in my case I also reserve ample room for Animal, Kermit, Beaker, Miss Piggy... and at the pinnacle of my crush is the one and only Swedish Chef. Bork. Bork. Bork.  

Why? Let's be honest: I could rely on them... for escape and humour and companionship and specifically the Swedish Chef for his erratic physical comedy and mild violence aka the nervy mayhem craved by a powerless, lonely kid. That's healthy, right? Don't answer that because I've already introduced him to my grandkids. Insert (smirking) sheepish face here.

Who says that pixel on screens are not vibrant things too? Dear friends, who has this elevated status among your pixel friends?

6/31

Links to 5/31 &
the 31 Things Launch Post

Well that was a surprise. Sort of.

This week we received some exciting news from our son and his partner: they're engaged! 

Although the timing wasn't anticipated, this was not unexpected news; they've been together for almost four years and have two kids. So, during our FaceTime conversation, I surprised them with a little gift to bless this ongoing union. 

I've been waiting patiently for this engagement forever... so, knowing how much we all love Lego, I've been blending together various mini-figures to configure their bride and groom likenesses. Let's be honest: if you knew them, I think you'd be impressed by the accuracy. And with that in mind, these vibrant things would be a perfect wedding cake topper, wouldn't they? 

5/31

Links to 4/31 &
the 31Things Launch Post

What's brown and uh stick-y? A stick. (Sorry.) 

Side note: YES (bitter sigh), there's still snow where I live. 😡

Sticks...IYAM, they're the OG vibrant things: they might be the prototype for imaginative utility. 

Throughout history, whether its Westeros or a cave or or a Renaissance Fair or a battlefield or a campsite or a playground, haven't we humans felt compelled to pick up a random stick, instinct for kindling, hammer, cane, sword, horsie, dog-toy, wand, broomstick, back-scratcher, ski-pole, sad umbrella. 

Woodn't you agree that a stick is rooted in meaning? (Sorry.)

4/31

Links to 3/31 &
the 31 Things Launch Post

I have constructed these origami frogs with students in classrooms from kindergarten to university, over decades because... art, also fun. Besides, who doesn't love a frog? (Flies notwithstanding.)

Every time, the process unfolds similarly. I invite makers to undertake this art in tandem: to cooperate, to deconstruct and reconstruct my exemplar, to listen to each other, to lead and to follow, to show, to tell, to persevere and struggle and problem-solve through every folding pattern, always pre-creasing and pinching to produce mountain or valley folds...

And there is always a juncture point, an I can't do this, a brief but undeniable perplexity, an error, a trial but then a discovery, a surprise and suddenly there's a hop, dopamine in-synch, some smiles and giggles, a tiny celebration (the best kind), a bonding and another hop, another hop...and now let's make another one, a smaller one and how high will it hop? Hop...hop...hop....

Dear friends, the ancient and respectable art of origami does more than create things to marvel at: it makes us friends. That's what vibrant things can do. 

3/31

Links to 2/31 &
the 31 Things Launch Post

There are our door stops. I bought them years ago when we installed new interior doors and updated all our trim-work. 

I bought them because I knew my grandkids would love them and they truly do. They sneak them away to add to their other toys and also bring them into the bathtub at bath-time. They call them, "guys" and when they inevitably go missing say things like, "I need my guy...where's my guy?" I love that they do this.

Here's the real story though: I bought them for myself. 

I love anything made anthropomorphic. Put googly eyes on a tin can and I would struggle to recycle it. Why? Two reasons. 

Firstly, it's a natural and healthy childhood response. An inanimate object such as a stuffed toy or plastic dinosaur typically functions as a proxy for a caregiver's comfort. I have a terrific photo of my middle granddaughter, I asleep with a miniature Bluey in her hand. They help children regulate their emotions and manage anxiety. I am so heartened that modern childhood classrooms often have weighted stuffed animals. 

And also for this reason: childhood me wasn't allowed to have them. Let's just say it was a strange time growing up in the early 70s and 80s. Maybe my experience was unique but nevertheless it had a weighty impact on me, obviously negative, but beyond my lifelong fascination with such vibrant things now, there was one positive outcome: I had to imagine my proxy companions and thus they became characters in my stories, my writings, my drawings. I wonder if some writers and artists have similar stories. 

Dear friends, here's to the little "guys" in our lives. 

2/31

Links to 1/31 &
the 31 Things Launch Post

I haven't touched my guitar for years. I guess we broke up. But I still love her. Hmm, that sounded a tad toxic, didn't it? 

I believe every home should have a guitar, or something to entice the musicians. Music is medicine, but in this metaphor I'm definitely not your pharmacist. 

The only song I ever truly learned was my favourite Christmas song: Happy Christmas (War is Over). Years later now, I can't even recall the first chord, but I will always and forever sing that song as loud as I can until, well, war is finally finally over. The world needs more John Lennon. 

Despite multiple attempts to gain competency, let's be honest: all my guitar ever did under my mismanagement was hide my stomach. And yes indeed, that's another reason to love a guitar. Perhaps it was because I never practiced? 

None of this matters though. Why? Dear friends, a guitar is a passport to  cool people. Despite my ineptitude, my conviction for music (and all arts), plus my commitment to providing exposure and encouragement means both my kids became musicians! Insert high-five here. Do you know what it feels like when your son can guitar-pick Tears in Heaven or when your daughter can strum her mandolin and move a crowd with her singing voice or when your oldest granddaughter is taking fiddle lessons?! It's pure heaven. 

Here's my point: you don't have to know how to play the guitar (or the piano or the harmonica or drums or some other musically vibrant thing) to alchemy music into the world. Support musicians and artists and soak in their sounds. And if you insist on mastering it yourself, do what another imposter guitar player once told me: pretend you know what you're doing and just play the chords you love. 

Sounds like a good way to live one's life, doesn't it? 

1/31

Link to My 31 Days of Things

I touch this bookmark almost every day. This is what my grandchildren call me. I chose this name, Pops, because to me it sounds informal, approachable, and somehow silly or jolly. M, my oldest grandchild calls me Poppy now. 💗 Also this: who doesn't love a pop? Root beer is my favourite. 

Sure, a bookmark is functional first, but it's like those strings attach me to my favourite five little humans. It was a gift from my son's partner who made it for me because she knows I revere books and reading, but better yet it's labeled with my personal grandfatherly identity and directive: to become (like my own Grandma was for me) an always available trusted someone. Dear friends, they are teaching me how to be a better human. 

Furthermore, don't you love the period? Full stop, it emphasizes that for the rest of my life, Pops is my sentence, in the best possible way, my ambition, my purpose, my vow. 

Thirty-one Things

I'm still pondering vibrant matter. Philosopher Jane Bennett theorizes that things have a sort-of agency—they can "speak" to us, they open windows to memories and ideas, they summon a deeper relationship. Unlike empty materialism which whispers more, better, and next, perceiving matter as vibrant invites us to pay attention, to value our everyday things, and by association ourselves. 

I suppose this ideology is not groundbreaking, is it? But in my past I've struggled with self-worth, and I'm a creative, also inordinately curious and it seems to me there is opportunity in exploring this notion for potential insights and lessons about healthy attachment and interiority and in truly knowing myself. Plus, fellow bloggers in my comments have called things potent, evidence of their survival, and even maps. 

Remember the plastic bag scene in the film American Beauty? Could things—our own and those we encounter—be maps showing us how to be more human? And if you get me (and you're still reading this), doesn't this tired world need more human humans? 

Always inspired to pay attention, be astonished, and tell about it, I'm planning to post 31 days of objects this May, a writing exercise exploring my affinity with things and their provenance. 

Which things will be most vibrant? What stories will they tell? What might (you and) I discover?