https://book.aristake.com/
Week 5
Week 4
This piece is a solo work performed on an electric bass guitar. It makes extensive use of harmonics, which allow the player to use notes and sounds not normally available on the instrument, as well as lending an almost ‘shimmery’ timbre. Harmonics on the bass guitar can ring out for a long time, and can effectively allow the player to harmonize with themselves, creating lush chords far beyond the normal expectation of what the bass is capable of.
Are you harmonizing with yourself creatively?
Are you self-indulgent in your art?
What are a few ways that you could be more so?
Julia Cameron encourages us to be self-indulgent in our Artist’s Dates. Have any of yours been particularly so? Think of a few artist date ideas that you think would be indulgent!
Week 3
Week 2
As you listen, grab your journal and try some pages. Attempt to keep your pen on paper throughout the entire piece. Let the stream-of-consciousness words flow without judgment. Feel free to type or speak instead of writing long-hand; make the process work for you as you give voice to your inner dialogue.
My friends at the Indictus Project produced this recording. They expand art music of all eras through inclusivity and equity. Great music, great cause—check them out here: https://www.indictus.org/
Original price: $400
Use code OFF50 for 50% off!
Our very own facilitators, David James, just started a new substack newsletter! Check it out and subscribe: https://secularartist.substack.com/
Week 1
Make a donation to Artists for Joy: Venmo or Paypal or Buy me a coffee
The 3 M’s of Listening (Graydin)
Me Listening: when you are focusing on your own inner dialogue
Micro Listening: when you focus deeply on what the words the other is saying
Macro Listening: when you notice what the other is saying non-verbally
If you like this, you’ll love the coaching course we are offering. Use code OFF50 for a discount!
Week 0
Welcome Ruby Cohort!
Use the hashtag: #TheArtistsWayRuby when you post online so we can support you!
Links: Buy Merideth a coffee
Welcome! We are so excited you're here. Below you'll find some agreements and best practices we live by in the Artists for Joy Community. Please take time to read through them and accept them before you join the call.
🫶🏽 Language matters
Whoever you are, wherever you come from, regardless of your experience or ability level, you are welcome here.
Help us welcome everyone by:
Naming your experience without making assumptions about others.
Creating space for all voices to be heard. (Hang back if you share often or nudge yourself forward if you have yet to share, as you're comfortable!)
Never use language that is racist, sexist, homophobic, transphobic, ableist, classist, or xenophobic, as it will not be tolerated at Artists for Joy events.
✨Creativity is soul-work
Be gentle with yourself and others as you discover and recover your creative impulse. Conversations around creativity can touch on topics that are loaded for some folks, like spirituality, identity, or even trauma. Name what you need and make space for others to do the same. Never give unsolicited advice; the simple act of listening is incredibly powerful.
🤭 Have fun
There is an energy when a gaggle of fellow creative spirits comes together. It’s seriously the best thing ever. So, let the joy spill over when it comes. You aren't too late. You aren't out of time. You are right where you need to be. Here is your permission slip to enjoy yourself.
🗣️Speak up
The facilitators are here to help (you will know who they are by the word "facilitator" at the front of their name.) Do not be afraid to ask them questions by directly messaging them in the chat or emailing Merideth, the lead facilitator, at merideth@luminaarts.org. Please report any concerns or questions directly to them, and we will help however we can.
Week 12
Thank you so much for participating in this round of the cluster! We have so enjoyed having you. Please complete this feedback form so we can better serve you next time!
Register here for the next round.
Other links mentioned in today’s call:
Make a donation to Artists for Joy: venmo, paypal, buymeacoffee
Merideth’s Artist’s Oath (Prefer to listen? Click here.)
I believe God is an artist, I believe I was created to create and every leaf and flower and seed in the wind reminds me of God’s closeness and collaboration, artist to artist. It’s my human right and privilege to make things I care about, as it is for all people. It isn’t frivolous or flippant, creating is the key to unlocking who we are and the joy there.
I believe that even in creative solitude, I am never alone. I believe there is a great Collaborator, a force of grace and goodness, the keeper of all the good reeds and best formed sentences and fruitful ideas that pop off the page. That if I take care of the quantity then God will take care of the quality, to quote Julia Cameron.
I believe in the thin spaces between heaven and earth that are found when we are creating, that the creative life is inherently spiritual.
I believe I have something to say, a song to sing, that everyone does. That creativity is not a pie but spanish tapas, there are always more, there is always enough.
Therefore,
I joyfully swear to keep showing up. Even when I wonder if I am a great big fake or a complete hack
I joyfully swear to be gentle with myself, to offer loving kindness to myself and others because creating is a lot like becoming a mother—it can be painful, messy and make you question your whole identity.
I joyfully swear to forgive myself for my perceived mistakes or failures. I say perceived because i want to believe every mistake and failure has something to teach me.
I joyfully swear to allow myself to grieve these losses, andoffer myself grace and understanding, compassion and release—around every embarrassment, missed mark, lost audition or email pitch that was not responded to.
Code of conduct–
–I will not starve myself–I will eat food that nourishes my body, I do not have to earn my shower. No matter how hard I do or do not work I will first and foremost take care of my physical and mental health.
–I will pursue my inner artist and parent my inner child with love–I will find time for play, to fill the form with rest, laughter and connection.
–I will ride the routines like a life raft–to start writing the podcast for the week the week prior, to try to record before Thursday, to practice oboe fundamentals every morning after the morning pages. And to remember I have the right to change the routine if it is not working.
–I will tell the truth, lean into vulnerability, cultivate a tough skin and a tender heart (in the words of rachel held evans)
–I will be direct about my needs and desires with myself and others. I believe that clear is kind (that’s brene brown) and needing or wanting something doesn’t make me weak.
–I will protect my energy, guard myself from crazy makers and toxic people who snuff out my light and suck up my joy
–I will listen for all my life is saying by witnesses my thoughts with regularity
–I will not believe everything I think
–I will see procrastination for what it is– fear, and love myself through it
–I will keep trying to find the angel in the marble, to know that it’s hard work that sets her free, remembering that that process is reductive, it’s only a matter of letting things go to reveal all that is hidden…it’s believing I am capable and whole and worthy
–I will look for ways to be a beginner again, to stop judging myself when I am starting or starting again
–I will stop giving people I don’t even like control over my actions, to constantly evaluate and reevaluate who’s criticism I will take to heart
–I will see my identity as an empath as a strength, instead of a liability, to know my tenderness and openness to feeling is a superpower for compassion and connection and creativity
–I will remember that the tortured artist stereotype is a lie, that great art can come from joy as well as pain and suffering
–I will eat vegetables and drink water
–I will listen to all that my jealousy, anger, anxiety, and triggers are trying to teach me. To let them call to all that needs healing, all that I want, all that longs to be heard.
–I will know that my worthiness does not come from a salary number or office size, from a title or an accolade, that no matter what I achieve it will never be enough and the only thing that will fit in the God sized whole in my heart is God.
I dedicate this oath to artists everywhere, that I might serve them, help them overcome blocks both foreign and domestic, both internal and external, to help them sing their song, to change their lens, to not give up. May they open the studio doors wide and see that life is an artist’s date, that all of creation is just one big masterpiece and they’re part of it.
Whereas the party, one Merideth Hite Estevez, signs hereto, on this day, March 25, in the year of our Lord 2 thousand and twenty two, with joy.
Week 11
Week 10
Ticket to Recovery (2002/2007) silkscreen on board 24 x 36 by Todd Lim
As you walk the road of creative recovery, what feels important to admit to yourself or others today?
Week 9
Week 8
"Gain disguised as loss", or perhaps "finding power and identity amidst the wreckage":
What have you unearthed that surprised you?
Is there something that you didn't find that you thought you would?
Week 7
As you listen to this piece, “Mirror in a Mirror…” consider the following:
"It's impossible to get better and look good at the same time." (page 30)
What would it feel like to release the desire to look good as you attempt to get better or change?
Close your eyes and take a look in your inner mirror. Offer yourself words of acceptance and compassion as you see yourself.
Repeat to yourself the mantra from page 126: “Treating myself like a precious object will make me strong.”
Week 6
Week 5
Week 4
This piece is a well-known cello concerto, a piece featuring a solo instrument accompanied by an orchestra or ensemble. The word concerto comes from the Italian word for harmonize. Listen for the ways the soloist weaves in and out of the texture of the orchestra.
Who is leading?
What people or things are you being called to “harmonize” with these days?
Links: coaching, venmo, paypal, buymeacoffee + don’t forget to follow #artistswayfall22
Week 3
Week 2
This piece is an example of Theme and Variations form. Mozart takes a simple melody and composes seemingly endless variations with his signature playful, clear style. The theme never returns in its entirety again, but each of theme’s fragments are a gateway to a new musical world.
Creativity gives us the opportunity to go in an entirely different direction, while including all of the pieces of who we are.
If your life had a theme, what would it sound like? What new gateways are you noticing as you pay more attention to your inner artist?
Week 1
Welcome and Partnership Agreement
Welcome to The September 2022 Artist’s Way Creative Cluster with Artists for Joy. This is our shared space where each of you can comment, ask public questions, or return to the prompts each week for refresher, reminder or encouragement. This was the partnership agreement that we made together in our first meeting. What is important to you about naming how we want to be together in community?