Speaker. Storyteller. Coach.
Lucky for me, I was asked by The Moth to help them promote their bestselling new book, The Moth: 50 True Stories at Boston’s Trident Bookstore last week. There were about 100 people in the sold-out venue, with 150 more people on the waiting list. The art of storytelling just keeps getting more popular and The Moth is leading the charge. [Read more…] about From the Stage to the Page
Most of the time, having an expert birder for a husband is a really wonderful thing. I often say I am a birdwatcher by marriage, and after 15 years of living with Eric Masterson, even I can (sort of) identify the backyard birds that flock to our feeder. But Eric, author of Birdwatching in New Hampshire, knows the stories that come with them — whether the birds reside in NH year round, or if they’re just refueling on a migratory route spanning thousands of miles. One fall night, Eric said to me, “Tricia, come outside. You can hear the birds migrating.” Knowing his hearing is downright otherworldly, I said, “No, honey, YOU can hear the birds migrating.” [Read more…] about So I Married A Birder
Kate gave birth to the royal baby, Miley showed us more than we cared to see, and thanks to all of you, my year rocked. [Read more…] about The Year in Review!
I’m reading a fabulous book called The Spirituality of Imperfection: Storytelling and the Search for Meaning by Ernest Kurtz and Katherine Ketcham. It’s terrific. If you don’t believe me, believe Anne Lamott who says on back cover, “I love this book and I’ve been foisting it on people for years.
As someone who spends a lot of time striving to get things right (read perfect), it is not only refreshing but possibly life saving to be reminded that there is no perfect, that I will never get everything right. The gist of the book is: I’m Not All-Right, and You’re Not All-Right, But That’s Okay — THAT’S All-Right (pg. 28). [Read more…] about Imperfectly Ringing in the New Year
Last night, as I was pushing away the living room furniture to make way for our Christmas tree, I thought to myself, “Why the heck does it smell like someone’s smoking pot?” Then I realized my Advent Wreath was on fire. I would have enclosed a photograph but that would have cost us the dining room table.
I will, however, enclose a photograph from nearly 20 years ago that is the closing image from my show, How to Draw a Nekkid Man. It’s the Christmas card I sent out just as I realized my old life was dying and my new life as an artist was underway. To put the photograph in context, I’ve included the last words from the show.
May the spirit of Christmas fill you with joy in creativity and delight in new life!
Before I left (for Ireland), I sent out a Christmas card I made called “Answered Prayer.”
The idea for the card started when I met a bunch of college friends the weekend after Halloween. As I’m packing, I know they are all going to show up with pictures of their children in Halloween costumes. I don’t have children; I have artwork. But I want to be part of the exchange, so I take pictures of my artwork. I toss these rubber and wire sculpture drawings on a white sheet of paper and photograph them and Sarah, my friend who doesn’t want to be the same as everyone else, sees it and says Burt this picture is going to make you famous.
I put the image on my Christmas card.
It’s the first time I’ve ever sent out a Christmas card and I’m using it to announce my new creative life to people who have known me for years, but never as an artist, and certainly not one who drives around with Jesus in the passenger seat of her car. One side of the card is this funky image of 15 rubber and wire sculpture drawings all lined up named “Answered Prayer,” and the other side has scripture that says, “If anyone is in Christ, that one is a new creation. The old has passed away, behold the new has come.”
This throws people a little off.
First, the title and the image don’t match. Second, I’ve paired Jesus with contemporary art. Apparently, some people think God only does landscapes or classical music, but there’s a whole church in California that only plays John Coltrane because they think that’s what God sounds like.
Anyway, people see the Christmas card and say all kinds of things. A dear friend tells me, “I don’t think I’m sophisticated enough to understand it, but I’m looking at it a lot” and it stays on her refrigerator door for months.
My father receives the card and panics, because he has no idea how to talk about the work, but he really wants to be supportive, so he sends me his own version of Answered Prayer, which is a photograph of chicken wing bones lined up in a row – the remnants of an afternoon at Outback Steakhouse.
My brother’s response is my favorite. He says Tricia this card is just too creative for me. If I was going to do a Christmas card, I would photograph five ducks on a pond, and I’d name it five ducks on a pond.
Other people are less generous. They say things like “that doesn’t look like art to me” and “why would you make art when you can make all that money?” Some people don’t say anything. I just have to let those reactions go and realize you take some people with you and you leave some people behind. It’s all about the process. Sometimes the process just doesn’t feel that good.
In the meantime, I’m revising “My Code.” I can’t be a successful artist, much less person, if I’m trying to be good all the time. I’ve just got to be what I’m called to be and apparently I’m called to be different, or at least different than I expected. But I’m not near as scared anymore, because unlike before, I’ve met a lot of people who are different. And you know, they are lovely.
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I Will Be Good Productions is a sponsored project of Fractured Atlas, a non-profit arts service organization. Contributions in behalf of I Will Be Good Productions may be made payable to “Fractured Atlas” and are tax-deductible to the extent permitted by law. To donate online, please click here.