Audacity

In college, I worked on the lighting design of a dance-theater piece that my friend Tim created. I asked him how he went about creating the work. His advisor had given him the working analogy of a lighthouse. The idea, or inspiration, is the lighthouse, and you the artist/captain, must make structures that approach, or work towards the lighthouse.

It's a beautiful and very effective analogy, and one I've incorporated into my own work. I've begun re-reading the Artist's Way, and the word Audacity comes up frequently. Often, it's simple audacity (and not talent) that makes the difference between a stuck artist, and a working artist. I love this word because there is a freedom and permission contained in it that allows for profound change.

I realized that what I'm missing in my work is simple audacity. It's confounding to try to have audacity, or to use it, or to wield it. There are many structures (social, economic, cultural) that support and perpetuate the status quo. Simple audacity is all that it takes to break out of those routines.

The concept that is working for me, is making audacity the lighthouse, and giving myself the task of working towards it. Audacity is like light, and the closer I get to it, the more of it I can see, and can reflect. Keeping audacity as a lighthouse, or a cynosure (another beautiful word), I can create the sustainable structures that have a solid foundation to build my art upon.