a new year
On New Year’s Eve, I like to take time to intuit about the year ahead. What might it hold for me? What are my responsibilities? Each year is different and seems to have its own color; its own temperament. Sometimes I feel it is a year to explore, or to widen horizons, or to find the spotlight.
This coming year feels like a year for me to stay focused on intentions and to be patient. Perseverance and consistency feel important. At the same time, I feel lighter and more optimistic. In contrast, last year was full of necessary changes and swerves. My job was to keep up with them and to go with the flow.
I think about the characteristics of different years and times in my life and the life of others as I work on a new series of pieces called, “A Long Life”. I am piecing together field-like segments that are reminiscent of the segments in our lives.
While each year has its own quality, sometimes a group of years form a block of time, often with discernable segments. Maybe during a time when you spent a number of years in the same career. Or maybe when you had young children. Within that time, there might be promotions, new responsibilities, problem co-workers or other segments.
It’s interesting to me to think about the person I was in those times. In some, I was blissfully free like when I lived in Topanga, CA. In others, I was consumed with work, kept my head down and did the work. In others, like when I studied with Jean Houston, I was learning more about who I am.
As I work on this long-life piece, I think about all those segments that are buried in me, still part of me but not always visible to others. It reminds me of fields and all that is buried in the ground. When we lived in Virginia, we lived on ground that witnessed civil war battles. Surely, those land memories must have emanated from the soil.
We are all more than what we see on the surface. Like a memoir, I try to capture this in the piece.
P. S. This piece is almost 4’ long and better ways to photograph the whole image are brewing.
