The whole enchilada

Tidying up the kitchen after dinner one evening, I saw this face smiling back at me from the chopping board. What are the odds that a couple of vegetable seeds, a sliver of onion skin, and a tiny string of some root or other could form themselves into this cheerful visage? Infinitesimally small. But it happened.

The only change I made was to roll the ‘mouth’ over, so a frown became a smile, because that felt right. And why not bring a little joy into the world?

What you make of this is up to you, but I’m calling it art. What’s more, as I made it, or at least I intervened a little, and I took a photo of it, which I’m now sharing, I’m calling myself an Artist. (And yes, with a capital A)

Here I’m an Artist working with the materials of chopping board, vegetable debris, and an iPhone. Sometimes I work with pencils and watercolours. Most frequently my medium is words.

On my personal scale of pretentious outrageousness, calling myself an ‘Artist With Words’ sounds even more audacious than calling myself a Poet, which is already a couple of notches past Writer, with maybe Essayist somewhere in between.

But why not be audacious? There’s so much judgement about the creative labels we attach to ourselves. None of them matter. They just make us self-conscious and stuck. For me, the only thing that matters here is whether I’m making stuff or not. Here’s a quote I treasure from ‘The Everyday Work of Art’, a wonderful book about creative making by Eric Booth.

“We must always remember what we tend to forget about the work of art. What is important is the doing of the work: not you, not the reception of the work, not the quality of the resulting products, not how you feel about the work or how the work makes you feel, not what others think of what you are doing, or what you are going to tell them about your doings. The engagement in the process is the whole enchilada: everything else is a fringe benefit.”

Here’s the choreographer, Martha Graham, saying the same thing:

“There is a vitality, a life-force, an energy, a quickening, that is translated through you into action and because there is only one of you in all of time, this expression is unique. And if you block it, it will never exist through any other medium and be lost. The world will not have it. It is not your business to decide how good it is nor how valuable nor how it compares with other expressions. It is your business to keep it yours clearly and directly, to keep the channel open. You do not even have to believe in yourself or your work. You have to keep open and aware directly to the urges that motivate you. Keep the channel open.”

There’s joy in finishing a piece of writing, or getting it published, or hearing people say nice things about it. There’s joy in seeing unexpected faces on chopping boards. But joy is by its nature fleeting. The lasting, life-enhancing satisfaction comes from showing up to the world and expressing the meaning that wants to flow through you. So, if you’re feeling stuck, do yourself (and the world) a favour: make something.