I’m half way through my seasonal markets for 2024 and am taking a moment to look at the year. This was my first year back as a full time independent artist since my foray into music venue ownership. There’s a lot of reasons why I stepped back into doing art full time, the main one being that it’s my dream job! (Ahhhh!) It’s what I’ve wanted to be and do since I was a child. I’m so grateful to be spending my days making art and running a business to make a living from that art.
The word practice is probably overused in my vocabulary at this point, but I really like it. It allows for space for things to be imperfect and unresolved. My piano teacher growing up used to say, “perfect practice makes perfect”. Basically, saying that if you practice a piece or technique the wrong way too much, you will undercut your potential and ingrain it the wrong way. We had a little abacus at the piano and we would have to perfectly play a part of a song we were working on ten times in a row. If you made a mistake you would have to slide all the beads back on the abacus and start over on the count. You couldn’t be done until you completed the task perfectly often with a metronome going. Hardcore. My current perspective on the old “practice makes perfect” adage is more…practice makes room for more practice.
It has been a year with some serious challenges. I’ve been trying to get my art business off the ground while also going through the process of filing bankruptcy. If you’ve been reading this newsletter long you probably saw my thoughts on that incredibly confusing time. I’ve turned over that leaf and am beyond grateful for the chance to start anew.
Being a full time artist feels incredibly expansive most days and terrifying on others. It’s just me, my heart and my practice. I don’t even want to put my “skills” in that list because I think this job is so much bigger than that. Having been a cog in the wheel of an advertising agency for a large part of my career, I know what it feels like to have developed skills that become useful for serving many purposes to push capitalism forward and make lots of people money…myself included. The gift of what I am choosing to do now includes something bigger which I’m trying to frame in the word practice.
Just saying that sounds super privileged, I realize. I absolutely am. With that privilege I am attempting to activate change in my own life and open my mind up to what a career as an artist can look like for me. That’s where the idea of practice comes in.
As an artist, if you truly have something to say, I believe work begets work. Practice requires showing up and doing. A lot of times for me that doing looks like thoughtless catharsis. For example: sitting down with a block of clay and just moving my hands or sitting down with my guitar and emoting through strumming and using my voice. Both those things require understanding of the art forms of ceramics and songwriting. But what they require even more for me to experience a state of catharsis is the ability to shut off my thinking brain. To free myself from the idea that anything I do will ever sell or make money or mean anything to anyone or even be good at all. I must exist on a plane of freedom where there is joy in exploration to feel good while being creative. Sometimes it’s playful, but a lot of the time it’s a desperate attempt to feel alive and whole.
This is where practice makes room for more practice for me. This loose cathartic state is where ideas form. The harder part is fully forming those ideas with intention…also a practice. But a different type.
This more direct, intentional, focused side of my practice is where I want to invest more of my heart in the next year. I want to feel wild and unbound and I have a much harder time connecting to the side of creativity that requires diligence and commitment and planning. The abacus at the piano type of practice. I don’t know what projects will come my way in 2025. I don’t know what kind of art I will be making. In January I plan to do some dreaming and planning for all of that. For now, I am steeping in the gratitude of busy year making art that I love and preparing to face lots of new opportunities to grow and expand my practice.
Thanks so much for following along. This newsletter has been a part of one of my goals to write more. I appreciate the little emails and kind words I get from you all when I send out these notes. As social media gets more and more commercialized I love having this as a way to develop more thoughtful virtual connections. Thank you for making that possible.
Marrow Cards
Wowee wow! These cards.🥹 I spent 8 months developing this project. I have put so much of my heart into these that when I got the first box put together I felt pretty vulnerable to the idea of anyone seeing them at all. Haha…fast forward two weeks and I’ve sold almost half of my very first order of them and I’ve been getting so much positive feedback. I’m already preparing to restock. Seeing people connect with and use them has brought me so much fulfillment already.
If you haven’t seen me talk about these yet, they are a deck of 58 inspirational cards. Marrow has a little double meaning…referencing bone marrow, the core of the bone where blood cells are produced and also a little play on/rhyme with the word Tarot which inspired this project in part. The deck is meant to provide moments of reflection and inspiration and encouragement. Pulling a card at random offers a little surprise and something to center thoughts. Shop the deck on my site!
Christmas Special December 20th!
Marshall and Caroline and I have been cooking up some fun plans for this show. It’s going to be stacked with friends. Come enjoy the holiday music shenanigans with us. Tickets are on sale now!
Market Season
Two more markets to go this season. If you’d like to come see me in person I will be at the following events. It’s the only place where I’m selling ceramics and ornaments (until they sell out!)
December Playlist
Wishing you a season of meaningful connections above all else.
All my love,
Karli
