Andrew Stacey: Blockages and stuckages
First Fridays take place on the first Friday of every month, except January. First Friday is a gathering place for artists or anyone interested in the arts, an opportunity to share food and talk. Each month, after lunch, there is an informal presentation of work in progress by one or two artists who may be local or from far away.
November’s First Friday guest is Andrew Stacey, who is nationally known for his murals and community artworks, particularly the large scale city gate murals in Exeter.More recently he has co-created collaborative artworks in hospitals, ,housing estates , schools and parks in order to debate environmental and community issues.
Andrew says:
In this presentation / workshop I will briefly review key projects and explore a challenging contemporary case study.
Past projects may have been deemed successful, however, in this presentation it will not be ‘business as usual’. Instead I will return to ‘beginners mind’ to explore issues around how we renew an art practice, maintain authenticity and work with blockages, and stuckages with light-hearted compassion.
I will invite everyone to participate in a short meditation/enquiry with a view to co-creating discussions to engage with new paradigm scenarios. Such as:
- At what point does social engagement and environmental commitment, arguably so needed in our time, become self-destructive?
- Is creative block or burnout a natural process to be accepted or ? Is it just nature’s way, or do we need to develop new strategies to deal with it?
- Should we develop resilience and detachment in our practice? How do we avoid formulaic solutions ? How do we collaborate effectively ?
I invite you to tap into your own inner wisdom and share your insights.