Published: November 26, 2007 01:05 pm         

Around the Arts: Creation takes dedication, joy in craft

"I love deadlines. I like the whooshing sound they make as they fly by." - Douglas Adams

More than two years ago, I enthusiastically agreed to write a bimonthly column on the community arts scene for this newspaper.

My goal was to beat the drum, rally support and increase awareness for what has become a perpetually growing and ever-diverse array of offerings by regional organizations and artists.

It is no mystery to me that I am responsible for writing this column. In fact, I am the one who approached the newspaper about doing it.

I have the submission deadlines marked in my day timer and the Lifestyle editor e-mails me a friendly two-week reminder, just like clockwork.

Yet, somehow, without fail, I am always late for my deadline _ always.

In the course of any given day, I’ll have an inspired thought about something in the arts world I want write about. “I should sit down now,” I think, “and write my article.” Inspiration is terribly inconvenient, though. It shows up in the shower, or in the car, or at one of my children’s sporting events.

After a deadline comes and goes and I have yet to turn in an article, I get several very courteous follow-up e-mails from the newspaper.

The subject line is always: “Column?”

The worse part is that I can barely accomplish anything else while the deadline looms! I think endlessly about the column I haven’t written yet, as I move it from the top of my current to-do list to the top of tomorrow’s list.

“Oh, just write the darn thing.” I mutter to myself. “Cheesh, get off my back. Don’t you know how busy I am?” I ask. “Yes, as a matter of fact I do know how busy I am,” I respond with sarcasm.

Perhaps you have noticed me having this conversation with myself as I drive to work in the morning?

During these times, as I struggle to make a column deadline, I seem to be surrounded by artists who appear to be hyper-focused on their craft. There they are, hunkered down in a corner or curled up on the stairs at Wilber Mansion with a sketch pad during one of our openings or at a concert. Invitations are declined as rehearsals or studio time take precedence over social occasions. Answering machines stave off interruptions.

It puts me to shame.

I decided to ask accomplished artists in the community how they schedule their time and discover their secrets for prioritizing the creative process over the distractions of the mundane.

Alan Hacklin has had a lifelong career as a successful professional artist. Among his many accomplishments, he founded and served as chair of Columbia University’s visual arts department.

“Of course, family and social conflicts and the need to create an income all get in the way,” he explained to me, “but at some point an artist has to say `enough is enough!’

“I tell my students that you have to dedicate yourself to 20 hours or more each week, or you aren’t even giving yourself an opportunity,” he continued.

I imagine artists I know with full-time jobs or families, trying to squeeze in 20 hours a week to paint or sculpt.

This kind of work ethic is particularly admirable because artists have no idea if their artistic vision will be accepted by audiences. Investing in something so personal, yet so public, without any assurance of success, makes the artist extremely vulnerable. Yet, that level of dedication is a requisite to achievement.

“Yes, it does take commitment,” agrees Hacklin, “and also an enormous sense of optimism. Despite the rejection, you keep going. Fortunately, all the effort underlies the joyous act of creativity.”

In speaking to other artists, all of whom have very different schedules and ways of pushing through the distractions, one common strategy was clear: It is important to just get on with it.

Doug Jamieson is a teaching artist at the Upper Catskill Community Council of the Arts who graduated from and taught at the School of Visual Arts in New York City. He is the author of the book “Draw From Your Head: A Step By Step System of Drawing the Human Figure.”

He says that creative people must be vigilant. “You have to declare yourself,” he told me.

“Maybe it is from all my years working as an illustrator under deadline,” he explains, “but I have learned to give myself work to do and set goals for accomplishing a certain amount.”

Jamieson likes to paint early in the morning. Other artists I spoke to prefer spending time in front of their canvasses in the afternoon. Some wait until there is an exhibition looming and then cloister themselves away until all is complete.

There is no rhyme or reason; just commitment and perseverance. Bliss, too, I think. Maybe that is what I see around me, a devotion born of joy.

Now that I think about it, I did once sit down and write a column when inspiration hit. It was not effortless, but what I wanted to say felt genuinely important in that moment and it flowed from my heart to the page.

I also made my deadline with about four weeks to spare.

The amount of time between that column and the next seemed so expansive, that I was sure the newspaper had made a mistake and overlooked my next deadline. I e-mailed the Lifestyle editor to ask if she had forgotten about me.

The subject line was: “Column?”

Kathleen Frascatore is executive director of the Upper Catskill Community Council of the Arts.