Visual art has more to do – not simply in documenting the range and extent of our anxieties, but in constructing the means for their relief. Foster Wallace once named ‘fiction, poetry, music’ as the arts through which the loneliness of mental illness may be ‘stared down, transfigured, treated’. Such big claims are more commonly made for both literature and music, perhaps because those forms can be experienced in private worlds. Books and music are a functional distraction from insomnia and pain, a means to quell rumination. More commonly an institutional experience, visual art does not seek to compete as cultural benzodiazepine. to require perfection is to invite paralysis. The pattern is predictable: as you see error in what you have done, you steer your work toward what you imagine you can do perfectly. You cling ever more tightly to what you already know you can do — away from risk and exploration, and possibly further from the work of your heart. You find reasons to procrastinate, since to not work is to not make mistakes. Believing that artwork should be perfect, you gradually become convinced that you cannot make such work. (You are correct.) Sooner or later, since you cannot do what you are trying to do, you quit. And in one of those perverse little ironies of life, only the pattern itself achieves perfection — a perfect death spiral: you misdirect your work; you stall; you quit.”

Take other people out of the equation. Make for yourself first. Find what makes you happy. Because when you are happy it shows in your work. — Cheyenne G PERFECTION The ceramics teacher announced on opening day that he was dividing the class into two groups. All those on the left side of the studio, he said, would be graded solely on the quantity of work they produced, all those on the right solely on its quality. His procedure was simple: on the final day of class he would bring in his bathroom scales and weigh the work of the “quantity” group: fifty pounds of pots rated an “A”, forty pounds a “B”, and so on. Those being graded on “quality”, however, needed to produce only one pot — albeit a perfect one — to get an “A”. Well, came grading time and a curious fact emerged: the works of highest quality were all produced by the group being graded for quantity. It seems that while the “quantity” group was busily churning out piles of work-and learning from their mistakes — the “quality” group had sat theorizing about perfection, and in the end had little more to show for their efforts than grandiose theories and a pile of dead clay.” I make lots of sketches and color maps before starting most of my watercolors. It increases my confidence to know I’ve worked some of the kinks out before I begin. It’s most important to just show up and create something. Everyone has a unique perspective that needs to be shared with the world. — Candice M I am not an expert on art books, but from my own limited reading, I would say that if you want to read a book about making art in the real world, you should read Handiwork by Sara Baume.What artist has not experienced the feverish euphoria of composing the perfect thumbnail sketch, first draft, negative or melody — only to run headlong into a stone wall trying to convert that tantalizing hint into the finished mural, novel, photograph, sonata. The artist’s life is frustrating not because the passage is slow, but because he imagines it to be fast.” The word "creativity" is not mentioned anywhere in the book, except in the tiny segment that points this out to the reader. "Why should it?" the authors ask smugly. "Do only some people have ideas, confront problems, dream, live in the real world, and breathe air?" Yeah, okay, everyone is creative - I get it. But not discussing creativity in a book about making art? What? That's like writing a recipe book and saying "this book doesn't mention ingredients. Why should it? Do only some desserts have flour, sugar, eggs, butter?" Q: [...If each person made their best work, wouldn't] the more gifted make better work, and the less gifted, less? Sometimes the emotions are expressed unexpectedly or naturally arise from a directive that is not directly about feelings. For example, in “playing” with watercolors through a sensory-based activity, the client might discover that emotions are coming up in themselves or through the art. Or a prompt for a client to create a collage about family is likely to lead to an exploration of feelings that are reflected in the chosen images.

The Dutch Northern Renaissance artist Hieronymus Bosch has puzzled historians for decades. The true meaning of his work may never be fully understood. One aspect that is certain, however, is that the nightmarish scenes depicted in his works reflect the religious fears that pervaded society at the time. The 16th century was a period of widespread religious protest and reform in Europe, sparking the separation of the Church into Protestantism and Catholicism. Like many during this period, Bosch was deeply concerned about the end of the world and humanity’s eternal punishment for its sins.Making art is dangerous and revealing. Making art precipitates self-doubt, stirring deep waters that lay between what you know you should be, and what you fear you might be. For many people, that alone is enough to prevent their ever getting started at all -- and for those who do, trouble isn't long in coming. Doubts, in fact, soon rise in swarms: fears about yourself prevent you from doing your best work, while fears about your reception by others prevent you from doing your own work.” Bosch’s artistic visions formed the basis of how Hell has been imagined throughout history. In his typical style, Tondal’s Vision features a chaotic mix of naked figures and strange objects and animals. Dispersed throughout the fantastical setting, souls are punished in various ways for the sins they have committed on Earth. These punishments, which recall aspects of the artist’s famous triptych The Garden of Earthly Delights, are shown to a sleeping Tondal by a guardian angel in what appears to be a dream. The 1800s: Romanticism and the human condition At the end of the exercise, we look at all of the pictures together, exploring how they are similar or different and discussing how the clients is feeling today. I also often ask clients which feelings were easiest or hardest to do and how they felt while they were working on it.

Following the panel discussion there will be a seminar from 15.30–17.30 in the Duffield Room. This two hour seminar explores some of the key philosophical issues raised by anxiety and by artistic treatments of mood and emotion. War and conflict in the 1990s seemed comfortably remote and non-disruptive for much of Western society. There were few limits to self-creation, whether through the ‘just do it’ ethos of consumerism, or the culture of self-enhancement. As the text in the catalogue for the 1992 exhibition Post Human at the Deste Foundation in Athens claimed: ‘The matter-of-fact acceptance of one’s “natural” looks and one’s “natural” personality is being replaced by a growing sense that it is normal to reinvent oneself.’ Lingering anxieties were confronted in galleries that exposed what might once have been horrifying: the insides of animal and human bodies (Damien Hirst, Marc Quinn et al) and/or more personal revelations (Tracey Emin’s Everyone I Have Ever Slept With 1963–1995 1995). By such logic, 1997’s Sensation exhibition at the Royal Academy might have left us in a better place, like a cultural course of aversion therapy. But if it did so, the ideology of exposure has given rise to new forms of anxiety. Build a Mathematical Mind - Even If You Think You Can't Have One: Become a Pattern Detective. Boost Your Critical and Logical Thinking Skills. (Advanced Thinking Skills Book 4) I was also rather perturbed by the authors' description of entertainment as mass produced, clearly meant derisively. They barely reference commercial art and then rag on how there are very few paying opportunities for artists. It seems like they're missing something there. The book is supposed to be about what it means to make art in the real world. It explores how art gets made and what stops it being made.While social media amplifies anxieties in a public forum, giving rise to new forms of anxiety and antagonistic behaviour (FOMO, cyber-bullying, the initially fictional condition of video-physiognomic- dysphoria (VPD) or aversion to one’s online video image), and feeds new obsessions and related art forms, the concept of anxiety has been with us for centuries. At the end of the day, creating anything is brave. Putting it out for the world to have an opinion on? That is even braver. Deciding to be an artist is also deciding to feel that fear and do it anyway. I remind myself that I do it because I love the process, and that’s all that matters. I feel like if you create from an authentic place then it will resonate with the right person somewhere. It just needs to find them. — Erika H Muscling Through Well, came grading time and a curious fact emerged: the works of highest quality were all produced by the group being graded for quantity. It seems that while the “quantity” group was busily churning out piles of work – and learning from their mistakes – the “quality” group had sat theorizing about perfection, and in the end had little more to show for their efforts than grandiose theories and a pile of dead clay. pg 5 "The function of the overwhelming majority of your artwork is simply to teach you how to make the small fraction of your work that soars." What I love about this book is that it uses art to talk about life. Specifically, it uses art and fear to talk about how our choice to have courage or not drives the degree of light you will manifest in your own life. The writers explore the human need for acceptance, fear of failure, communication sensibilities between your work and yourself versus your work and the outside world.

pg. 29 The ceramics class divided into two groups; half would be graded on quantity and the other half on quality. The half graded on quantity ended up making better work I've always been an artist, having a natural drawing talent from a very young age, delving into my art in high school, then studying art in college. I received my commercial art/graphic arts degree and even though I did not stay in my field (I hated desktop publishing, and would rather create fine art), this book has been of great help to me in pursuing art as a hobby and just for fun. Those who continue to make art are those who have learned how to continue—or more precisely, have learned how not to quit. THE CONFETTI QUILT Sewing Pattern BY RAINBOW FABRICS AND DESIGNER DIANA LACY, FOR 64X82 QUILT (Loose Leaf) Encouraging client to express their feelings in art is something that I have often done as a therapist, in many different ways over my years as a therapist. For example, I have asked clients simply to “draw or paint what you’re feeling today.” I have suggested that they draw what anger, depression, or anxiety look like to them. I have done art about feelings and needs. I have tried feelings mandalas (draw what you’re feeling in the inside of the circle and then what is going on in your life on the outside). I have done feelings hearts and pie charts with kids who have trouble opening up about feelings. I often suggest that overly anxious or angry kids make a monster to represent the feeling.of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars Art and Fear: Observations on the Perils (and Rewards) of Artmaking by David Bayles As part of the community, there are a couple of “book clubs” running and this book is the first book we are discussing together. I could really relate to the first third of this book and found it very motivating as an artist. After that, it got less and less interesting and more and more vague. My favorite quotes/sections from the first part: