Farewell 2021

On the final day of the year, I found myself hurrying through my morning routine in order to head out the door to my Wisconsin studio, where I've begun the packing, purging, and organizing process to finally close it for good. I confess, I would of rather been doing almost anything other than this today. My desire was to sink down into the warmth of my comforters and ruminate over the past year and contemplate the one that is to come.

 

I left with the quote above rattling around in my head. Recently found on artist Robyn Gordon's facebook feed, it struck me that this year, of all my 56 on this earth so far, has been the one that has brought me ever closer to my truest identity. And yet, here on this very last day, I know I have also grown farther away from art than I've been in so long too.

 

The things that have derailed me over the past twelve months have been a series of trials that I suspect are not completely foreign to so many of you. There have been health issues to deal with, family dynamics to navigate, a divorce that will surely make the record books for the lengthiest one to settle, and the ongoing feeling of being separated from so many of my loved ones and friends as the pandemic continues to limit the places we can safely gather.

 

In all of these things, I wish I could say that art has been my constant companion, but alas, it has been relegated to the back burner in the midst of it all. And I cannot even begin to tell you how hungry I am for it.

 

Some of 2021s trials will be following me into the New Year. But some, like the final closing of my studio, should be wrapped up within next few weeks, freeing me to return to the making that I so crave. The processes and techniques I planned to dive into during the last 12 months still await me, new supplies for projects imagined sit waiting on the shelves of my studio at home.

 

Art, for me, isn't an extra little hobby to supplement my already full life. It is an essential ingredient to what makes me feel whole. No wonder I feel like I am starving even when my stomach is full.

 

I selected the word Deeper for my focus in 2022. Not to sell you a workshop, but to remind me that there are depths waiting for me to explore.

 

That I've just been treading water, skimming the surface of it all waiting for this thing and that thing to be done so my mental energy was sufficient enough to return is telling. My proclamation that art is an essential ingredient to life for me is real.

 

This year, with Deeper as my focus, I plan to seek new ways to make sure that I truly am creating a more sustainable and holistic, integrative approach to it for myself. Ideas have been rattling around like forgotten tools in the trunk of my car. I won't make any big proclamations of the outcome I hope for. I've come to learn that this is me projecting what I already know into a place I've not yet been. Instead, I am approaching it with an open curiosity. I'll sink into these places and see where it leads.

 

As the clock strikes twelve tonight, in whatever place you are, I hope you are well and the next year greets you with the utmost of kindness. Happy New Year one and all!

 

With so much love and gratitude,

 

Crystal Marie