It’s raining something fierce this afternoon, and there is a long list of things I’m supposed to be working on. But my computer seems to be giving me a psychosomatic headache, so I’ve been procrastinating with a serious intensity.
First, there was the pizza making,
then the furniture assembling,
and then, finally, the pumpkin carving.
I’ve notice lately that I crave creative activity that results in a material object as opposed to an intellectual product. I suspect this may be a reaction to the average 16-hours-a-day I traditionally seem to spend attached to my laptop.
When I was a kid, I really wanted to become a luthier, but it didn’t seem practical and I never pursued it. So is my sudden obsession with crafty projects just a personal thing, or is this a larger 21st-century frustration that many people who work in purely headspace pursuits are confronting? Have you ever suffered from computer dread?
Molly, Love the pumpkin. Great job! Pizza looks yummy too!
Molly says: Thanks for providing me with the pumpkin, Barbara!
“I’ve notice lately that I crave creative activity that results in a material object as opposed to an intellectual product. I suspect this may be a reaction to the average 16-hours-a-day I traditionally seem to spend attached to my laptop.”
I just came back from a symposium at SUNY Purchase college about clay for clay artists. The choreographer I work with was a guest on Sunday’s program – we did a performance of her piece “Thrown” featuring three dancers, me on stage playing laptop and Kaoss pad, and 2,000 pounds of clay manipulated by the dancers. The audience – mostly clay artists and arts educators – dug it!
Clay is physically heavy. And dancing with clay in your hands, on your head, and/or in your ears (or up your nose) will more than reaffirm a relationship to a material object. At a rehearsal, I had the chance to throw large pieces of the stuff into the air to mash it down for some of what would become our set. My hands and pants covered with clay – I said to one of the dancers “I UNDERSTAND! I UNDERSTAND!!!” However, my actual experience with the clay was quite limited compared to what they had to do.
I cued and mixed my score in real time on stage using Ableton Live and a Kaoss pad (which allows you to manipulate effects using your fingers on a touch pad). I try try TRY to make my “laptop” work as organic and (when I play with dancers or other musicians) reactive as possible – but it’s HARD. Sometimes it feels like a war. Simply standing up to play seems to help (…many laptop performers seat themselves at a small desk with a lamp and a bottle of water – and you know what? I’m sorry – but a lot of the resulting music sucks as a result…). I guess it’s a compositional challenge I enjoy – how to get something “crafty” i.e. tactile and visceral out of a computer and some effects units.
And yes, that pumpkin is pretty cool…
My reCaptcha is “raised costs” – how ironic…
Yes, I suffer from computer dread, and then deal with it by bingeing on TV shows issued in multiple-DVD sets. Arts and crafts are for girls. (Said as a read of ArtsJournal……)
Oh YES on the computer dread…these sound like perfect antidotes. Usually I pull out the camera and wander outside for a photo walk, but maybe next time I’ll stop by your place!! 😉
What a wonderful pumpkin =)
The pizza looks good too.
I love the Ray Charles O Lantern.