On Working with Jani Franck and her Creativity Classes...

As my life continues to blossom and unfold as an artist, I have been searching for a way to talk about why the creativity courses of and work with Jani Franck have affected me so profoundly. Bear with me while I try to sort it out in words as I think I have uncovered something very powerful.

 

I found that the most valuable outcome for me, of working with Jani Franck in her Creativity Courses is the tremendous shift in perspective about what it meant to be clear and successful as an artist, from:

 

ARTISTS.....(do this, are this, accomplish this, all of which I had compiled from watching other artist's and their experiences)

to  

Artist CHERYL STEVENSON 

    -works in big time cycles of producing for months and then nothing for months; her layered approach to artwork is made up of months of JUST painting, and then other months of JUST making, distressing, and creating papers to collage with and then other months JUST gathering and assorting and living with paper ephemera and pictures and ideas. And these cycles are staggered, but come full circle in my finished artwork (i.e NOT disorganized, lazy, procrastinating, lah lah lah....)

    -is already good at what she IS good at, and no one else can do her things. So she can start right away with the artwork she has/makes today (not someday when I am good enough at lah lah lah.... )

    -believes now that there are places everywhere NOW for her art and tries out every one that comes her way, building up links and connections and places to let people see her work

 

I could go on but the point is, that working with Jani JOLTED me out of that framework we have as artists that we are being matched and measured against some external thing called BEING AN ARTIST that we must somehow discover and accomplish...

 

into uncovering ME as an artist. I didn't even know who CHERYL the artist ALREADY was. Now that I am working with that, I kid you not, I have a kind of joy about it, and have relaxed on so many levels. I already AM who I need to be.  Holy Moly, did I say that? Yes I did.  And it is one of the most profound gifts I have EVER, with Jani's help, given myself.