109: Artist Date

The Artist Date is a once-weekly, festive, solo expedition to explore
something that interests you. The Artist Date need not be overtly
“artistic” — think mischief more than mastery. Artist Dates fire up the
imagination. They spark whimsy. They encourage play. Since art is about the
play of ideas, they feed our creative work by replenishing our inner well
of images and inspiration. When choosing an Artist Date, it is good to ask
yourself, “what sounds fun?” — and then allow yourself to try it.

- The Artist Way

Julia Cameron, introduced the idea of the ‘Artist Date’, as a way to refill your creative well. I took one this week. I visited a local art college, the plan was to find a cafe near the local art college to soak up the emerging youth culture.

I couldn’t find one. I couldn’t find the kind of hipster cafe around the local art college that you might expect. Only practical establishments, selling practical things.

Oh, yeah, we’re just coming out of a pandamic. A chain has been broken from seniors to juniors. For two years students worked in isolation.

I witness an exhibition of final year students in the college. I was impressed by the breadth of technical ability of the students. And not much else.

I too went to a local art college, but it took me 20 years of floundering around in the wild to ‘graduate’ into a creative practice that is also a profession. Maybe I’m a slow learner.

At the end of my Artist Date, I’m grateful that it only took me 20 years to get here.

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Maybe I should have gone on more artist dates. Share your suggestions for artist dates in the comments.

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