Art Asylum

I have long been a fan of Eric Maisel's work. He is a psychotherapist and coach who specializes in creative and performing artists and their emotional and virtual challenges. He has written many books including Fearless Creating, The Van Gogh’s Blues, Coaching the Artist Within  and one of my favorite little volumes, A Writer's Paris.  After reading many of his books, I had the good fortune of taking a workshop with Dr. Maisel in 2013 at Omega institute. The gist of the workshop comes down to this: Get up in the morning and write for an hour first thing. You are allowed to get coffee and relieve your bladder, but that's about it. One of Dr. Maisel's biggest contentions (and I am oversimplifying here) is that most artists' issues stem from the struggle to make meaning. If you start your day off with an attempt at meaning-making, you combat a cycle of depression that comes from producing nothing. Dr. Maisel's work is fascinating and practical. I recommend it for anyone in with creative ambitions.

I live in a colony of artists now. That doesn't just mean I live in a village that is dotted with wonderful little studio spaces. It also means I live in a village where creative people are pulling out their hair in sizable clumps when they run out of money for the meds. I am joking, sort of. My friend Joe called Arden an "art asylum." I don't know if he coined the phrase, but knowing Joe's way with words, I should give him credit. I don't think he was talking about artists specifically. Arden attracts people who are out-of-the-box thinkers (and doers) in many subjects. There are those who were born into this community, but they are descended from the original lot of off-beat philosophers who created the Georgist sanctuary for artists in the first place. I have heard it said that the Ardens are home to people who wouldn't fit in anywhere else. I can see the truth in that. This makes town meetings especially interesting.

I am proud of our offbeat collective, proud to be a member. Just ask the people I drum with in the drumming circle--I am plenty offbeat. But there is a dark side to all this creativity run amok, and that is we sometimes find ourselves contending with real mental illness. I am not a mental health professional. We have plenty of those living in the Ardens probably for the same reason that foxes live near rabbits. I am also someone who can be naive and idealistic. I want to see the best in everyone. So when I see behaviors on social media and in person that raise red flags, I am flummoxed. I can discount some of the behaviors as coming from people who care deeply, think deeply, and who just have an underdeveloped grasp of social interaction. I'd like to sit those people down with my dad who is trained in Nonviolent Communication, a process which focuses on empathy and more effective forms of self-expression. Can't we all just get along? Other times, I fear that people need more help than toolbox of communication practices can provide.

We are human, and we are all striving to make meaning in this world. In the Ardens, I feel the drive exists more strongly than in other places. Cookie cutter answers are not going to cut it for us. We need to ask the hard questions starting with, Should Peanut's character Lucy set up her psychiatric help booth at the Arden Fair this summer? Maybe. She would probably have to lose her trademark bored demeanor. I came here to Arden with my own foibles, the monkey on my back. Remember? I started this blog entry with the admission that I am reading books by a well-known psychotherapist. I am here for the complexity. The journey with others who understand what it takes to be a crazy artist. It might get tricky at times, but people don't move to Arden for our smooth roads.
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