First Person Magazine Life

Wandering- A lost art form

Today, I had to run a few errands and it turned out that I had a lot of time to kill before meeting with a friend because the lines were shorter than expected for my time down near the Civic Center. A strange triangle of stone monuments of our governing powers that be, the aesthetic of western bureaucracy, a library turned museum, and a library that functions as a social servant for the homeless in many ways. It was gorgeous and sunny out. Unusually warm with a slightly warm breeze which I normally love. So, why is it that I couldn’t sit still with my book? I found myself texting, typing notes into my phone, getting calls from unknown numbers, and then when I finally sat down, the protest on the steps of some institution vying for more “revenue” to keep senior citizens at home instead of nursing homes was pulling at my attention strings. The raucous drew me in to the crowd for a moment before I ended up in the glass corral of the Asian Art Museum sipping on my palm juice encased in a brown glass bottle. Or maybe it was just the preservatives in the drink that enhanced my distractions?

I opened my book and in an hour, skipped from Szeeman to Hulton, over to Hopps and back again confusing exhibition histories but underlining nuggets of identifiers that led me to believe I wasn’t ever on the wrong or different path to curating. This was before the phD in art history, etc. etc. track. Most museum directors back in the 60’s came from other disciplines - architecture, organizing theatre, music, making films. It was a time of real engagement with artists. Rebecca Solnit and her discussion of wandering through fields of thought and disciplines got me thinking about all the different fields I’ve been interested in and how I’m beginning to finally take a step back and examine the fundamentals of everything. I have been by and around artists for so long for mainly the pure pleasure of exploring ideas and sharing experiences that were critical moment to moment and in the moment, but now I have time to research, read and go deeper into my practice.

A few weeks ago I went to a reading for the poet Alden Van Buskirk and his lucid style of poetry had so many university professors asking him, “How did you develop your writing and what is your thought process?” And he said, “Most of the time I’m writing my best poetry when I’m not actually writing.” It’s so true. I get the best writing and ideas when I am just wandering and free. And he expressed his thought process by just stroking his chin with his hand. “You have to think other than with your mind.” Again, I was so happy to hear this connection. One of the Dalai Lama’s 20 things you can do to get good karma is to spend time alone for some part of the day. I’d like to add, leave your phone at home for part of the day or turn it off. I bet some beautiful things will happen.