What does it all mean?

I recently joined the VAA (Visual Artist’s Association), partly in order to join their recent summit about making art sales… listening to the speakers led me back to the big question… What does it all mean? (it also left me a little conflicted on how to move forward, but more on that later)

In my last journal post, I came to the conclusion that maybe myths/stories were more important than the nature aspect… however, when thinking about it more, that still wasn’t quite right. In the couple of days, I made a list of everything I was interested in making work about and, with the help of my wife, looking for the connection between it all. Fortunately, we both came to the same conclusion... what connects it all is the idea of how we leave our mark on the world, through our stories, our buildings and our actions. Nature is a part of this, but it’s not the main driver or starting point. The different ways in which humans say “we were here” are a much more accurate way to describe what I’m exploring, and hoping to achieve with my artwork in the long term. There’s a lot to work with and it could take me a lifetime to do it, and I hope it does because that’s what I want to do with my life and the mark I want to leave in the world.

I will still be making whatever work I feel like making and working through the different ideas I have, but at least now I have a theme to focus on and I can make sure everything I do relates back to that in some way. If it doesn’t, than it can be pushed aside… for now.