In Suspense

 
There’s no official December meeting for PNWS. Our next Member’s potluck will be at Robert McWilliam’s house January 18th at 6pm. (See details below***). This tradition of the PNWS Board taking December off has existed for many years. So, here we are, between our recent, engaging visit to Mount Hood Community College in November and the next Board meeting and PNWS potluck: January 18th 2025 Robert McWilliams and then February 15th our PNWS Annual Meeting at Marty Eichinger’s. There’s a lot to anticipate about 2025, but for now we are in suspense. Going forward without knowing.

There’s a falling away with the season, dying back retreating inward. This is primal, something felt within, but it is also where our society is at, with so many changes happening or about to happen. There’s a time to decide, a time not to decide, and a time to watch things fall into place. This is part of the artistic practice: paying attention, being observant and being ready. It’s akin to a hunter’s attitude. As artists we are sensitive to subtle changes around us and develop a skill set of responses. There’s also the practice of withholding a response, time to wait, watchful for the moment to act. This season of slowing down and darker days gives us a chance to observe ourselves in our creative practices, attentive to both the quick insight, also the slowly burning questions without immediate answers.

This wisdom will sound like advice. It’s submitted humbly to both you and myself. As I write these PNWS essays, I’m reminding myself of  what I continually forget. Artists have a rare and unrecognized skill set, including not jumping to conclusions. We can hold off judgement, and in the meantime be watchful, listen and feel what really happening, even when it’s uncomfortable.

What I’m describing is not easy, but it is worthwhile. This is a kind of faith practice with subjectively observable results in our artwork. I’ve already mentioned that sense of “things falling into place”. It helps to first allow for that to happen. By now I’ve learned to watch chaotic situations find their order, and notice in myself the attitude that supports meaningful, unexpected connections. There’s no telling what will happen, but it will be strange and sometimes wonderful.

***Directions to Robert McWilliams’ house:

Images by A. Kennedy