(image taken from Laura Swanson, Self-Portrait:White)
My book Her Name was Mona will be featured in the NAGAS (North American Graduate Art Survey) at the University of Minnesota's Katherine E. Nash Gallery from January 20th through February 19th. This show is a juried international exhibition of North American graduate student artwork. With over 250 entries, from Canada and the United States, my book along with 55 other entries were chosen to be a part of the exhibition. I was both surprised and excited to find out that my work would be included. The opening is Friday , January 23, from 6-8:30pm. If you're in the area you should check it out.
Below is a poem that was featured on the back of the brochure for the exhibition. I found it particuarly appealing...
Your work needs to be independent of other's work.
You must not compare yourself to others.
No one can help you. You have to help yourself.
Criticism leads to misunderstandings and defeatism.
Work from necessity and your compulsion to do it.
Work on what you know and what you are sure you love.
Don't observe yourself too closely, just let it happen.
Don't let yourself be controlled by too much irony.
Live in and love the activity of your work.
Be free of thoughts of sin, guilt and misgiving.
Be touched by the beautiful anxiety of life.
Be patient with the unresolved in you heart.
Try to be in love with the questions themselves.
Love your solitude and try to sing with its pain.
Be gentle to all of those who stay behind.
Your inner self is worth your entire concentration.
Allow your art to make extraordinary demands on you.
Bear your sadness with greater trust than your joy.
Do not persecute yourself with how things are going.
It's good to be solitary, because solitude is difficult.
It's good to love, because love is difficult.
You are not a prisoner of anything or anyone.
Rainer Maria Rilke, Letters to a Young Poet, 1903
