Steve Emery’s an active member of the tankespjärn-community, a participant in many of the monthly calls. I can count on him to be open, curious and thoughtful, willing to listen and equally willing to share, so no wonder I found myself wanting to ask him to play with me in season two of the pod. Receiving his Yes had me jumping up and down in anticipation of getting to spend quality time with him recording our five meandering conversations.
Steve is yet another gift courtesy of Matthew, and I’ve been privy to witness Steve’s creativity in an online forum we’re all a part of. And oh, what an interesting and gifted creator/artist/painter he is! I’ve learned a lot about creativity and playing with various ways in to creative expressions and that’s what we dive straight into here as one of the questions he’s been asking for the past year or two is How do I let my body drive my creative work?
I’ve done a lot of work rekindling my conscious connection with my body, experiencing myself as a talking head for many many years (you know, a brain ensconced in a head, atop two feet that do an ok job of transporting said brain from one place to another) but have never done what Steve is doing. Which, from my perspective, is a way to come at creativity from the body, and not the intellect. It has him dancing in his studio before putting pen to paper or brush to canvas.
And that… got us going.
Dancing.
Breathing.
Taking cold showers/baths.
Hanging from a beam or door posts.
Walking barefoot or at least in barefoot shoes.
But we actually started with Steve talking about the two-week family retreat he just got back from, spent sans internet. Which certainly opens for connecting to other things than what you can connect to online. Which for him means painting. A lot. Daily. Towards the end of the conversation Steve fetched some of his drawing pads and started flicking through them. If you are listening to this, please check out Steve’s website at Color Sweet Tooth so you get to experience his creativity all on your own.
Oh.
Yeah, you just might find some tankespjärn here too.
Links:
Steve Emery is most easily found on Color Sweet Tooth
Going postal by Terry Pratchett
Six drawing lessons by William Kentridge
The watercolor/wax-resist frog
Maria Vildhjärta, the artist preferring peeps under the age of ten
James Nestor on breath – find further links here