Progress, Methodical, Slow and Focused

I made a bucket list about a year ago and I just came across it about an hour ago. The list was as follows:

Do more and better work (trying)
Do an arts fair with Skip (it's coming)
Shoot a Documentary (did it!)
Write a Book nonfiction (did it!)
Write a book creative fiction (did it!)
Have my organization up and running (it's a fight)
Take better care of my health (sucking)

record: 3-3-1

Well, I was hit and miss with the documentary. I did create the concept for one, but ultimately I'm a little lousy with the camera. Good thing J Leigh and Melissa Sue Lopez aren't. We finished shooting about a week and a half ago. Now all we have to do is edit and post production. We are pretty much doing the most with empty pockets. I have to say that shooting the documentary was a life changing experience. The artists that agreed to help and be a part of it were incredible! Some like Skip, Brenna, and Suzanne have always been friends of mine. But the others were new to my circle of friends. I gues the thing that sticks with me is that we have something in common we are all artists of color. Brenna introduced the rest of us to art photographer Rory Littleton.

And then there were five of us.

I think this was the first time I sat down with more than one other black artist in my life. It sounds silly that I should be captivated by something so mundane, but I was. We sat in Galileo's Restaraunt talking about art, politics, what it means to be black and creative in Oklahoma. It was the first time that I sat at a table with people that looked like me and we all understood one another. It was spiritual and it was time for it.

Most Black artists in Oklahoma walk past each other without ever knowing that the other was an artist. I knew Suzanne for years before I knew she was an artist. Skip had been here for years on the art scene and we were not aware of each others existence. I went to shows and exhibits and many times I was the only black person. While we are all equal regardless of race, there is a feeling of familiarity and family when I am with other like minded black people. I don't feel like an anomaly, I fit and belong. Most of my friends had been white and there is nothing wrong with that. I love them as well and I wouldn't trade them for the world. But to be able to see someone who has the same creative spirit I do and have them look like me is priceless.

I hope the sense of community we are making among each other continues...

Knowing the Path and Walking the Path

I talk with people all the time. I'm a loner but there are a lot of people that I care about. You have to be very careful sometimes with people you love when it comes to talking about certain things in your life. The thing is, most of us are day to day types, some of us are dreamers and then there are those people that are driven. The third type usually walks a very lonely path. The day to day types aren't interested in the dreamers because all they do is sit and well, dream. The dreamers avoid the day to day folks because they don't want to hear the truth about themselves; They won't ever actually do anything.

That leaves the driven type person. This person is the one who doesn't associate with the dreamers or the day to day kinds. Day to day types confuse the driven types with the dreamers and as a result, they don't take the driven ones serious. The dreamers continue to come up with great concepts for others to actually execute. The driven shut everything out so they can get to where they are going.

So far I've been one of the driven.

But on the path to my destination I got sidetracked. I forgot who I was. I'm an artist. I am not a therapist, I am an artist. I am not a customer service agent, I am an artist. I am not a college graduate, I am an artist.

I think I know my path but unfortunately there are those that wish I would walk their beaten way. I was bitter at them at first but then I understood. I can't change them anymore than they can me. But in order for me to find what I'm looking for I have to turn the volume down on them.

I have a goal and that's all there is to it. I will get there.