One of the best ways I can think of to do that is to provide structured support.

Structured support is more than just cheering you on–which is great mind you, it’s just not enough in our busy, over-extended lives.

Structured support helps you to create and maintain your creative momentum because it’s a “built” something–a concrete structure–that you can rely on and lean into when you don’t have that extra energy to build something from scratch yourself.

That’s my logic around the 20 Minute Club. To help you have a way to check in and feel connected to other artistic, creative people hunting and pecking for some time here and there to do what they love best–creating.

But the 20 Minute Club is just one piece of a structured support system that I plan to provide for you. I’m creating lots more.

This summer, I’m introducing another crucial piece of my structured support system that I think you’re going to love. And I’m getting excited.

Creative Breakthroughs Tele-class

Once a week this summer, (starting in July) I’m going to offer my Creative Breakthroughs Tele-class at a special reduced introductory rate. With even better deals for buying a few classes at a time.

It’s a very simple collage process, but it really allows you to let go, stop the self-censorship, and just start making.

We’ll make 2-3 collages on each call and even if they don’t get quite finished, they’ll become excellent fodder for the 20 Minute Club because they give you something to respond to during your busy week–something to work on, think about, and experiment with–structured support that allows you to be the artist you are.

These tele-classes will help your creativity, build your self-confidence, and improve all your art making skills even if collage isn’t your “main thing.” Even if you’ve never made a collage in your life.

A Fabulous Example

Anne Huskey-Lockard took my collage tele-class because she thought it would be fun to make art using a method completely different from her usual approach.

She shares her collage and talks about her experience of my tele-class on her blog here.

Since then, she’s continued to use the technique to make more work (see how it works?) and now she’s doing a fabulous give-away of two pieces that she’s created using the Creative Breakthroughs Tele-class approach.

You can enter to win or just visit and see how she’s used the technique to expand her own creative process and provide herself with more options for her creativity.

(Here’s what I made during the same tele-class that Anne took–isn’t it interesting how the same technique can produce such different results? I LOOOVVVVEEE that. It’s all about developing/nurturing your own voice, not copying someone else. Yes!)

Who? What? When?

Okay, still working out the details of the when and the how much, but it’s definitely going to be ridiculously affordable and available almost every week this summer starting in July.

Oh, and no worries, it’s all very flexible. You’ll be able to take it once, once in a while, or every week, depending on what works for you.

I’m thinking the class is going to be Monday evenings because most people don’t do things on Monday evenings. I also might try to offer it at couple of different times to accommodate different time zones.

It’ll probably run a little over an hour–maybe an hour and a half with intros and checking in afterward. (I want to make it all feel do-able and not take over your entire evening.)

Thoughts? Questions? Leave a comment or shoot me an email.

In the meantime, watch this space!

Please join in and share your 20 Minute Experiences in the Comments–good/bad, it’s all fair game.

This week involved lots of short spurts spent trying to resolve this 36″ x 48″ collage I’ve been working on slowly over the past 2 months.

Because it just didn’t feel right.

At the end of the day yesterday, I made some changes I’d been debating all week–and suddenly I felt like I’d finally resolved it and any further additions will be small.

(Click here and here to see earlier versions of this piece and click on the image itself to see it bigger.)

I LOVE that feeling of resolving a design problem.

LOVE. IT.

Loving to solve design problems is loving the process–a much more positive, comfortable mindset than getting fixated on whether the final piece is going to be good or not.

I don’t always manage this, but it’s nice when I do.

So even though I wasn’t sure it would ever be a piece I looked at and I liked, I still wanted to hang in there with it to the end–to finish it–for all the powerful good that happens from the integrity of that action.

And I did.

Being committed to the process is so liberating.

And it feels good to solve problems–design or otherwise. And you know, I think I do like it after all.

Appreciations

Appreciating yourself is an important part of the 20 Minute Club because it helps you keep your creative momentum going.

Carving out the time to create is not enough. Getting (and eventually staying) on your own side is a critical factor for helping you take bigger risks with your work, get yourself out of a creative rut, or just enjoy the process more.

Taking the time to remember to appreciate yourself and your efforts (big or small) is a powerful way to make this happen.

Here’s my five self-appreciations for this week:

1. I appreciate that I’ve been much more forgiving of myself lately–a bit unusual and frankly, a nice change of pace.
2. I appreciate that I sorted out new stuff about my tele-class and felt some confusion lifting. Phew.
3. I appreciate the cool-headed time-juggling I managed on Tuesday which involved running around, carrying heavy things in fancy shoes, and prepping for a network event.
4. I appreciate that I took the biggest risk with my presentation at my networking event and it went really well.
5. I appreciate how much I love to create products and how much I enjoy designing my new notecards of my digital collages.

Your Turn!

How did your creative week go? What did you work on? Are you rolling along or feeling stuck? Please share–good, bad or ugly–it’s all a part of the on-going process.

So I thought I’d bring some pieces of my own artwork to the event and do a David Letterman type Top Ten Reasons You Should Buy Art from a Living, Breathing Artist when it’s my turn to stand up.

Because if I want more people to buy art, I think I should be able to help them think about why it might be worth it to them to have it in their homes as part of their everyday lives–especially people who don’t feel that connected to the arts in the first place.

Creating this list was not as easy as I thought it would be. That was kind of alarming.

But, after doing a little thinking (along with some searching online for what other people thought–amazingly, there really wasn’t that much out there) I came up with a first draft of my Top Ten.

I’d love to know your thoughts and add your suggestions to my list for tonight.

Sarah’s Top Ten Reasons to Buy Art From a Living Breathing Artist:

1. Hang art in your home and surround yourself with images that reflect your taste, define who you are, and resonate deeply for a long time. As with a good book or a great piece of music, your relationship with a work of art can develop and change over the course of a lifetime.
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2. Support the Arts: Supporting an artist by buying their artwork is directly, positively affecting the stability of the arts in the United States. A lot more middle class, regular people buy contemporary art in Europe…when you buy a work of art or fine craft, you’re having a serious, positive impact on the health of the arts in your community and the country as a whole.
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3. Become a Collector–make your own mark  by collecting art you care about that speaks to you. Building a collection is a unique creative act in and of itself–one you can enjoy over time and hand down to the next generation.
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4. Set Yourself Apart from the Crowd:
 Most people don’t buy art or only buy posters of famous art instead. Buying artwork from a contemporary artist or craftsperson really sets you apart and shows you have the confidence to know what you like before it’s been sanctioned by museums or some other higher authority.
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5. A work of art is a unique and passionate creation, which not only reflects the soul of the artist, but your soul as well, because you chose it. (This one, and the next two, are paraphrased from Mary Baker’s site, who I thought did a great job of expressing why someone should buy a work of art.)
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6. Works of art can inspire your life and have the power to nurture and strengthen the spirit.
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7. Be a part of the mystery: almost every artist will tell you that they don’t have complete control of their art–it has a life of its own that must be respected and listened to.  Connecting to a work of art is connecting to the larger mystery of life.
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8. The thrill of the hunt: Enjoy the enriching experience of developing your artistic taste–develop your own eye for up-and-coming artists or crafters, or support one or two artists whose work really speaks to you.
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9. Get back in touch with your own creative self.
   Most people don’t make things anymore, but this wasn’t always true, and our primal selves are all creative, hands on mammals who first began to express themselves to connect with the magic of the universe, to decorate their world, and to make their mark. Buying art and living with it every day reconnects you to that self.
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10. Discover someone.

Did I miss anything? Why do you think people should buy art from a living, breathing artist or craftsperson?

I’m going to start off with 5 different cards, and I’d love it if you’d help me decide which 5 to pick!

3 Simple Steps

1. Visit http://sarahbushartworks.com

2. Peruse the images &  jot down your 5 faves

3. Click on the green survey link at the top of that page. This will take you to my one question survey where you can check off your five favorites.

Thanks in advance….and I can’t wait to see the results!

Find Your Timer

In the meantime, tomorrow’s blog post will be (of course) the 20 Minute Club Minutes, so there’s still time to grab your timer and carve out 20 minutes tonight to nurture your creative soul.

I look forward to reading your comments about how it went–and remember, sharing your experiences helps everyone!

It went quite well and I got some really helpful feedback.

At the end several participants were kindly saying how much they enjoyed it–even though they had butterflies about it all day in anticipation–a little excited, a little nervous.

Maybe even a lot nervous.

Me too!

And I realized I forgot that they’d be nervous.

So absorbed in my own nervousness about “being on stage” and teaching over the phone–publicly trying out an idea and a process I’m enamored with–that I forgot that they were taking a risk too.

No one on that call waited to feel safe before they signed up.

They felt uncomfortable and they did it anyway.

WOW! Thank you for that my early beta testers! I’m so grateful for that trust and so respectful of your willingness to take that risk.

And I’m proud of myself too. For birthing an idea from the dark recesses of the creative part of my brain all the way out into the world. Transforming an idea into an actual thing.

And we all survived! And had some fun to boot. Because butterflies are a good thing.

Different but Better

But still, I was pretty wound up the rest of the evening.

I watched the last episode of “24″ standing up. I brought out the garbage and walked around the block in the dark.

Why? Because I had to recover, I had to get over feeling emotionally naked–of doing my best in front of relative strangers.

This morning I feel like myself again, but better.

Because I’ve expanded my experience and now my outer edges have changed. I have a bigger comfort zone today than I did yesterday, so more is available to me. And that’s neat.

This is always true when you push at the edges of your comfort zone.

When you create.

When you take the risk of doing something that might not work out.

Traveling that road from nascent idea to finished product is a good feeling and it grows you.

I call it The Fine Art of Finishing.  Seth Godin calls it “shipping”. The more you ship, the more you know it’s worth doing it.

And now I’ve got a bunch of new friends who took that risk with me. Who also have a bigger comfort zone today than they did yesterday. Who tried my new thing and helped me make it better.

And that’s neat.

Let’s hear it for butterflies.

As promised, today’s post is a mini review of The Armory Show, a big art to-do that happens every year in NYC.

As I mentioned in my Pulse post, I had a better time at the Pulse-NYC show than this one, but that’s because The Armory Show is a bit pretentious and I feel like the vagaries of the art market dominate the scene which can lead to cynical or trend driven art-world-insider type work at the expense of work created from listening to one’s individual voice or desire to create something deeply aesthetically pleasing or powerful.

But that said, I did see a lot of wonderful things and I thought I’d share a few of them here: (I’ll start with my favorites first).

I was actually blown away by this piece by H C Berg called Visual Vortex, and of course, I couldn’t take a decent picture of it.

I really loved how it glowed and was luminous–it’s hard to explain how it looked, but it’s a large curved piece of iridescent mylar  lit up somehow with laser cut acrylic shapes hanging in front of it that shimmered.

The image actually extended out a few feet in front of the piece itself–reflecting or projecting, I’m not sure. So it had this very modern, plastic film kind of feel to it, but it was all airy and ethereal at the same time:

And I loved this piece below made out of liquor bottle top foils (the metal bit at the top that you can peel off) by El Anatsui. His site is under construction, but if you want to see more of his work, click here and here. Here’s my photo from the show:

I’m a huge Magdelena Abakanowitz fan, so it was fun to see several of her large repeated sculptures as I haven’t seen too much of her work in person:

I quite liked these carved book sculptures below, but unfortunately, cannot read my handwriting to tell you the artist’s name. I just sent a note out to the group that I went to the show with–if I find out, I’ll amend this post later. In the meantime, here’s some pix:

I was struck by these small totemic wire sculptures made in the seventies by an artist called Philadelphia Wireman. I looked him up online and Wikipedia had an interesting story about him–a bunch of these sculptures were found in the street by an art student in 1982, and folks surmise that they were just thrown out after this unknown artist died. I really like them:

I thought this painting was beautiful and haunting (and it reminded me of Hendrik Kerstens‘ work. I also managed to not write this artist’s name down somehow either–when I find out, I’ll amend the post:

Glitter and sequins also had a presence at both Pulse and The Armory Show so I must admit I enjoyed that: Here’s a photo of a cluster of small sequin “paintings’ by Daniel Gonzalez (I liked these best) and next to it are a couple of cut paper and glitter collages by Devin Troy Strother:

And finally, when I opened my bag, I realized one of my pencils was stuck inside a folded piece of paper and had made its own drawing while I was walking around.

I quite liked the delicate line quality–who knew my pencil was such a sensitive arteest! (I call it Mixed Feelings at The Armory. Graphite on 28lb printer paper. )

Do you have any thoughts/opinions about any of the art shown here? Leave a comment, (thumbs up or thumbs down) I’d love to hear what you think!

This past week was all about the The Armory Show at the Piers in NYC. It’s a pretty famous show with lots of different offshoot exhibits all over town now, so I thought I’d find everyone some inspiration.

The only “offshoot” show I went to was downtown at Pulse NYC. I actually enjoyed it much more than main event, which I found kind of pretentious, but I always have lots of ambivalence about the art scene. The gallery  owners at Pulse were more open and welcoming and seemed truly excited by the artist’s works they were displaying.

The pulse show has more emerging artists in general. Overall, it was probably more uneven in quality than the Armory Show, but I liked the energy and genuine enthusiasm that I felt in the artwork I saw.

Here’s a few photos and thoughts below:

I thought this fur life preserver by Andy Yoder was an interesting political sendup about the economic downturn–especially in New York City, where the uber wealthy are more uber than other places:

I loved these woven rattan Buddha sculptures by Cambodia artist Sopheap Pich. Airy and open with a certain monumentality:

Megan Greene did some really lovely drawing/collages on top of pages of Audubon paintings from a book. Some people might think, “Oh, been there, done that” but I thought she really integrated her own skillful drawings wonderfully with the initial images, creating something fresh and well executed. She wasn’t really relying on the Audubon prints as much as carrying them somewhere else. My group picture doesn’t really do it justice. Check out her site for better photos.

I thought these mythic taxidermy creatures by Enrique Gomez de Molina were very cool, but some people around me were kind of grossed out. I guess I convinced myself he found the taxidermied pieces and then altered them with his own created bits, but really, I have no idea. They’re so imaginative and phantasmagorical to me and they have a lot of presence . Check out his site to see more and better images. (The walrus is covered in beetle wings!)

Laurent Craste had a wonderful piece that was a mix of video art and porcelain, but I couldn’t take a picture of it. He’s a porcelain artist, and most of his work (at this show anyway) is a commentary on decorative arts.

His piece that I really liked had a porcelain plate in a cabinet with a classic image of roses on it, but the image was digital, and he had the petals and leaves gradually fall off the decorative pattern to form a kind of heap at the bottom of the plate and then start over. Very witty, I thought–and well done video art, which I find kind of rare.

Here’s a few more of his porcelain commentaries:

Emil Lukas had a wrapped thread, piece that was positively luminous. Of course, my photo makes it look opaque and kind of awful, but it was really great and I wanted to include it here. I notice the other images of his work online don’t do much better either, so I think it’s kind of hard to photograph his work:

I liked these witty little paintings by Michael Dumontier and Neil Farber–from The Royal Art Lodge:

I really enjoyed Megan Whitmarsh‘s soft sculpture installation of her dream studio–it was very positive and actually kind of joyful. It really brought back memories of the soft sculpture rage in the 70′s:

So there was lots more that I liked, but I’m having a hard time deciphering my notes and my to-do list is a mile long this week! I’ll write about The Armory Show next with lots of pictures as well. Please share any thoughts you have about any of the art, I’d love to hear from you!

So many thoughts fighting for attention in there and suddenly, it couldn’t take it anymore and off it went.

All because I’ve been frantically getting the site for my studio done–you know, the local NJ/NY Metro outpost for Make Great Stuff: Jackson Street Studios.

And now, it’s finally, officiiiaaaalllllllly………………………….Done-Ish!

What do they say–don’t let the pursuit of the perfect get in the way of the good? Right–so that’s what I’m doing. I mean, not doing….Er, one of those–the one where I’m okay with the “good”.

So as you can see from the above sentences, I’ve worked my head off and am officially fried, but I must say that I’m getting rather fond of my little site–it’s improving every day.

And I AM super excited by the class I’m teaching. Will you please take a look?

The Creative Breakthroughs Technique–A Collage Workshop

That’s what I’m calling it. Because it’s such a fabulous way to break out of a rut and ditch the self-censorship. With just enough structure to support you if it’s been a while since you made anything, but with plenty of room to express yourself.

This isn’t a class where you just copy a technique, make something nice, but secretly still doubt your own skills. It’s a way of helping you re-connect to your own creativity again. For finding your voice (again). I mean, there’s no point in your finding my voice for goodness sakes.

What was it Oscar Wilde used to say… “You might as well be yourself, everyone else is taken…”? This class is all about that.

Everyone in the February workshop marveled at how different each person’s work looked at the end, which made me ridiculously happy. Same technique, many visions. How right is that? So right.

And I must say that I have some kick-ass art tools and supplies as well as an extremely cool collection of wooden Indian fabric stamps (which everyone really loved). Plus a lot of weird bits and neat vintage paper and embellishments. Cool supplies are half the battle.

I teach a new technique each time before we get started, and last time I shared my secret stamping and embossing trick–something very, very simple that no one ever does, but makes the process soooo versatile. And almost everyone tried it. Yay!

But what’s really great about this workshop is that you don’t have to make space, own supplies or have ideas. Just show up! Yes–let’s re-ignite that creative fire!

And even better, when we’re all done and the studio looks like a truck just ran through it, you get to go home and not worry about it. No clean up required. Admit it, that’s awesome.

I’ve got all the details at Jackson Street Studios–including a 2 minute video to give you a taste of what happens at the workshop. I’ve included it here: (If you’re reading this in an email, you’re going to have to visit the site to see the video. Aw, c’mon, It’ll only take a sec.)

Neat right?

My next class is on March 26th, with a screamin’ good deal available for those who sign up by March 19th. Won’t you join me?

If you live in the NJ/NY area and could use a creative breakthrough or three, this class is the perfect thing.

If you don’t live in the NY/NJ area but need an excuse to come to New York for a long weekend, now you’ve got one. Sign up for my Friday night workshop, create and take home a beautiful matted work of art (flat–easy to fit in a suitcase), and then spend the rest of the weekend hobnobbin’ around the city. Good times.

In addition, I’m offering the workshop monthly because participating regularly can build you some great momentum and catapult your creativity forward. Take the workshop once, thrice or every month like clockwork, it’s up to you! To get you started, I have a special price for your first visit.

We had so much fun at the February workshop–everyone learned, took chances and surprised themselves. I’d love to see you there.

If you can’t come or live far away, could you do me a favor and forward this to someone who you think could benefit from participating in a workshop like this? I appreciate it!

What do you think? Are you ready for a creative breakthrough? Are you creating like mad already? Please leave a comment, I’d love to hear from you!

All these drawings are works in progress. At least, I think they are. I’ll keep looking at them and decide over time. It feels good to make them and all kinds of thoughts/feelings/images/experiences are coalescing as I work on them–but more on that at a later date.

What’s nice about working on something that feels right is that it doesn’t really matter what anyone else thinks of it. These drawings are a path I’m on for a while, and I figure I’ll just keep making them until I’m done and see what I’ve got at the end.

In the meantime, here they are. They all measure approximately 3 1/2′ tall x 4 1/2′ wide–except, of course, the square one which is as wide as it is tall. (Click on any image to view it bigger. And thanks for looking.)

New Site! New Workshop! New-New-New!

The other thing I’m doing is scrambling around like a mad woman trying to get a new site up and running–a site just for my studio–kind of the local outpost of Make Great Stuff where I’ll be teaching classes and workshops as well as making my own artwork. I’m an excited/nervous duckling.

I had fantasized that I’d be sharing this new site with you here today, but it’s all been more work than I anticipated–nothing unusual there. My brain never ceases to be unrealistic about how much work I can get done.

(I come from a family where work is a highly prized activity–you can pretty much get out of anything, even a funeral, if you say you “have to work”. Not that I do that, try to get out of funerals, but I’m just sayin’. So I’ve inherited a great work ethic, but mostly, it’s kind of a drag. Except for my bosses. Every boss I’ve ever had loved me for it. So, now that I’m my own boss, I’ve kind of a got a conflict of interest thing going. I’m working on it.)

Anyway, in addition to the new site, I had my first workshop in my studio last Friday night. It’s called The Creative Breakthroughs Technique Workshop and it was a big success if I do say so, and I’m dying to share all the details with you about that as well.

Alas, that’s a big part of the new site, so I’m still not done dotting my i’s and crossing my t’s on that either. But I’m hoping to do a big “taaa-daaa” thing here on the blog about all of it on Monday or Tuesday next week. I’ve even got a little video going. Please stay tuned.

So picture me writing and uploading and editing and adapting and pay-paling my weekend away. And taking breaks to work on my big drawings.

(Did I say I’m trying to do a drawing a week? Next week I’m hoping to dedicate a whole blog post to the ease-of-being-creative-when-you’ve-got-a-work-in-progress-going strategy. Kind of a P.S./ Part II to my Magic Spell post the other day.

What are you doing this weekend? Are you snowed in like we are here in NY/NJ? Would you like to share links to some artwork you’re working on? Please leave a comment and share what you’re doing, whatever it is, I’d love to hear from you!

Sometimes when we get lost in our worries that we have no talent or that our creativity has disappeared, we forget one of the main reasons we make things in the first place.

It’s fun. It feels good. And we love to do it.

Today, I want you to remember all the reasons that you love to make things and write them down.

Tack it to the bathroom mirror or slip it into your wallet. Pick one reason every day and meditate on it–even for a minute or two.

Just close your eyes and say the first part of the sentence when you breathe in, and then say the second part of the sentence when you exhale: (Breath in–”I feel most like myself” Breath out: “When I’m creating.” Breath in–”I feel most like myself” Breath out: “When I’m creating.”)

Lather, Rinse, Repeat.

Ready? I’ll start!

25 Reasons I Love to Make Things

1. I feel most like myself when I’m creating.
2. I feel connected to everything and everyone when I’m making things.
3. It feels good/right to use my hands.
4. I like that it feels like a physical activity somehow–not so ‘in my head.’
5. I’m very visual and I love looking at things.
6. Creating feeds my aesthetic emotion.
7. I love the feeling of “building” something when I’m creating.
8. I love the feeling of “listening” to my artwork.
9. I love how it feels when what I’m creating turns out the way I want.
10. I love how I feel when I am okay when it doesn’t turn out the way I want.
11. I love feeling excited about making things.
12. I love learning new techniques and acquiring new skills.
13. I love integrating new techniques into my projects.
14. I love solving design problems and thinking about formal elements–like line, color, composition, etc.
15. I love pulling different parts of myself, my thinking, & my sensibilities together into one work of art.
16. I love feeling like an artisan.
17. I love making things I use everyday.
18. I love feeling connected to the objects I’m making.
19. I love the hum of my sewing machine.
20. I love how I feel when I’m completely immersed in my projects.
21. I love talking about art with other people.
22. I love getting inspired by art in museums and galleries.
23. I love giving things I make to people I love.
24. I feel grounded when I’m creating.
25. I like making sense of the world through my creativity.

Okay–you’re turn! (And please share your list or portions of your list in the comments section below!)