Plan for Failure
Will you fail? Over and over again.
Greetings gang,
I got kind of absorbed making collages last week and didn’t sit down at the computer to write much but over the weekend I believe I finished up recording the last works from the collage workshops at last month’s Visual Poetry and Color Exhibition.
The piece above by Amye Wake is an extraordinary contribution to the show combining assemblage and sewing techniques and then lashed to the 8 x 8 wooden panel with thread so even the back of the work is quite complex. Her instagram page calls her work: “Upholstered Canvases. Tailored junk. Bricolageyardsale”.
Be sure to check out her instagram page and follow her.
So I don’t have much to say today. My mind feels pretty empty. So, I am going to dig around through my journal and see what topics I have listed that I was thinking I want to explore… OK here is a good one…
Plan for Failure
‘Write about failure built onto the designs of nature through over abundance of seeds and off spring. How artists could think about failure and the worry of it in their creative strategies.’
Those are my notes for an article. The idea of this article came to me from contemplating a conversation with my daughter Brittany and her worries about failing as a young mother. “Will I do everything right?” and that got me thinking about my own worries as a parent when she and Zach were little. I got started as a parent at the ripe old age of 23 starting with two step kids. I couldn’t even take care of myself at that time. So, I had a steep learning curve.
I won’t go into all of the details but there were also 7 foster kids involved for a couple of years in my parent training boot camp by 24 or 25 years old. I found myself in the middle of a maelstrom of failures and challenges. My conclusion at that time under those circumstances was that you just have to figure it out the best you can. You start in the morning and then keep working on it all day until you go to sleep at night. Will you fail? Yes, you will, over and over again. And on the rare occasion you don’t fail, things will happen all around you to cause failures beyond your control and there are many things you can’t anticipate or solve.
That is life in the trenches. Dig in, do the best you can, learn from your mistakes. Adjust. There is no time for anything else. Survive, keep going, dig deep. When life is tough you have to toughen up to match it. Make the best of it. Keep an eye out for the moments of joy and beauty, they are always there. Don’t miss them.
Did I mess up? Did I fall miserably short? Yes, I did, over and over again. But you can’t dwell on it. You have to push through and do better the next time.
When we look at nature we can see that nature itself plans on at least a 99.9% failure rate. When it comes to reproduction, nature is super abundant in its aspirations. Consider the number of seeds plants produce in a season or that mammals produce in sperm cells. It is not to create abundance it is to prevent total failure. Life is extremely rare and precious, the environment unforgiving and everything eventually fails and collapses. That is just the nature of things. We have to accept a massive failure rate in all things. Success in nature is when enough things live long enough to produce offspring. It is a low bar yet nearly impossible to meet.
Coming to our life as humans I am reminded of the story told by the Buddha of a large blind turtle that lives in the vast ocean and only comes to the surface for air once every 100 years. On the surface is a golden ring blown here and there by the wind floating on the ocean and that the rarity of becoming a human being is like that turtle rising to the surface for air and happens to stick his head through the ring. How often would that happen? Almost never.
Hence, in the face of almost complete catastrophic failure, the fact that we have a life, and that we can actually get to the point of being artists and making art…? Well, thank your lucky stars for this rare opportunity. Will you fail at it? Over and over again. Therefore, start and keep going. Every now and then something marvelous will happen. We all made it this far and life is short, rare and precious. There is no time to indulge in self-pity or fear or blame. Life is an adventure, live it to the full. Look for those moments of joy and beauty in it. Every moment is full of them. Catch them, share them and be kind and forgiving to yourself and others.
Great words of wisdom from a wonderful artist! Thanks Cecil!
Very nice art, and wonderful words, Cecil. I appreciate this support for the struggle of being an artist. It is easy to get discouraged in the face of failure. Your analogy about how nature super charges her chances for success with so many seeds, is delightful. I find this bigger picture perspective liberating and energizing. My father, too, was far too young when he took on the job. I appreciate wise father advice wherever I find it. Thank you, sincerely.