Stay Small to Go Big

Respond to a mark, a word, a sentence, not a big idea

Onward to one of our last issues in the series….thanks again for your attention. It’s one of the most generous things you can give in these information-dense times. I’m really grateful. 

I’m hoping, like me, you’re into this idea of your creative intelligence and creative projects needing more space. Maybe you’re even feeling a sense of momentum.  

Thanks to a collection of artists who’ve taken us behind the veil, we’ve cast the net on a set of “small disciplines” that amp up the creative capacity we all have inside. 

The list, so far:

• get lost, 

• meander, 

• note what’s freely given, what doesn’t need fixing, 

• connect with what can’t be seen, 

• remember the larger Self,

• follow instead of lead, 

• notice we build boxes around ourselves that have interesting cracks,

• aim for beauty.

Next, we go to the great sculptor & painter Donna Zekas, who maintains a full-time studio practice that includes teaching and mentoring. Her residencies and studies with artists in North America and abroad have created a diverse body of work, weaving together various techniques.

“Visible Threads” Artist Donna Zekas

Her thoughts on how to quiet the interruptor of our creative endeavours (i.e. the voice that’s afraid to make a mistake, the voice that wants to look good at all cost, the voice that doesn’t like feeling discomfort) are so tangible and profound. 

She’s generously sharing some of her teachings with us here...Enjoy.xo

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Donna, you’re an artist who explores a variety of mediums and techniques. Why is that important to you and your work?

It keeps my work fresh and allows for wide-ranging possibilities.

This exploratory mindset of openness, flexibility and relaxing control allows for greater risk taking. I give myself permission to not know. It’s liberating. Here I can meet myself with openness and curiosity. And I can choose to embrace the accidents and surprises, and also remove them.

I’m not attached to the work. I’m in conversation with it. 

Mystery and surprise fuel the process. It’s important to get into that mindset. When there is no freshness coming through, no awe, this is when I know I need to take a risk. I need to try something new to make room for the unexpected. 

“At the Core” Artist Donna Zekas

Risk. Oh that word. 

Could you expand on risk? I’ve recently read how essential it is to creativity, to the expansion of thought and seeing. A team of international researchers found that intellectual and social risk are the specific forms of risk that are critical. And by this they mean, the ability to do things you’re not good at, and a willingness to fail and not look “good,” “strong,” and in control. 

That’s not easy. How do you apply risk in small ways? I think, when it comes to risk, I can only go small. 

I’ve been incorporating non-traditional tools into my process for years. At times, I use trowels, ceramic tools and other materials to layer and affect the mood and essence of my work. 

Whether it is painting or sculpting, my approach is the same: the process of creating evolves into an idea.

For example, I’ve embedded rusty objects left off the side of the road and given them a new way of being. Through the exploration of visual elements, various tools and mediums my ideas shift and change. It keeps things interesting for me.

My responses are key as I attempt to keep the critic at bay. By this I mean, I’m not critiquing what I’m doing, I’m only creating a response to a mark, a colour, a shape or sculptural fragment and thus creating dialogue. Do you see the difference? 

I think so. It’s interesting because it makes me think about how in creative writing, for example, I can focus on one sentence, and then simply add the next one as a response to the one in front of it. Not writing in service of a grand idea, but to the single sentence, to the small moment in the scene. 

The existence of an interrelationship and interdependence of the continuous dance keeps me in the moment.

Work grows out of layers and the obliteration of marks, shapes, sculptural fragments. 

For many years, I taught children, and I’d watch how they didn’t have any fear when they made something new. Intuitively, they don’t make things precious. They know how to be in the small moment. 

Yes, they do know how to stay connected and absorbed to the simple. 

But tell me, doesn’t a more complex and judging mind inevitably come in during the editing process? 

I think we can also look at editing in simple terms. One of my mentors, Steve Aimone, says we should ask ourselves, what is too much and what is not enough? It’s a powerful way to question the work and remain playful. And it extends into life as well. It’s a way to know what to make space for and what to limit or remove. 

“Shifting Focus” Artist Donna Zekas (one of my favourites)

In Donna’s studio, the painting “Re-imaged”. For me, the blue square is my mind’s creative intelligence telling me it exists and is a spacious refuge.

What is too much, what is not enough? Now that’s a great question to put to your creative work to keep it conversational. I’m stealing that.

Thank you Donna!

And I must share a quote that dovetails well with so much of what you’ve shared with us, from renown author Sue Monk Kidd:

"Creativity flourishes not in certainty but in questions…the seduction is always security rather than venturing, instant knowing rather than deliberate waiting.”

You can follow Donna’s work or join one of her workshops by following Donna on Instagram or https://donnazekas.com