|
January — I opened up my Squarespace newsletter account this morning and saw that the last email I sent out, in August, was titled “Prepping for a Beginning, Sensing and End.” It’s a title that is eerily prescient in retrospect, considering the events of September and October. These past few months have been difficult and I send warm thanks to caring and supportive friends. So looking ahead, and this being January, I was all set to write about goals, mindmapping, and just generally getting organized for the new year. However, I saw that in the August newsletter I also wrote about getting myself organized (via list making.) This prompted some reflection and I had to admit that I often seem to be regathering my scattered self, sometimes for understandable reasons and others — not so much. There are just so many things I want to do - painting, assemblage, collage, cold wax, realism, abstraction, writing, slow stitch . . . and so on. If often feels like I’m hopping from one pursuit to another and not really getting anywhere. Enter artist Denise Cerro and her weekly newsletter, which arrived in my inbox at just the right time. She introduced me to the term “multipotentialite.” According to Wikipedia: Multipotentiality is an educational and psychological term referring to the ability and preference of a person, particularly one of strong intellectual or artistic curiosity, to excel in two or more different fields. It can also refer to an individual whose interests span multiple fields or areas, rather than being strong in just one. Such traits are called multipotentialities, while "multipotentialites" has been suggested as a name for those with this trait. By contrast, those whose interests lie mostly within a single field are called "specialists."
This sounds so positive! I’m embracing “multipotentiality.” It suggests possibility. It’s a word that seems to offer permission to ease up on the self criticism and just enjoy this journey. (I will still be making lists, and mindmaps to help guide my way.) Lately I’ve been making my own art journals and filling the pages with whatever composition ideas happen to be knocking around in my head. Circles keep showing up — to remind me, I guess, that although we never really know what kinds of endings are just around the bend, endings are followed by beginnings. Happy New Year!
|
