#FoodforThoughtCreativeQuarantine
Artist Rebecca Siemering shares her practice during the pandemic.
Within the first month of the current crisis, I was reading how it was important to document the time we are in for historians. With being at home, conducting school at home, and working, there has not been much time to use my hands for my art practice, much less write. As an artist I need to keep my hands moving to feel ok or I get agitated. In times of stress, I often write haikus to settle my mind.
Traditional haiku references nature and specifics to the season, drawing out a view of the inner self by being reflective upon a moment. I think of the crisis of COVID19 as a temporary season itself. I found a small notebook and set some limitations to begin writing a poem a day. I find limitations in mediums to be freeing. You have to work against them to express your idea and that can lead to greater creativity. In my fiber based sculpture work, I take a material and study it until its form speaks to me. If I can’t make as much with my hands, I still have my mind and can use my hands to write.
I further set my limitations to writing about my garden and its changes, objects within my house and living with a young child. It's a way of utilizing the limitation to bring a sense of control and inner calm to my little sphere at the moment. With this intense focus, and using my hand to write out the poems, edit, erase and be off the computer, has been freeing. All are posted to Instagram @rsiemering daily with a short explanation of the origin of the moment.
Here are a few of my favorites:
#13
To love an object
is to examine fully
the makers’ handwork.
#14
Plaited and coiled,
weaving speaks intimacy
of hand and mind.
#15
The spirit of want
wanders in and out of mind,
is killed by content.
#17
Unloosening knots
is like tending a garden
choked by many weeds.
#23
Please knock on the door
for entrance. Childhood moves on;
the doorway is shut.
You can see more of Rebecca's Work at her website: https://rebeccasiemering.com
and you can follow her on intstagram @rsiemering
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