VanGogh (poem no.1)
Beauty plants within me visions
Future Creations
Flash
Swell
then Linger
Who do they belong to?
If only they could be mine.
When does one know one’s worthiness
to commune with angels
whose prints cut deeper than the fossils
Will I teach him as he has taught me
Or is my mediocrity a preexisting
Many called . . .
Few chosen.
Sometimes I do not dare desire my dreams
All I can conclude is
There is no time nor space
to effort in comparison
Offering finds significance in the unique
My offering is mine.
Kristen Sansom
written 2001(all rights reserved 2020)
100 Ways is a journal, a personal pathway to creative recovery meant to be an inspiration to the artist in all of us. I am a mother of four and an artist. I studied theatre in college, receiving a B.F.A. in Acting. One of the reasons I love theatre is because it embraces multiple art forms. I also love photography, poetry, writing, singing, music, and teaching. I have an appreciation for design and film making. I have a choreographer’s heart but not a dancer’s training. Rather than calling myself a Jack of all trades and master of none, I prefer to call myself a Renaissance Woman.
The trouble is, after graduating from college with an lovely, cooperative 18 month old daughter in tow, my small family moved out of state and I embraced my time as a stay at home mother. Fast forward 15 wonderful, crazy hard, meaningful years and I’m still in about the same boat; having given much creativity to my family and my home and my community but also having hid my artistic fears behind my responsibilities. My artistic yearnings are not something I can forget, however. They are an important part of who I am.
The ideas behind this blog have been spinning in my brain all too long. Part of my inspiration is Julia Cameron’s book The Artist’s Way. This is book of creative recovery that I’ve read the beginning of many times and I’m one day going to explore my way through her inspiring book and process. Another inspiration comes an episode of The New Creatives that aired on BYUtv. After interviewing cartoonist and illustrator Jake Parker and inspired by of creativity exercise of his, a challenge was given to make 100 somethings of your own. My first thought was I should record 100 monologues. I didn’t. But I’m doing 100 somethings now based off the art forms I love. While I haven’t recorded my first monologue yet, that is something you can look forward too.
Here is link to that episode of The New Creatives: https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=585&v=oqU47nyrxaY&feature=emb_title
My first 100 somethings are going to be works of curation. Curating my poetry and photography from my past in order to cultivate future creations. Ideas I have for 100 Ways are: monologues, poetry, photography and photographic essays, songs, short films, piano pieces, educational lessons, reading games, 100 pages of a play, etc. This is a continuous process of improvement and growth and projects will overlap each other. Though I am a big proponent of excellence, these postings are going to focus more on the creative flow and the explorative process.
I would love to see and hear about 100 Ways projects you are inspired to do!
100 Ways 