- Looking back at the ābones of summerā how have you engaged or created art? If you havenāt engaged or created art, please describe why.
I’m always trying to make a conscious effort to keep creative, this summer especially. Almost every day I played some form of music, be it 10 minutes at the piano or producing some small beat on Ableton Live. I also made a few podcast episodes with my friends, but that was seen more as something fun to pass the time than an artistic venture . As for engaging in the art of others, I often consume music at a borderline concerning level, and I watch movies and tv series occasionally.
- What things, if any, surround you that you consider powerful?
The MIDI keyboard on my desk. I think the fact that it’s almost always in arms reach of me adds to its power, since it’s so effortless to interact with. My Epi-pen is pretty powerful from a life- saving standpoint, but thankfully I’ve never had to use it on myself. Hands down the most powerful item I own is my phone,Ā but it’s more often a bad power than a good one, since it’s incredibly easy to get distracted by a myriad of addicting apps. My phone is also where I listen to 90% of the music I listen to, so I have to give it props for that.
- Over the next couple of days, take note of the dominant sounds in areas that you consistently walk. What are the sounds you notice most of all? Be specific.
The first thing I hear on a walk is cars slowly swooshing across the main street of my neighbourhood. Today it was raining, so that was the next most prominent sound. It was a high pitched rain as it wasn’t pouring too hard, but it was a balanced and consistent sound. Next would be the footsteps (or pawsteps) and the short pants of my two dogs as we walked. I could hear the steps of my older and fatter dog much clearer than that of my puppy. Then comes my own footsteps, which I rarely notice when I don’t make an effort to, I guess since I’m so used to them. As we walked off the sidewalk and into a gravel trail, our footsteps became much louder, more ‘crunchier.’ The last leg of my walk was in the forest, and the most interesting sounds I noticed were the several layers of rainfall. Up high I could hear the rain lightly landing on the leaves of trees, and eventually those drops would group together and splash down on the trail with a much lower and unpredictable sound.
- How do you relate to the phrase āfree time only works if you steal it?ā
I strongly agree with this. I find myself spending much of my free time doing aimless and unproductive things like scrolling through social media, playing video games, or watching YouTube, and deep down I always know that I would be happier with myself doing something creative with this time, but more often than not I’m simply too lazy to even think about doing something worthwhile.
- Do you have any other takeaways from the film?
I loved how Laskey found beauty in so many things, such as the burnt clamp he found in his neighbour’s fire pit, which he spoke of as if it were a modern masterpiece. I also noticed a certain competitiveness in the language he used when talking about art; not towards his peers, but towards the medium itself. He quotes another artist saying “sometimes you win and sometimes the block wins” when working with a wooden block. Later when talking about photography and collage he often used the word “arena” to describe what the medium he was working with gave him. It seems as it a goal for him when working on a piece is to prove himself to the piece itself.
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