The Myth of the One-Woman Inspirational Whirlwind

Marilyn sweetly wrote a comment recently: "I wish someone would just give you a big gob of money with no strings and no stipulations because you are a one-person inspirational whirlwind."

I reply:

"The Italian Renaissance wasn't about one artist, one patron. It was a movement. A concerto with many players in the orchestra. I concur with this statement from the Montalvo Arts Center in Saratoga, CA: "While the voice of an idea may appear to be individual, in fact the emergence of new ideas is a collective effort."

So it's about whether others can be enthralled by the same vision, join it and embody the renaissance themselves. I'm only one little spark, in the end. The fire must burn of its own."

To that end, I'm going to share little tidbits on salons, art colonies, why artists spark other artists, mutual inspiration, muses, how to stimulate your inner muse, why boudoirs and gardens are tres inspirational workspaces, how to host your own salons, sprinkled with crazy inspirations from this newly minted curator of ephemeral experiential living art.

Fair warning: You must be willing to be daring & looney to the point of frisson. (Synonyms: shiver, chill, quiver, shudder, thrill, tingle). You absolutely must invite people outside your normal social circle. Invite an eclectic combustible crowd of people that aren't "supposed" to go together like the fusion chefs mix ingredients into culinary taste explosions.

Bonus: The heat has driven me back into Starbucks  (my cafes don't have a/c). My choices are Earl Grey tea if the a/c is frigid. The new pomegrante juice/tea blend is pretty good and not overly sweet. This The Way I See It #90 was written on my paper cup. There are many forms to shared spaces. I like the core of this concept:

If we really want to understand innovation and collaboration, we have to explore shared space. Consider Watson & Crick: How many experiments did they do to confirm DNA's double helix? Zero. Not one. They built models based on other people's data. These models were their shared space. Their collaboration in that shared space powered their Nobel Prize-winning breakthrough. If you don't have a shared space, you're not collaborating. - Michael  Schrage, MIT design researcher and author of Serious Play

p.s. I also liked The Way I See It #138:

The good life is the middle way
Between ambition and compassion
Between action and reflection
Between company and solitude
Between hedonism and abstinence
Between passion and judgement
Between the cup of coffee
and the glass of wine. - Jay McInerney
Author of Bright Lights, Big City and The Good Life

image (1) This Year, Venuses Again... Always Venuses! (1864) - Honore Daumier
no. 2 of the sketches made at the Salon from Le Charivati, 1864. French. Honoré Daumier satirizes the bourgeoises scandalized by the Salon's Venuses, 1864. (2) I've no idea who this woman is and I don't read a speck of français or allemand, but she oozed "salon hostess" to me.

Comments

[Robert 'Groby' Blum]

As for who the woman is: As far as I can tell, she's stock photo eye candy for a fashion article on a medicinal web site. (Yes, I'm a native German. No, that doesn't mean this makes any sense to me ;)

As for Salons: the problem here is that our society conditions us to live in seclusion. Most of us know only people in a close social circle. So, open call: I'd like to host a salon in L.A. - where are the creative people who'd like to join in?

[Marilyn]

Someone has to ignite the first spark to inspire that collective effort...and you seem to do that so well. :)

[Paul Herman]

Hi Evelyn,
I just ran across your blog by accident & at first glance it seems unusually interesting- I will be back! (I was in Chiang Mai for the tsunami) but I am only writing in respomse to McInerney's poem: I disagree! It seems to me Aristotle's advice to do everything in moderation is in itself a form of extremism.

If you're interested I'll explain why. Nice meeting you albeit virtually,

Paul Herman
www.HermanStudios.com/blogpg00.html