Replies: 37 Comments
on Friday, September 28th, Brad Michael Moore said
Thanks Jim,
Well, I'm off for a show in NYC tonight. Let's home I can use that, and not lose, "it," there. I'm hoping the Big Apple will stir a bit in my soul-stew. Let's hope so, on any account... Enjoyed the quick look&see of your website. Your using it. Best of luck - Sincerely,
on Friday, September 28th, Brad Michael Moore said
informio,
Lovely, intense, homepage - I wish I could read German. All the same - it's the thought that counts, and I'm counting yours! Sincerely,
on Thursday, September 27th, Jim said
Use it or lose it has meaning even for mental capabilities. Mental stimulation will ward off those annoying traits of the elderly.
on Thursday, September 27th, informio said
Stay positive!
on Monday, September 24th, Brad Michael Moore said
Julia,
Thank you in taking the time to comment. It is difficult for many people, artists, or not, to speak, or stand out in public forums. Sometimes – it is just about facts of the personal circumstances surrounding them. Most regular folk never need to speak publicly - unless they are thrust into a eulogy situation for a dear departed one. Some artists just refuse to become, "Public," with the argument that their work, "Speaks for them." Usually artists, like those, were very talkative coming up - until they gained some fame or fortune. Generally, artists can speak to their work - for they are always speaking to themselves during the process of creating it. It is more a matter of recreating this, "Conversation," facing yourself in a mirror and/or on a recorder, and then determining if you make sense to yourself. If you do - then the public will likely understand you as well. It's really all about the work, and a grasp of language - either in art terms, or folk terms. Our sincerity of effort is what we will be judged on - both in our works, and expressive ideas.
I have relics of my family only as far back as America's Civil War - a bit over 150 years or so. If humankind can survive another 5 or 6 generations, our generation has a much greater chance of sending our relics 200 years into future. We have so much more stuff to pass along. We take care of our belongings better - or others will take care of our collections. We better understand the importance of provenance... Those who do sculpture in steel, and mineral – their works have the best chance of all surviving. The same can be said for the builders of our monuments, and structure created in our cities and landscapes. Our artists who can best withstand misfortunes fire, ice, and water, can take comfort their works will carry on.
As to my personal circumstances... I know long life has been a hallmark on my family bloodlines, but – until my generation, there were no fast foods, soft drink proliferation in our schools, and diets. Food manufactures adding so many unnatural ingredients into most everything we have been eating and drinking - until public awareness in recent times has alerted us to our dangerous habits. Now we are learning how to better manage the poisons in processes foods by avoiding them. I won’t eat out hardly ever – for restaurants try to outdo their competitors by serving us enough food on a table for four that – in impoverished countries, could feed 20 to 40 starving children. So I face 55 years of eating the crap I did while growing up, crap my parents thought would be healthy for me. Remember, it was in my generation, where smoking was a healthy and enjoyable experience that was advertised in print, radio, and TV to my parents in my earliest years. I know I was a victim of second-hand smoke of my father. So, today, I try to exercise, eat better, and pray that my genetic makeup will protect me from the ills corporate commercialism has ingrained into my body in the name of their bottom line – profits – not the health of their customers. Time will have her say in all matters. In the end, truths eventually come out – even when governments try to keep the truths from the people by making top secret all of their bad dealings to profit themselves at the expense of those societies they were suppose to be protecting. Here is where artists can help provide a legacy describing those most important ideas we all cherish so much – freedom, liberty, and justice for all. Anything else, and the sculptors will sculpt, the painters, digitallists, and photographers will commit to papers, and those who express in word and music, and movement will commence. Sincerely,
on Monday, September 24th, Julia Cake said
Brad, With many of the more serious things in my own life and the lives of those close to me I have remained silent due to my indoctrination, appearing to ignore or endure the reality of such events we face. I still find it difficult to convey my thoughts and feelings through words although I am improving. On reading your piece on this occasion I can only say I wish you well and would like to add something I have learned from my husband. That is that in 200 years time we will all mostly be forgotten, so whatever life brings us today we should make every second count and I hope you continue to do this in every area.
Oh and thanks for recommending on my previous blog that I employ the services of the sea as a polisher but alas I had performed this by hand already
My best regards
Julia
on Thursday, September 20th, bmm said
Hey Walt,
I feel like I just described a new definition for your, "Fire River Series."
on Thursday, September 20th, Brad Michael Moore said
Jose',
I can only surmise - when they stand up in a crowd - we will notice them... When they speak their truth - we will hear them. When their truth has captured the imaginations of the people - to the point actions will be carried out in their name, we may lose them. Finally, when they have been silenced by the underworld's unprovable powers, then it will be up to the world's artists to render what fueled their flame.
on Thursday, September 20th, jose said
Brad, the situation you describe is Universal, alas. I don't think you have offended anyone with what you wrote, I could express the same about politics and things in general in my country - shortsightednes and personal gain rule. The french have a saying: après moi le déluge - roughly translated, may the floods come after me... I dont' give a $*#>!!! I would like to believe that artists will play a role in building a new Ark... but like Andrew I've been looking, but where do you find them?
on Wednesday, September 19th, Brad Michael Moore said
Andrew,
It started with the Big Smear Machine that the Republicans created to to cripple the Clinton Presidency, and then later, John Kerry in the 2000 Election. Since Bush became President, again, in 2004, there began an effort to keep any registered Democrat from attending any Bush speech. Today, your normal American can not see any Bush speech - unless fully vetted, and then invited personally - with a special pass in hand. Recently, it is said Hillary Clinton has also begun vetting attendees to her speeches to a smaller degree. Then we have the assholes like that self-serving dude yesterday, who broke into the front on the line at a John Kerry speech in Florida - not to state a question - but to scream a diatribe. He then resisted arrest, cried like a spoiled baby, and made sure his girlfriend got it all on tape - for the whole disturbance was orchestrated. Jerks like that don't help the freedoms and rights of the citizens to gather in a public place to hear our representatives speak. Meanwhile, another Anti-Syrian Lebanese politician was killed today by a car bomb in Lebanon. Fact there is, that so many Anti-Syrian Lebanese politicians have been killed this last decade that, one more killed will shift the balance of Anti-Syrian Lebanese politicians in the Lebanese Government - a government George Bush supports. It seems world-wide - all who support Bush's Policies are now in jeopardy of their positions and-or their lives. This is what great Anti-leaders like Bush create in our world. Americans suffer, friends of Americans suffer. The rich keep getting richer. The American CEO's keep moving to Dubai, as will many ex-American politicians and lobbyists, after January, 2009. With all the religious and political fanaticism being expressed now - where will our greatest leaders come from - and if they come - can we keep them alive? I'll tell you Andrew, its reason to worry. The Religious Right, for the most part, will not support the causes of Al Gore - not because he was a Democrat - but because they don't want to interfere with the "End of Days." Only a few, have denounced this folly and have spoken for support to save our planet. Grassroots movements are as important as ever in the times... Artists, we have our duty as well - to each, their own design... Sincerely,
on Wednesday, September 19th, Andrew said
Brad, it's good to hear you say we don't have any worthy leaders today. That's something I've been feeling for a long time, as I continue a search in vain for an exceptional artist. It's certainly pale times we live in, for the arts, for politics, and for ethics.
on Monday, September 17th, Brad Michael Moore said
Margaret,
Got it - thanks! Maybe this is the one Lynda was speaking of. Sincerely
on Monday, September 17th, Margaret Stone said
Brad, I just sent something and it didn't go through. It is from a twice-weekly email from Robert Genn called Painters Keys. It was regarding some studies on dimentia and its affects on creative output. I'll try again. Copy paste:
clicks.robertgenn.com/paint-out.php
on Monday, September 17th, Brad Michael Moore said
Jose’,
It is nice to read your thought concerning this and your recent experiences. While there is no history, yet, in my family, of Alzheimer’s, the occurrence of this disease has raised dramatically these past few decades. It is the same as Obesity, Diabetes, and Down Syndrome - which now occurs in, at least, one out of every 733 live births... I can’t help but think Mankind’s Industrial Revolution has somehow always been slowly poisoning us every since it's begining. The teeming amounts of preservatives corporations put in processed foods to make them, “Look Good,” for consumers. Soft drinks, fast food at every corner, burning coal & oil in our atmosphere, add to the damage being done to our oceans and fresh water. Soon enough (once Greenland has melted), no water on the planet will be drinkable without treatment.
I’m heart-filled with admiration for the burden you took on with your father. No matter what we do as, “Care-Takers,” for our loved ones, we will never feel like we did enough, nor will we often take as good care of ourselves. To borrow a phrase from Hillary Clinton, “It takes a Village.”
I so agree with your thought, Jose’ that,
“As children we are mostly in the Here and Now. I continue to believe that childhood is one of our most creative periods in life unless of course we are fortunate to ‘wake up’ again many years later and find ourselves to be living the life of artists.”
Sometimes I think I’ve never grown up, and never will. My mom asked me last night if I think of the future? I could only answer, “No, I am only thinking about today – the future is too uncertain right now.” I am no leader, however, if this world is going to escape the abyss – we must find our heroes again, and people must learn the roles of leadership again. Otherwise, people more tyrannical and fanatical will continue to rule the rain of ruination upon this world – and no individual’s problems will be addressable anymore. The last time mankind was so lost, out of the forests came Jesus, Mohammad, and all the other legendary figures mankind came to depend upon to for imagination instead using his own - to paint his future, and that of his his family, and his neighbors. Since the days of Moses, humans have felt the need of other’s guidelines to live their lives instead of realizing the gift of life allows us to survive by our own clarity of vision – in the animal world, the clarity is called instinct… Somewhere through history, we gave up on that god-given gift in the belief we could improve upon it with our reason – however, we didn’t consider we’d come to face the creation of the church that told us we are all sufferers of the Seven Great Sins: Luxuria (extravagance, later lust), Gula (gluttony), Avaritia (greed), Acedia (sloth), Ira (wrath, more commonly known as anger), Invidia (envy), and Superbia (pride).
Instead, if we had been taught to believe we were the vessels only of the Seven Great Virtues: chastity, abstinence, temperance, diligence, patience, kindness, and humility. How differently we may have turned out. I think it’s interesting about how Christians are taught to believe that Jesus will arise again. This is a common theme amongst many organized religion. However, How can we ever have great leaders rise again if they must come in the form of Jesus, John Smith, or Mohammad – or even – (you fill in the blank). I don’t mean to offend anyone over their beliefs, and I hope they won't mean to offend me over my own... You know, I guess people die over less than what I have said here, I believe I can be happy we still have some few of our civil liberties intact here, in America.
On any note, Jose’, I hope I am only suffering from stress, so I can get back to my art – for it relieves stress as well as anything I know that I can do by myself…:)
on Monday, September 17th, Brad Michael Moore said
Mark,
Thanks for standing up and being counted - even if circumstances seem not to touch you. That shows self awareness, and that you are a less likely the type of person to be caught flat-footed should an unforeseen situation present it's self. Thanks for your comment. Sincerely,
on Monday, September 17th, josé said
Brad, I’ve been trying to get this to you privately but it gets sent back so I guess that means I am meant to post it. Hold in there my friend and focus on the joyous moments you can still feel and live them to the fullest! My delay in joining in and responding to you is due to have been helping out at the Dalai Lama’s teachings in Portugal this past week. This time I was not able to sit and listen, I had to focus on maintaining a propitious environment for the audience, but now and then I was able to catch a glimpse of him swaying to and fro and gazing at us like an inquisitive child or hear a part of his reasoning. I’m not going to proselytise but, like he said himself, most of what he was saying was not religious in nature, it was common to all sentient beings, and so maybe some of what I heard may come out.
I too have been worrying about memory loss. My grand dad succumbed to Alzheimer’s and I was the first one to spot it. I drove over to his place one day to pick him up for our weekly Sunday lunch and was shocked to find him sitting naked on the bed insisting on putting his tie on before his shirt. It was all very sudden but it dragged on for years. To this day I still don’t know whether the loss of memory was more painful to him or to those of us who cared for him. I also ask myself if we who took care of him were not the ones who brought in more stress and suffering into his life through our constant worries. 15 years later my mother started to reveal the same symptoms. I won’t go on about that, I’ll just add that my brother who took care of her while we were away in the East insists that she was happy – confused, but happy. She played Bridge with her regular friends well into an advanced stage before passing away due to other complications. There was less and less memory yet there was joy in those moments where it was to be had. And so again I ask myself, what is memory worth?
If we accept the responsibility of caring for our loved ones – something scarcer to find these days – why must we insist that they remember? Why must the quality of the memory they have of us be a prerequisite for the love and care we give back? Could it be that we are the ones with a problem: the ones who feel left out or loved less because our loved ones no longer have access to the data base.
On one of the occasions when I managed to listen to the teachings I recall him saying that memory sometimes gets in the way of our generating happiness for ourselves [and for others]: In our minds we either get caught up in worries and tragic situations of our past or we contemplate and hypothesise about what we would like our future to be like - neither of them are present any more/yet. Either way – past or future - we are no longer Here, we are no longer Now.
There’s a period in childhood where the future is still too distant to dream about and we are still too busy living and collecting the memories that will take us through adolescence and into adulthood. As children we are mostly in the Here and Now. I continue to believe that childhood is one of our most creative periods in life unless of course we are fortunate to ‘wake up’ again many years later and find ourselves to be living the life of artists. I think you have already said it all when you wrote bellow: «How much wonder it is - that the creative power is often the last process to go with many afflicted by Alzheimer’s! Perhaps our powers of creativity are the links most closely tied to our souls, our spirits. »
I Couldn’t agree more. I’m hoping, however, that what you are experiencing now is merely stress-related, nothing that a good rest and focus on your breath and the ‘child’ within you won’t help to strengthen again. All the best to you. [sorry this took so long]
on Monday, September 17th, Mark said
I feel inadequate to reply to this post as at the age of 54 I have not experienced what some of you speake of, tho I do know a little about depression. So I will here, wish you all the best and I am inspired by your fortitude and courage and hope that in the future, some kind of condition will not prevent me from painting. Thanks all for the insperation.
on Sunday, September 16th, Brad Michael Moore said
Chris,
Life is indeed a gift, and what we make of existence is in celebration of it - least we refuse our ticket to ride. I lost a slew of loved ones, family and closest of friends, during the confronting and primary portion of this decade. I'm still whittling along and talking to myself more and more. I miss their comfort. It's hard to replace history made with now-lost company, and begin a new page drawing from the wisdom gained from such losses – and those lives before. Living has grow to be like an old tree, whose branches become so heavy - they finally grow to touch the ground. I do not have the heart to trim them back. They obscure my view – but at the same time, they protect me from oncoming elements of nature's might. One thing I do remember was a night about three years ago. Walking with a rising new moon’s faint light behind me, I was looking westward when two falling meteors simultaneously flared in perfectly opposing angles, of about 45 degrees each, to create a faultless sparkling and flaming X in the night sky! It lasted all of several seconds... I looked at the spot that had, for an instant, been the point where the two lines of fire had crossed. I nearly expected the universe to come spilling out of some fabric torn from the existence of all creation. What I was left with though, again, was the Milky Way's treasures given freely to folk who live so far from city lights. It was better than even the, "Marfa lights." I guess, if these things I can remember, and people’s names I'll forget – they will just have to settle for a story. I will try to recapture that moment peering into the sky - and render it upon paper the very first opportunity I find that I can. In the meanwhile, may my broken leg heal.
Sincerely,
on Sunday, September 16th, Chris said
Hi Brad,
A friend of mine once said that someone she knew was bi-polar and led a pretty normal life working in finance. What's the matter with you, he's doing ok, I heard. My response was that all broken legs don't break in the same place. The illness has many degrees.
I've mostly gone through life accepting "it" as a gift. Yes I see what others can't. Yes I think of what others can't. And yes, a lot of my art is not accepted or understood. Luckily, some of it is. It's all I have done for over 20 years. I've always felt that I've been chosen for this life and it is my duty to bring to people what has never been seen or thought.
Your blog touched a nerve with us non-emerging artists. For me it made me think of life past that 51 year life expectancy of bi-polars. I have no idea what "retirement" is. I've always thought that retirement was when they closed the lid. I just can't fathom being inside a body that can not work. Perhaps there is comfort in that 51.
Your neice's creativity will only be affected in the beginning. She'll get used to it after a few months. The creativity will prosper once again and the bad stuff will be better managed.
on Saturday, September 15th, Brad Michael Moore said
To Chris, again,
Chris,
I browsed you pages here at AA before I began to write you again. Thank you for your sincere statement. You have some really unique sculpture and vision. Are your works connected to your dreams - or daytime visions? You must have refined welding skills - and like most who sculpt - a special kind of tenacity. I wanted to talk a bit about my relative who was told she was Bi-polar. Symptoms: She, herself, says she began having hallucinations maybe at the age of 6 or 7. I had hallucinations in my mid-teens to early 20's - although far apart and disconnected. She loves to write and draw all night and sleep all day. I will sit and work 8 to 12 hours at a spell - I have tended to stay up till the near break of day all my life... But, I also took jobs in my life, when necessary, and could reform my habits to meet the needs of the position - be it a 12 hour all night shift - working 7 out of every 14 days, or getting up every morning at 5:30am & off by 3:30pm. When not constrained - my clock goes back to non-conventional. My niece has been prone to family violence - hitting her parents, wreaking the house, but she would never hurt an animal, & collects them off the street. She's beautiful, makes bad decisions, has been raped, and has very low self-esteem. She writes poetry and is suppose to take Lithium to control the fits that, I think, are built from the frustration that no one seems to truly understand her. She won't take the Lithium because it affects her creativity. Does any of this sound familiar to you? Sincerely,
Brad
P.S. I was uncertain as to if I should send this as a personal email - and, please, feel free to respond by personal email, if you wish. As I reread it, I see that there may be facts important to bring to this already very open blog that might explain something about the road that brings some artists to their careers. I also realize other artists may become so by simply being curious people who educate themselves one way or another to more fully explore the nature of their curiosity. There is no certain path to being a great artist. So many outside influences also may come into play that can hand an artist a pedestal. Sometimes their work needs nothing else - but to be seen.
on Friday, September 14th, Brad Michael Moore said
Lucy,
You sound like such a brave person. I am one of the 50 plus million Americans who are uninsured. I can afford it – the insurance industry won’t sell it to me – Too old, too much medical history they can bury me with, and finally, no backbone in Washington D.C. I hear time and again that creativity holds on to us the longest – if we keep our eyes open to the possibilities life offers us in life. I am glad you found me and I will keep you in my thoughts. I have started to go to the wrong town for a day trip, and am constantly forgetting my wallet. Since the nearest town to me is 20 miles away – it is very annoying to me to have to return home and make a 40 mile round-trip into an eighty mile round trip. Still, people do these things all the time; I am not alone in this. It also seems that our nation is so badly torn asunder these past 15 years or so – I’m surprised we all haven’t driven off the cliff. I do hope, Lucy, that you may find an answer and a switchback, or a turn-around to reverse your issues that consume your energy. I’m glad you have a cat, and have had a liking to explore caves – that is one part of nature I have mostly avoided in my life – though it always found my curiosity. Sincerely,
on Friday, September 14th, Brad Michael Moore said
Chris,
Don’t let it haunt you – because that gives someone else control over you. You will define your future – not some study of averages. It seems there are always no shortage of studies that end up debunking the studies before them. While I have read recently that the dramatic rise in Bi-polar diagnoses is in part because of mis-diagnoses – the real downside is medicating people for conditions they don’t have, and therefore creating more suffering for taking meds they didn’t need. There has been a diagnosis of Bi-polar in my extended family and that child; now an adult, swears her meds were so much worse than her condition without them. Some others disagree. I also hear that people with Bi-polar learn in time to survive well enough on their own – especially when they grow into a lifestyle that suits their idiosyncrasies. How many people go through their whole lifetime with such conditions never being identified. Living life one day at a time seems to be the best medicine for me presently. I wish you well and long life. Sincerely,
on Friday, September 14th, Brad Michael Moore said
Andrew,
I can say, it is in the details that my recent shortcomings arise. 26 days have passed between the time I wrote this piece and it’s being published. In that time, I haven’t had any major foul-ups – but, I forget what I’m doing sometimes when I get out of my chair to go and, “do it,” and I have had several people I know speak to me in public places I couldn’t recognize – people I know, but not cherished friends. I’m glad to hear a little about your creative process and that sometimes it is never over until it is. Lingering ideas almost always delay leaving for they have their purpose awaiting our discovery. I can still write fine. In my grandmother’s last weeks of her life – you could talk to her for hours on the phone, and she seemed so well and firmly a ‘hold of her circumstances. However, she was barely capable of doing anything else – and you had to visit her to realize the depth of her failing state of affairs. However, she was 93 years old. Thank you for your well wishes. I continue to gauge my issues now that I know what I’m seeking to grasp. Sincerely,
on Friday, September 14th, lucy said
Dear Brad, My bithday was Sept 3....I am now 55 as well. I know your fear all too well. Today I got lost driving to the same hosptial I've gone to for 25 years. I got lost in the hosptial as well. I am a bit sick so I have been tested for everything. I try not to worry. But when I found your writing (I forget words too.) I hope your loss can be halted. What can you do but put a good face on it and comfort others. I also feared I would not be able to paint anymore, or for that manner write. Those things seem to be all I can remember. I sit down and start to paint and am happy with what I see. I no longer write for the newspaper but I still do fiction. I recomend it to you as well because we may not remeber to eat but writing helps. I am trying very hard to put things together in my brain hopeing that will help. I was looking for art materials and found this. I saw your heading and my mouth dropped open. Someone very like myself with the same problem at the same age might know something that will h elp. I spend a lot of time in the MRI. Good thing I love caves. Please if you ever get the chance, let me know how you are doing and what you are doing. My prayers for you, Lucy. (Forgot how to spell also, my address, my name and it goes on...but I never forget my cat. )
on Friday, September 14th, Chris Mohler said
The average U.S. life expectancy of someone with bi-polar disorder (manic depression, the genius disease).... is 51. I just saw the report 3 months ago. With just a few years before reaching that figure, I wonder if I'll get a chance to get old. No sense worrying about retirement. This haunts me daily.
on Friday, September 14th, Andrew said
Brad, sometimes it takes me years to complete a piece, and those are my best ones. During that time, I run through a stream of ideas about what I'm going to do to the piece, and most of those are never addressed. By the time it's done, it is something very different from what I started out to do, and often better just because of that process. Almost like it had gone through the same kinds of changes we all have gone through. I am, like Walt, a kind of absent minded professor, and that often leads to the amusement of my apprentices, to whom I often leave the 'details' of running my daily life. It's only here on AA when I write, that most of each of the items lead to the next one on the list. Your blog read clearly, and concisely, and ran all the way through to a nice conclusion.
None of us know what tomorrow's going to be like. I just try to do what I can with today, and I wish you all the wherewithall to do the same you need.
on Friday, September 14th, Brad Michael Moore said
Ellen,
How wonderful a tale, and how brave and inspirational a person your mother was! It has to be an enormous source of strength for you - and a grand lesson to us all. Thanks for your consideration to share this truth with us. Sincerely,
on Friday, September 14th, Ellen said
Brad, This is a tough one to respond to. I think many artists are afraid of not being able to finish what they start. Doubting skill, talent, vision are a few of the night terrors that keep me on edge 24/7. But illness, physical or mental obsticles must be horrorific. I've coped with minor physical problems like Rayner's Syndrome: an ailment of the nerveous/vascular systems, and such, but nothing like what you're going through. However, you keep creating!
My Mother was a poet. In 1980 she was diagnosed with Parkinson's and given 5 years to live. She passed away, out living my Dad and Brother, three years ago. The disease was very degenerative, but she wrote prolifically even when Parkinson's played with her mind. Her older sister had Alzheimer's and her oldest sister had Diffuse Louie Syndrome: a cross between Parkinson's and Alzheimer's. Two weeks before my Mom died at 84, she was taking a computer lesson. Shortly before that, she wrote this ditty: Tune:My Country 'tis of Thee
Parkin's 'tis of thee/ ailment of misery/ for thee I fall. Tremors I cannot hide/ scars from knocks characterize/ Sinemet my dopa prize/ I'm having a ball.
I don't know how this tale can help, but my Mom proved the medical community wrong by almost 30 years with grace and stlye. I admire your strength and courage, Brad.
I wish you all the best, Ellen
on Thursday, September 13th, Lynda Lehmann said
Brad and Margaret,
That article to which Margaret refers was Robert Genn's, in his Painter's Keys newletter, I think. I'm sure it's still archived on the site, and I'll post the link if I find it.
May we all have the health and wherewithal to continue to create!
Lynda
on Thursday, September 13th, Brad Michael Moore said
Thanks Margaret,
BTW, I am always thinking about your cast glass works.
How much wonder it is - that the creative power is often the last process to go with many afflicted by Alzheimer’s! Perhaps our powers of creativity are the links most closely tied to our souls, our spirits. Thank you for your thoughts. Sincerely,
on Thursday, September 13th, Brad Michael Moore said
Craig,
My mother developed a hole in the retina of one of her eyes – apparently without known cause. I commend you in your continued effort in art making, despite the roadblocks you have encountered. Working in 3-D is especially demanding. Best wishes in your continuing journey. Thanks for your comments. Sincerely,
on Thursday, September 13th, Brad Michael Moore said
Walt,
I envy your steady habit with your sketchbook. I often take copious notes of my ideas and dreams – and then I try to keep them somewhere to go back to. Sometimes, I discover an idea from years ago that finally finds new fuel to burn on into something novel. I can’t say I wasn’t a stout breeze through the Age of Aquarius, and that I didn’t spent a lot of energy in those days. So much inspiration was also seeded from those times of the late 60’s. I’ve had creative lapses before, but not loss of memory, or, learning of transacting events beyond my recall. It is good to hear others speak of their experiences, that moves my own personal point of reference beyond where it stood this morning. Sincerely,
on Thursday, September 13th, Brad Michael Moore said
Lynda,
I hope my answer is something as simple as nature. Thank you for your comments...I have considered you and wondered over your processes before – the way you engage your career is very strong-minded! I wish you well, and continued improved health as you approach your, “Five Year Survivor’s Anniversary.” Sincerely,
on Thursday, September 13th, Margaret said
I have read articles about the creative process and aging. And I wish I could remember where so I could pass on the links, but what they say is that visual creative expression is the last to go in the sense that people with advanced alzeimers and with senility who can't even remember the names of their families, can still create images sometimes more powerful that they had before. If I see those again, good viable research, I'll post them here.
Be of good cheer!!!!!!!
on Thursday, September 13th, Craig Royal said
Brad,
As a sculptor with vision loss (optic atrophy) I have a sense of where you're at. The artwork you posted with this blog looks similar to my visual reality. I've been legally blind since birth. In 1992 blindspots developed in both eyes in the center of the visual field which appear as a white light. My peripheral aquity went from 20/200 to 20/400.
I'm approaching 50 and create art at a snails pace. You adapt to what is.
Keep on keep'n on!
on Thursday, September 13th, walt said
brad,
I often fear I will loose my memory...I often do loose it for short periods...I worry about alzheimers...was the drugs in the 60's and early 70's finally having their revenge? But then I remember that my mother always called me the "absent minded professor" when I was young. How prophetic she was. I just have too many ideas all at once to accomplish all of them...sometimes they bump into each other, meld, stiched together and become one. Other times the bigger, boldest-- although not always the best-- bullies it's way to the fore knocking the other more fragile and possible better idea out of my mind altogether. That's why I keep sketch books...to remember. If I manage to bump one of the fragile ones into the book it'll be there later when I think about it.
on Thursday, September 13th, Lynda Lehmann said
Brad, I think it's part of our aging process to go through all kinds of subtle and not-so-subtle changes in our physiology. And it can be frightening to feel our skills and perceptual apparatus stall or shift into a lower gear. Having had breast cancer four years ago and at the same time, rapid-onset and exteme menopausal distress from the tamoxifen I was taking, I can certainly relate. I was terrified, felt separated from life, and it seemed I felt the breath of the Reaper on my shoulders. Now, four years later, the Reaper has moved off a bit, and I again hold some hope of a "normal" life span.
I hope you will find that your memory loss is temporary and perhaps due to stressors, and nothing more. For me, throwing myself with my heart and soul into the creativ process--painting, photography, and writing--is the only thing that keeps me engaged enough to thrive on life and not contemplate loss and death.
I wish you health and peace of mind, and lots of creative bliss....
Recently, I've been dealing with short-term memory loss issues. Presently, the prognosis is cloudy, possible causes; maintenance medication, stress, genetics, or another unknown circumstances yet to be discovered. How fragile we are...
