What’s Old is New

Browsing the front area of the library is one of my favorite pastimes. At my local library when you come in through the front door, there are two short bookshelves that meet you. They draw your spirit and your eye into the space. To the left, fiction, to the right, non-fiction. Loosely grouped in a way that probably makes sense to the librarians, but not to the typical patron, some lucky books get pulled to adorn the top of the case; silently calling “pick me! Pick me!” to the meandering passerby. Many of them are adorned with a shiny red sticker with white lettering announcing “NEW!” I’ve come to realize that in my favorite area of the library “NEW!” is relative. In our binary-laden language and US-based culture new cannot exist without old. But what can we uncover if we pay attention to how the parameters of new and old are constantly in flux, under negotiation? Yes, the book is “NEW!” to the library, but that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s new to the world. The scholarly trained part of me exclaimed “Alice Walker has a new book?” as I quickly thumbed past the cover of The Chicken Chronicles to reveal the cover page noting it was published in 2012. I wondered if my eyes inverted some of the numbers misreading it as 2021 instead. But when I refocused and read the line again, I clearly saw that it was not a book released one year ago, but rather a decade ago. Hmmmm… curious.

“Same ol, same ol” is the common refrain on the infrequent calls I make to my mama. Her response follows the opening of the conversation greetings: “how are you doing?” “Oh, same ol, same ol.” I love the poetry of that. The Kansas of that. The country of it. The phrase somehow drags out the two letters, the one syllable, transposing it into a longer count beat. And while the phrase brings me comfort, it’s rather non-descriptive and it begs the question, is anything ever the same old situation? Technically every day is new, but is it really new if you just do the same things over and over?

Novelty is an important part of the creative practice. A lot of sectors explore this concept in their research and best practices. So as not to bore the reader who did not come here for the lit review, suffice to say a quick internet search, or a more informed library database search, will bring you up to speed on the scholarly thinking on the link between novelty and creativity. You can find articles from arts based problem-solving to engineering invention to business leadership on how important new boxes are needed to “think outside of it.” Novelty has been difficult for me to come by lately, I’m in a bit of the “same ol,” rut. I’m also feeling a bit dimmed in this seasonal change, the sensation in my body is that I’m barely here, thin. See through. Ghostly. Fall is officially here, and the trees are significantly late in changing colors because of the unusually warm temperatures. So every day I’ve started this practice of reminding myself that while the familiar change in seasons is happening all around me, it is manifesting in a new way. These exact leaves changing on the birch and aspens lining our driveway have never turned yellow before. The sumac blaze set against the amber tinted tall grasses have never looked exactly like this formation, even as its’ eerily similar to years past. I’m certain my brain wants to veer toward familiar because then it’s not as scary for my nervous system to handle. Breaking out in a sweat when I have to do something new should be minimized at home. And so I’m soothed, these landscape changes are actually the "same ol."

I reflect a lot about the past in our present. Have spent a lot of time studying it, writing about it, painting it. And certainly with the current landscape we find ourselves re-litigating social agreements we once thought had been settled. But I don’t want to write about fascism today. I want to dream about new things, not just re-live a more terrifying version of what I’ve read in the history books. I want to follow Octavia Butler’s wisdom and seek new suns instead of bemoaning the lack of new ideas under this one. I want to be a change agent, a force for good, someone who carries the past with them, but is open to new roads ahead.

Uniformity and precision don’t always align with newness, though old things tend to carry the weight of time. I question how there is something old in the ways of even stitches on a handmade quilt top I started this week. Something new in the rustle of the wind. Ever since I wrote the word novelty down I can’t stop thinking about ice cream. Ice cream novelties sounds so old fashioned. Out of fashion. Though ice cream is timeless. Until, you learn the hard way that you can’t digest lactose. Are you worried I’m all over the place? Free associating? Don’t be. Poets put words together in new ways through old forms. And just like them, I’m trying something new. Piecing old and new beside each other, stitched together and splayed open, the building blocks of a different way of being. Like the audacious library sticker announcing a decade-old “new” book. I’m integrating the old and the new, same ol, same ol.

What I’m Reading

Mean by Myriam Gurba

I first learned of Gurba’s work via twitter and have long been a fan of her direct and courageous writing. Her brazenness inspires and challenges me. In Mean, a collection of coming of age tales that reviewers have noted are as comedic as they are intense, I am still waiting for the funny parts. I’m surprised by Gurba’s words, they make me think. “Niceness is social justice,” has been sitting with me as I work my way through the collection. As has: “Mean is good too. Being mean makes us feel alive. It’s fun and exciting. Sometimes it keeps us alive.” It’s destabilizing what I’ve come to believe is true about meanness. About how all of us probably have it in us and the way it peeks out now and again. How there is power in it, and what might it mean to wield it. Gurba’s writing style is satisfying to my current mood. It feels good to try on meanness with her, to really think about what mean could mean. Perhaps that’s the comedic aspect I haven’t yet been able to see, because so much of my socialization has been about being nice, palatable, quiet, good, respectful, deferring, demure and so much of me constantly bucks against these impulses. As per usual, this is a book I would assign if I were in a classroom. It begs for a community to digest it together.

Artist Offerings

• So excited to see the increasing discourse on fabric arts and particularly feminist embroidery!
• Inspired by this interview with Dallas Goldtooth on joy and liberation especially in light of thoroughly enjoying the second season of Reservation Dogs recently
• If I was in Las Vegas I would be checking out this show Two Cultures, One Family: Building Family, Finding Home curated by Dr. Erika Abad - I am super inspired by this accompanying library guide - we need more of these connected to art shows!
• Pancho as substrate intrigues me, as does the work of Carolyn Castaño highlighted in this LA Times Article
• I enjoyed learning more about the National Parks Service and Mellon Foundation Humanities Fellowship engaging with art and public history
• Bringing together paint with other materials (like plastic bags) I am finding insight into these bodied paintings currently up in Santa Fe by Camille Hoffman which I learned of through this hyperallergic article.

Creative Ritual

Tomorrow is the last opportunity to see Roots at Kaddatz Galleries! I can’t believe the show has had its run. Don’t worry, the paintings are still in the world, heading to Missouri next, and I have some plans in the works to circulate the beauties further. I will, of course, let you know of their whereabouts as they travel. I’ve started working on a commission, waiting for each layer of oil to dry is fun! And by fun, I mean different. Makes me want to get back into my acrylics! Ahhh the life of meandering. I've been putting my sewing machine through various paces. I editioned the 2022 exclusive print for my Ko-Fi monthly sustainers, once this oil ink dries I’ll be sending them out. I’m keeping the design a secret until it hits my sustainer’s mailboxes, but if you’d like to be in on the exclusive art of KCF, just click on the previous link, become a monthly sustainer at any amount and one will be headed your way! Lastly, I received some good news this week - I was accepted to the Jentel Artist Residency for next year's winter session! I'm going to knock out some paintings in Wyoming, shout out to their staff for the quickest turnaround I've ever had on an application! What a life! Grateful!

Questions to ponder

What’s new?
What’s old?
What binary do you need to bust today?

Thanks for journeying with me. I hope, as always, that you take what you need and leave the rest for someone else, or for another time. 

-KCF