how long is a lifetime?

while skipping through some old links, i re-discovered the joy of olive riley's blog. she's the oldest blogger, so good that she
has a series of assistants who help her out. 107 and still blogging. that's pretty impressive.

http://www.allaboutolive.com.au/
http://worldsoldestblogger.blogspot.com/


and then my latest edition of parkett arrived in the mail, featuring louise bourgeois - 97 and still in the studio, continuing to make amazing works (new works focusing largely on the colour red. what a great idea), pushing the gender button, pushing emotional buttons, pushing herself when she could easily sit back, have a cup of tea, gloat and we'd all forgive her.

both of these got me thinking about longevity and depth. and persistence. as an artist, i persist. i continue to push myself, focus on what i do, strive for the little victories i aim for, aim to be better, more polished, clearer in what i'm communicating and more accomplished in how i say it. i know that i will never retire from this gig and people like louise, olive, rosalie and a bunch of other creative women which will keep me going through it.

unfortunately, this trajectory of mine isn't quite so obvious on paper. i was having a discussion about my career/life/work history with an older woman the other day and she brought up the fact that i'm 'all over the place' - melbourne, sydney, wollongong, melbourne; set design, freelance, full-time, pro-bono; comms, admin, project.

when she put it like that, i could see that perhaps i seem a bit erratic. and maybe i am. but what's not on paper is an artistic practice which underlines everything and which all of my paid/gainful employment supplements. i'm also of the generation that believes that a variety of skills and experiences are important [and transferrable]: well-rounded employment experience, as opposed to my stepfather's generation which had a job, or at least industry, for life. add to that the usual rhetoric about artists always having to have 'day' jobs to supplement the real work, and you have a very 'interesting' looking background.

i could get insecure about my unusual career moves and the variety of my experienc. but reading about the lives and careers of the ones that stick around - olive, louise - and others who i admire - tracey, rachael, marcel, joseph, ai wei - i'm reminded that being engaged, interested, open and focused-but-not-rigid, is the key to longevity and depth.