Letters in Space

One of the highlights of the year, creatively speaking, in Bristol is when Spike Island has its Open weekend.
Spike is an old tea factory that got turned into artists’ studios. Some truly amazing people work in that building, like Richard Hames and John de Mearns. This year we took the Youngster along, and he absolutely loved looking at all the amazing works of art on display.
And me?
Yep, I loved it too.
And yet…
I have to confess it also left me feeling, frankly, a little down. A bit creatively frustrated, I guess.
The clincher came when one of the artists told us that he loved his job, and couldn’t think of anything he’d rather do. He loves coming to work each day.
Wow.
I came away from the day wondering about my relationship to that sort of statement. Don’t get me wrong: I love teaching Alexander technique. I really do love my job. It gives me great joy to see students expanding their horizons.
So why do I feel so envious of that artist? What am I missing in my life?
Hm.
It leads me to think that , though FM Alexander said that teachers of his work should have “the eye of an artist”, sometimes one needs to do more than teach to satisfy that eye. And when, as I believe, doing Alexander’s work actually enhances your creativity, it seems logical that it would become necessary to explore other creative outlets.
So I now have an interesting problem to ponder. How am I going to deal with this creative frustration?