What I'm Doing and Why I'm Doing It

I'm an artist. I drew from a very young age. When I was older, I wrote. In high school, I went to an arts school and became a musician. I was intensely passionate about music--to the point where, even though my area of technical expertise was with the flute and piano, I also took on the cello, viola, violin, and for a short period, the clarinet. If there's one thing I heard, over and over, as I pursued this path, it was: "Jack of all trades, master of none."

Is there some validity to this? Is it true that when we funnel all of our efforts into one area, we're more likely to become proficient at it?

Sure.

But is that all there is? What if you're passionate about lots of things? What if that's just how you're built? And what if being "the best" at something isn't what you're after, anyway?

Starting January 1, I'm letting go of my steady, safe, benefits-laden teaching job (at least for a few months) and I'm pursuing writing, art, photography, and life coaching. If you want to get more information on the things I've already done with these areas, check out http://www.kateswoboda.com and http://www.healgrowcreate.com

Otherwise, this web space will be my home for exploring three different mediums: art, writing, and photography. I'm intending it as a space where I can, essentially, make lots of "bad art." I've brainstormed a list of themes, completely at random. Some of the themes are highly visual, others are highly open to interpretation. Each week, I will focus on one particular theme, and within that theme I will create three works of art across three mediums: art (painting/sketch/mixed media collage/something visual), photography, and writing.

This place will be a playground of sorts to post the results of that work, this experiment in working across mediums. My hypothesis is that a year from now, I will have stretched myself as a creative person within all of those mediums and that my skills will increase within each medium because of the benefit of exploring a subject through more than one medium.

I hope what I just wrote made sense!

The biggest fear-factor here is that I might not create good art. So, disclaimer. If you visit again, be forewarned that I'm preparing to post some real duds. It's part of giving myself permission to create without censure or worry that what I've done might not be "good enough." It's going to be an exercise in not taking my art (or myself!) so darned seriously. It's an exercise in focusing on process, not product.