Chalcatzingo (Mexico)

* an ongoing series of quotations – mostly from artists, to artists – that offers wisdom, inspiration, and advice for the sometimes lonely road we are on.

The times in between things are always very hard for me, and there have been times when I felt that I’d never have an idea again, or that I’ve explored everything that I possibly can because as the years go on you have the backpack of your history.  How do I find something new to work with?  I read a beautiful book by Mable Dodge Luhan, who lived in New Mexico and started Ghost Ranch in the 1920s.  She married a Native American, Tony Luhan, who lived in the Taos pueblo.  She said that she noticed in the pueblo that in the winter everybody had very soft moccasins and they tiptoed around.  They hardly talked at all and it was very, very quiet.  She asked why they did that, and they said, “Mother Earth needs to rest.  We are making it so that Mother Earth can rest so that in spring she can come forth.”  I felt that that was so comforting; to actually nurture those times where it seems so empty, to have faith that something will happen if you savor those times, not try to push against them or fight them.    

Meredith Monk quoted in Conversations with Anne:  Twenty-four Interviews, by Anne Bogart

Comments are welcome!