The Billion Possibilities

Last day of my Abstract Sculpture class at the MFA and a fine conversation with my friend Renato Riccioni. Renato is an outstanding instructor, a sensitive and persuasive critic. During our parting conversation we touched on many topics. One that stands out fore the most are his comments on perception.

We all perceive different things in a room, in a work of art, in a landscape, in a relationship. Renato stressed in our convo the way we make decisions based on those perceptions and our responses to them. How we decide to focus our lives, our work, our creative energies depends on those responses.

We are used to seeing things, and problem solving, within a narrow spectrum of perception. Often, perhaps too often, we hold into things for the sake of holding in. Not letting go preserves some sense of security, continuity, or status but it may lead us to being blind to change.

The world changes and we change. Allowing ourselves to acknowledge change and move through it permits us to be open to what comes. Instead of defending some ambiguous mental turf, being open to change challenges us to engage the world for what it is. In this way we can evolve more as artists, scientists, or whatever we pursue.