Inspiration with Julie Taymor

Sometimes I hit dry spells in my creative life.  I fall into a kind of darkness and dis-inspiration and when I have those moments, I turn to experiences that inspire me.  It could be a favorite book (I just finished Neil Gaiman's American Gods for the 2nd time), it could be going to see an incredible exhibit (most recently, Pricked: Extreme Embroidery at the Museum of Arts & Design in New York City), or re-watching a favorite film, which is what I want to go into detail in this post.

"Count your Blessings" by Tilleke Schwarz
as seen in "Pricked" show at MAD 

 I had to do a mass mailing of fliers for my new Dream Group Series (yes, the old fashioned paper in an envelope with a stamp way!) and while I stamped and folded, I re-watched one of my favorite movies, Frida, which was directed by Julie Taymor.

The last time I watched it, I didn't have time to explore the 2nd disc of bonus features, so today, as I continued with my little creative assembly line, I watched many of the bonus features, which included a very touching interview with Julie Taymor and Bill Moyers, the reporter and friend of Joseph Campbell .  I have just discovered that you can read the whole interview right here!

Julie Taymor is an incredibly inspiring artist to me (as is Frida Kahlo!) and listening to her describe the moment she realized what being an artist really means is so powerful, I am going to share that quote with you here:

I went to Bali to a remote village by a volcanic mountain on the lake.
They were having a ceremony that only happens only every 10 years for the young men.

I wanted to be alone.

I was listening to this music and all of a sudden out of the darkness I
could see glints of mirrors and 30 or 40 old men in full warrior
costume - there was nobody in this village square.
I was alone.
They couldn't see me in the shadows.
They came out with these spears and they started to dance. And they did, I don't know, it felt like an eternity but probably a half
hour dance.
With these voices coming out of them.
And they danced to nobody. And I went oh, my God.
The first man came out and they were performing for God.
Now God can mean whatever you want it to mean.
But for me, I understood it so totally.
The detail on the costumes.
They didn't care if someone was paying tickets, writing reviews.
They didn't care if an audience was watching.
They did it from the inside to the outside.
And from the outside to the in.
And that profoundly moved me then.

MOYERS:  How did you see the world differently after you were in Indonesia?

TAYMOR: Well I understood really the power of art to transform.

I think transformation becomes the main word in my life.

Transformation because you don't want to just put a mirror in front of people and say, here, look at yourself.

What do you see?
You want to have a skewed mirror.

You want a mirror that says you didn't know you could see the back of your head.

You didn't know that you could - almost cubistic  - see almost all the same aspects at the same time.

It allows human beings to step out of their lives and to revisit it and maybe find something different about it.

This is so inspiring to me.  If I had to choose one word to describe my life, the way I have lived it and the way I wish to live it, it would be Transformation.  We are always changing - it is the only thing we can rely on - so we might as well be willing participants and be conscious and active in our changing, which is a big part of transformation. And being an artist and truly creating from the inside out and the outside in as she says, is what making is all about. It's what I mean by Create with Spirit.  It doesn't matter if the critics like it - or even see it!  It's about truly creating.  I know Julie Taymor's most recent film has gotten terrible reviews, but I now know that I still need to see all her movies, because most regular movie critics don't get it - they don't get that they are seeing real art on the screen, not just entertainment.

She goes on to question why the paper has an "Arts & Leisure" section: Why isn't it arts and science or arts and the most important thing in your life?

Why indeed?