I was spent a day with a friend recently and we were discussing dreams, shamans, spirits and art. That night out of the blue I went to my book case and pulled out a book called Dreamtime and Inner Space: The World of the Shaman. I hadn't looked at it probably since college. Out dropped this letter from my former college professor and artist, Bob Watts.
I don't remember giving him my journal but I do remember the journal being full of insecurity and doubts. I also don't remember receiving this note from him but I love what he says:
" I could help you realize that all or most sensitive artists struggle with the same problems, the fears, anxieties, frustrations of creating. It often takes many years to arrive at some confidence. Its a giving up of some values which have nothing to do with making or being. Our inner self knows this for a certainty. Have you read Zen and the Art of Archery? There are clues there."
It seems so right to have this letter right now for myself as an artist and a teacher. The fact that it dropped out of this particular book is ironic. From dream time, inner space and from the after life, Bob is still communicating.
Thanks, Doctor Bob
Thanks, Doctor Bob
Robert Watts (artist) From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Robert Watts was an American artist best known for his work as a member of the international Avant-garde art movement Fluxus. Born in Burlington, Iowa June 14th 1923[2][3], he became Professor of Art at Douglass College, Rutgers University, New Jersey in 1953, a post he kept until 1984. In the 1950s, he was in close contact with other teachers at Rutgers including Allan Kaprow, Geoffrey Hendricks and Roy Lichtenstein. This has led some critics to claim that pop art and conceptual art began at Rutgers [4][5].
He organised the proto-fluxus Yam Festival, May 1963 with George Brecht, and was one of the main protagonists, along with George Maciunas, in turning SoHo, New York, into an artist's quarter. He died Friday 2nd September 1988 of lung cancer in Martins Creek, Pennsylvania.[6]
He was also known as Bob Watts or Doctor Bob.
9 comments:
What a treasure you stumbled upon that you didn't even know that you had. Things always seem to show up when you need them.
I thought this was a lovely post . What a treasure to have such a mentor and to have him keep giving in life and afterlife.
Now here is a funny thing. I am from Burlington, Iowa too. Who knew we could add Bob to our legacy of artists?
Thanks Lisa!
Very moving and another opportunity for me to come in contact with this wisdom . . . as I hear this, I read this . . again and again . . in many different ways.
. . as William (above) says "things seem to show up when you need them."
This is so wonderful, Lisa. What a wonderful gift to come to you at a time you feel is a most appropriate time. It seems that it appeared again to you at the moment you were really now "ready" to read it. Strange sometime how that happens.
thank you for sharing this lisa. i think bob was trying to share his knowledge with others through you. he knew we needed it.
I love how dog-eared, crumpled and stained the letter is.
Such reassurance Lisa...amazing how these moments happen almost spooky...
What a great teacher to have and how thoughtful of him to have taken the time to write the letter to you.
Jacqui
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