Comments on: Danger: low flying shoes ahead

By: Havi Brooks (and duck)

Havi Brooks (and duck) — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 22:00:09 +0000

Wow. What an incredibly unpleasant thing to get from someone you used to be friends with. Ick ick ick. And *ow*. I’m so sorry you had this shoe-throwing in your life.

And I also want to say that I thought this post was so lovely!

I especially am impressed by all the things you were able to do during the shoe-throwing experience.

Like how you were able to … notice your reaction, not make it be about you, dump the person who isn’t supportive instead of assuming that they’re right, give your own reaction legitimacy and then find the connection to where you do this to yourself in your art.

(I mean, wow. It’s like you noticed that — at least when it’s art — sometimes you throw the shoe before someone else can. HUGE.)

Anyway, it’s such a terrific example of “hi, this is me in the process of working on my stuff” … which is so completely *useful*.

And I definitely agree with Elizabeth — it’s a lot harder to learn from someone perfect (or someone who comes across that way). And not fun.

Good for you for not putting up with the shoes.
h

By: fibowman

fibowman — Sat, 22 Aug 2009 06:37:56 +0000

Oooo, that’s a good one, Kate!

Or we could try something like, “Actually it was a kit. You too can make one just like it for £49.99… .” But what’s sad there is that they might think you’re serious.

Lovely to have another sassy little bitch drop by!

By: Kate

Kate — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 18:47:38 +0000

Love it! Thanks for brightening my day.
I’m still wondering what IS the correct response to the comment “Oh, you just copied a photograph”…? (As if it is more noble to be inspired by a real tree than to be inspired by a photo of a tree. Or in my case a Tiger Shark…. how the hell else am I going to see one? Sure not about to take a trip to Galapagos for a scuba lesson.) Maybe the mature thing to do is ignore the person. My sassy inner 12 yr old would have left it at “F you”. But somehow as I approach 40 I feel like I should have something more powerful and/or clever to say. As of this moment my only response has been. “Yep. That’s all I did. Care to give it a try?”

By: fibowman

fibowman — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 06:01:53 +0000

Hey Elizabeth! Thank you for confirming that it’s not just me with a way to go before we can get to Havi’s advanced enlightened response: “There is no shoe”.

By: Elizabeth Mendana

Elizabeth Mendana — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 21:31:51 +0000

“There should be a moral to this story. At this point I should be able to tell you how I learned to be all mature and enlightened and consciously recognise that the shoe-throwing has nothing to do with my art at all. But I haven’t got there yet. I am working on it. I’ll keep you posted.”

I am so pleased to read that you aren’t mature and elightened yet and that you continue to work on it. Whew! Otherwise, I might get frustrated that I don’t have it figured out yet. I am working on this reaction to my art as well. (In my case, performance art as opposed to visiual.)

Thank you for sharing this story!