Paying the Ultimate Price
Posted by Greg Katz at 6/23/2009 7:35 AM 
Categories: successful art business,Artist Success,sustainable art business,business of art,Coaching Artists
Tags: Craig Arnold Poetry Greg Katz University of Wyoming Laramie National Public Radio Made Flesh
Categories: successful art business,Artist Success,sustainable art business,business of art,Coaching Artists
Tags: Craig Arnold Poetry Greg Katz University of Wyoming Laramie National Public Radio Made Flesh
As I move along the journey of my artistic life I'm encourage and compelled to continuously explore art forms that in the past were foreign to me. I came to realize that when I was in school last fall and took a class with an amazing woman, facilitator, and most of all poet. Her name is Kim Rosen, www.kimrosen.net, and she opened my eyes to the power of poetry. Upon my return I began to delve more deeply into the world of the poet, not writing but memorizing the works of great poets like Mary Oliver. That's why when driving one day, listening to NPR, I was so taken by the story of Craig Arnold.
If you're not a poet officianado you may not know Craig Arnold. He was a poet and taught in the MFA program at the University of Wyoming in Laramie. The story took on NPR began three days after Arnold's disappearance. He had gone to Japan to go on a pilgrimage of the volcanic regions and didn't return one evening. The Japanese set out search parties for three days and then the search effort was extended and still no sign of him. It was a fleeting story on NPR but it stuck with me because of Arnold's dedication to his art.
Craig Arnold had been wared a Fulbright to Colombia and a US-Japan Creative Artists Exchange Fellowship. The Japanese pilgrimage would have resulted in some very powerful work based on Arnold's previous poetry. The reports I read in May report they found signs of where they believe Arnold probably fell down a ravine or off a cliff. He died in search of his muse, can you imagine something as dramatic and tragic as dying at the hands of your muse?
If you read his work you'll see an enormous sense of depth and conviction. I'm reading Made Flesh published in 2008 and it is proving to be an immensely provocative read. To read that much passion is what I hope I see in the work of every artist, hear in the work of every musician and feel in the work of every dancer. How will you translate that intensity into your own work? Do you believe you're at that point in your artistic career? What would you sacrifice in your life to stay true to your art and create the most powerful work ever imagined?
If you're not a poet officianado you may not know Craig Arnold. He was a poet and taught in the MFA program at the University of Wyoming in Laramie. The story took on NPR began three days after Arnold's disappearance. He had gone to Japan to go on a pilgrimage of the volcanic regions and didn't return one evening. The Japanese set out search parties for three days and then the search effort was extended and still no sign of him. It was a fleeting story on NPR but it stuck with me because of Arnold's dedication to his art.
Craig Arnold had been wared a Fulbright to Colombia and a US-Japan Creative Artists Exchange Fellowship. The Japanese pilgrimage would have resulted in some very powerful work based on Arnold's previous poetry. The reports I read in May report they found signs of where they believe Arnold probably fell down a ravine or off a cliff. He died in search of his muse, can you imagine something as dramatic and tragic as dying at the hands of your muse?
If you read his work you'll see an enormous sense of depth and conviction. I'm reading Made Flesh published in 2008 and it is proving to be an immensely provocative read. To read that much passion is what I hope I see in the work of every artist, hear in the work of every musician and feel in the work of every dancer. How will you translate that intensity into your own work? Do you believe you're at that point in your artistic career? What would you sacrifice in your life to stay true to your art and create the most powerful work ever imagined?
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