“Remember, art is a long game.”

Learn what you need and more importantly, what you don’t. – Ariel Gordon

There was much to be gleaned from last night’s illuminating, powerfully intimate, moving conversation between poets TANIS MACDONALD and JACOB MCARTHUR MOONEY at the Toronto launch of OUT OF LINE: Daring To Be An Artist Outside the Big City (Wolsak & Wynn) MacDonald’s essential essays on being a creative. What does an artist actually need, let alone need to be, to practice and live? For many of us from smaller, rural areas, concerns regarding class, education, social abilities, often go unspoken and all pervasive. What can be painful obstacles/terrain for many can also become a process to “deepen your practice (life will thank you)” honing in on what’s essential and essentially yours wherever you create.

I wasn’t kidding when I said I wanted to invite them both back for more. Read this book.