Late Night Musings
by Todd Reemtsma, NBS Section Chairperson
Is it Spring yet?
The weather in the Northern Boundary Section this winter has definitely been less than friendly. I hope that all of you have survived. Only a couple of days before sitting down to write my article, I was in Des Moines for work and, in one of the biggest teases of recent weather memory, my car thermometer showed an outside temperature of 69ºF! It was an absolutely beautiful day, even if I recognized that a day like this in the middle of February was a huge anomaly. However it did get me to thinking about the warmer weather that is much closer now and also provided me with some ideas for this article.
Have you heard of the renaissance?
I’m not talking about the period of time in Europe several centuries ago when art, music, theatre and so many other things made huge, progressive leaps forward. I’m not actually talking about any particular period of time at all. What I’m wondering about is your renaissance. With the warmer weather I experienced a few days ago and the thoughts of spring that were brought to mind, I recognize the positive feelings that I have with the rejuvenation of the nature that surrounds us. And in that thought I also wondered about our own “rejuvenations”.
For many of the folks that will be reading this article, you are students and in the process of “inventing” yourself and have not even hit the point of “re-inventing” your approach to your art. Even for the seasoned instructor or professional, rarely is a “re-invention” a complete change to your skills or the signature that makes your art unique. However, I do feel that we all go through and need periods of rejuvenation. Perhaps that coincidentally occurs with spring or not and perhaps it is more or less frequent than once a year.
I think that most of us will admit that we are perpetually students of our environment and constantly looking to improve ourselves, but certainly a busy schedule or production that didn’t quite meet our expectations can be quite a discouragement and can make forward progress difficult. Hopefully those times are few and far between, but certainly people find themselves in a rut occasionally.
When you find yourself in those moments, what is it that helps trigger your “renaissance”? Is it the same thing every time or something similar? If you don’t mind sharing what has worked for you, I would appreciate it if you would drop me a line so that I can write a follow up article in the next newsletter.
Perhaps a good source of “rejuvenation” is gathering together with friends and colleagues for the annual USITT Expo in Charlotte, North Carolina March 9 – 12, 2011. If you are planning on attending, please make sure that you join us on Thursday, March 10th, 2011 at 8AM in the Charlotte Convention Center for the Northern Boundary Section meeting. Regardless of whether you will be attending or not, if you have an item that you would like to see on the meeting agenda, please drop me or one of the other USITT-NBS officers a line. I hope to see a good many people there!
If it’s not fun, why do it? - Ben & Jerry (of ice cream fame)
Todd