Sourcing Inspiration-Jess Gebauer

Sitting here on my couch, it is hard to imagine how someone can be as inspired as the three artists in "Sourcing Inspiration". I personally have never been as in depth as any of those artists, and perhaps it is time to figure out why. I think in general this week, accompanied by this reading, has been particularly difficult for me. I have struggled, since coming to TCNJ one year ago, with what type of art I am driven to make. I have worked in many mediums and found some passion in a few of them, but nothing has really taken hold of me. I find that I am driven and engaged to do class work, but have little desire to do any work on my own. While reading "Sourcing Inspiration" I found the processes and ways in which the three artists approach their art to be inspiring. I have always believed that to be a successful artist, one must be passionate, no matter what type of art they make. Take Jan Harrison for example. Though I found her work to be a little disturbing, the ways in which she derives her images and the thought she has put behind them shows tremendous drive and inspiration. I must, in my own way, become this driven and passionate. I do not want to make excuses or dabble in things I know I have no passion for outside of class. So after a year of wondering, I have decided to return to the art of jewelry. It is the only thing I have ever had any drive to do on my own, so my inspiration, whether external or internal, lies there. I have not come to this conclusion lightly, and it may seem strange that I am writing this declaration in a response to a class reading, but it is a culmination of a year's worth of emotion, self doubt and lack of inspiration. So, the beginning of Thesis class and the the "Sourcing Inspiration" reading has officially broken me and I am new again.