How Do You Fill Your Cup?

pART won

Feed yourself art. Feast on it. This is my advice to any artist. Most importantly seek art that is outside your discipline. When young actors used to ask me for advice I always told them to read. Some people are intimidated by books, don’t be. Read anything. Read short stories, magazine features, newspaper articles; variety is good, drink up all the words you can. Learn that synonyms are hues of a word. Expand your palette. Paint new scenes. Why be angry when you can seethe or be apoplectic? Find new ways to tell the same story and you’ll never be boring (maybe or maybe not). Read out loud. Fill your mouth with words. Let your tongue navigate new configurations of consonants and vowels. Discover a writer’s cadence. Find clues in the phrases. How does the breath support the sound of a noun versus the energy of a verb?
Language is the key to an actor’s toolbox. The words unlock the map that charts the course of the actions and emotions. Use all the tools.

First there was the word. 
Then came the image. 

Painting has always filled my cup with inspiration. The alchemy of the craft takes my breath away. Using motions and a medium; flicks of wrists, articulation of digits, oils, alchyd, linseed and voilà an image, that in turn creates emotion in the viewer? Mind. Blown. The manipulation of oil and pigment to create the essence of light, as if the canvas is lit from within, always mesmerizes me. But beyond the pleasing esthetic is the story or a commentary.

Throughout time it is the artist that keeps the record, whether through music, painting, sculpture, photography, novels, plays or movies. It makes sense that we artists cannibalize and inspire each other, we bear witness to the same moment. I took inspiration from the cultural critic Wesley Morris and went to a screening of ‘The Melt Goes On Forever: The Art & Times of David Hammons’. An absolute wow. Simultaneously prescient and timely. The documentary is a revelation and an inspiration to a dilettante like me.

And even though my cup was over flowing afterwards I walked a few quick blocks to the opening of Bisa Butler’s solo show, title inspired by Nas (hmmm, how synchronous). I discovered her online during the pandemic and I’ve wanted to see her textile portraiture ever since. A photo can capture a moment but it’s not the same as the experience in the moment. The experience of seeing her work is another argument for the living arts of theater and concerts. The layers of details and delight she creates from scraps and threads is unbelievably stunning. It takes the artist’s eye to see it first but we are so very lucky when we get access to that vision.

So yes, an actor needs to do their homework, watch plays, movies, and the never-ending stream of episodic content. But learn from other artists as well. Painters can learn from dancers, dancers can learn from sculptors, sculptors can learn from musicians and musicians can learn from poets. Stay curious everybody. And practice empathy.