As our online classes with Estela Saez have come to a close I took a moment to reflect. I hadn’t known what to expect from the masterclasses. The first class was also the first meeting as a handshake group and I was nervous/excited to meet my peers.
Our instructions had been to collect three found objects, all larger than my head (my friend graciously reminded me that there were in fact no objects larger than my head). Estela gave us 10 minutes each to completely transform our three found objects. We were then required to share the fruits of our speedy endeavours with a Zoom full of strangers – for critique. I wanted my fellow HandShakers to think I was a quality peer, yet I was showing work that I had glue-gunned together. I found it pretty uncomfortable.
The classes that followed replicated the ‘show and tell’ of quickly made work with little or no forethought. Some things kind of worked, and others were quite embarrassing to share. As the exercises continued, I began to see how the fast-making was quieting my internal critic. I began to see the fast-making as a pathway to move beyond the obvious solutions as well as to rule out avenues that didn’t need to be explored
My overthinking brain had been cutting my ideas down before I had a chance to create. The space Estela’s classes created for me was one of prolific idea generation. There are endless lines of enquiry to explore, many gaps between what I have created and what I still long to create and I intend to lean into the energy it has brought to my practice.