The Field Seattle

Come out and support Field members Lea Galanter, Rebecca Goldberg and Karen Kinch as they celebrate SWAN Day in Seattle!

Don’t miss two evenings of womanly wit and wisdom in plays written by local playwrights in celebration of SWAN Day (Support Women Artists Now Day). DramaQueen presents readings of one-act plays Friday, March 30 and Saturday, March 31 at A Contemporary Theatre (ACT) in Seattle. Be a part of the festivities going on around the globe celebrating SWAN Day, the international holiday that caps off Women’s History Month and highlights women artists and their contributions.

This year’s celebration features the works of Caitlin Gilman, Rebecca Goldberg, Karen Kinch, Mara Lathrop, Babs Lindsay, Louise Penberthy, and Christine J. Schmidt. Performances are at 7 p.m. in the Eulalie Scandiuzzi Space at ACT. Admissions is free; to reserve your seat, contact the ACT Box Office at 206-292-7676.

SWAN Day is an annual event, facilitated by WomenArts, that focuses on imagining a world that fully integrates women’s art and perspectives. Its long-term goal is to inspire people to recognize and support women artists as part of their community. For more information about SWAN Day events happening around the world, visit www.swanday.org.

WomenArts (www.WomenArts.org) is a nonprofit organization dedicated to helping women artists. With an emphasis on women in film, video, and theatre, it provides online networking, advocacy, and fundraising services to thousands of visitors a day.

Hello, Everyone -

You’ve been hearing about Mimi Allin for months, even years. Her work is provocative. Her feedback is challenging. Other artists find her inspiring. Sometimes you tell yourself, “I want to be in a session with Mimi, and cut free from my inhibitions.”

Here is your chance! Mimi will be conducting a Mixed Discipline session on Monday nights. Come, and bring a friend. This is a short session, so we will hit the ground running.

Mondays, Nov. 7 to Dec. 5, 7 to 9:30 p.m.
Mixed Disciplines

Facilitator: A K Mimi Allin

A K Mimi Allin first came to Seattle’s attention big-time back in 2006, when she assumed the mantle of “The Poetess at Green Lake” and spent every Sunday in the park for a year, sharing and receiving poems with passersby. Since then this conceptual artist has conducted more than a score of events, many of them providing opportunities for other artists to pursue work on their interests. Nobody who was there will forget these studies: In White, In Melancholy or In Memory. Mimi spent the summer conducting a pilgrimage, Tahoma Kora–not only walking around Mount Rainier but performing prostrations most of the way.

Mimi is a member of the Field Steering Committee. If you want to see more about her work, please look at her website. It’s a virtual certainty: If you take part in this session, you’ll be inspired–and challenged

I just had an email exchange with a potential Field member who is at the beginning of a project and was concerned about how to use The Field when she doesn’t have any work that is ready to show yet. Of course I told her that that was no problem.  A lot of work that people present at The Field is rough–and stepping up to present works in progress is a generous act that encourages others to do the same.

But personally, The Field has revolutionized the way that I work, especially in the early stages of a project, and this question got me thinking about why.

When I walked into my first Field session more than 2 years ago, I literally had no idea what I was going to do next or what I planned to work on. I had just ended an intense (and inspiring) year-long acting program and all I knew is that I wanted to keep my creative momentum going. For the first few sessions, I brought scraps of past plays and essays. And then one night, right before that week’s meeting, I had this dream that haunted me all day.  I considered scribbling the whole thing down on a napkin and bringing that to present, even though I’d already dug up another bit of something to read that night, but I didn’t. Still, the idea stayed with me. Over the next week, I wrote three pages of text, and by the end of the 8-week session I had a rough–very rough–draft of my first solo show.

• It can feel like an act of bravery to show work to other people that doesn’t feel “ready”–and it is! But the benefits of taking that leap are enormous.

• It gives me a weekly deadline to create something–anything–to show. Because participants comment on your work at face value, there is no need to make excuses if it’s not perfect yet, which is great for the state of vulnerability that I live in at the beginning of a project.

• It allows me to see if my embryonic ideas are on track. Because reflective feedback tells us what others see in our work, it makes a great reality check at a time when my thoughts and ideas are most fluid.

• It gives me a way to consider new ideas that haven’t yet occured to me. I often find that I’m not really telling the story that I first set out to tell, and hearing another version of that story can help me make connections and clarify thoughts that are lurking below the surface, deepening my original intent. Usually I find that I’m a lot smarter than I think I am!

• And most importantly for me–it takes the isolation out of the creative process. Sharing my work right away–in whatever sketchy elemental form–gives it a life and energy that it doesn’t have when it’s all me and the laptop. All art eventually needs an audience and introducing the other into the creative process early on can be invigorating.

If you’re just starting a project or stumped about what to do next, consider registering for The Field’s November Mixed Discipline Session facilitated by Mimi AKA Allin.