27 Comments
Oct 11, 2022Liked by Jennifer Rabin

Yesyesyesyesyes. There are two such places where I have experienced this unequalled state. It used to be in my darkroom where I would lose hourshourshours - nothing beyond that closed door even existed. Only my thoughts and the wondrous, sometimes ghostlike emerging images on paper.

Now I experience this when I am behind the camera shooting on a documentary. In this case, the only world that exists lives inside that rectangle of a frame. It is that wondrous dance between me and my subject, precariously yet unbreakably held together by the lens between us.

Athletes call it a state of flow. Meditation practitioners states of jhana. Buddhists, "in the bhav".

It is one of the most wondrous, addicting, most complete experiences I will no doubt ever have!

Thank you, Jen for your inspiring words. And whatever it is that you are going through, may you do so with grace and as little suffering as possible. 🙏

Expand full comment
Oct 11, 2022Liked by Jennifer Rabin

Inspiring words from an inspiring human.

Expand full comment

You have built a tribe that will hold you up and wrap you up. Your words and your work mean something. We are grateful.

Expand full comment
Oct 11, 2022Liked by Jennifer Rabin

You got this. Life is tough. You are tougher. ART SAVES LIVES.

Expand full comment
Oct 11, 2022Liked by Jennifer Rabin

This is beautiful. The words, the work, and the way you are showing up. Thank you for sharing all of it.

Expand full comment
Oct 11, 2022Liked by Jennifer Rabin

Trancendence.

Expand full comment

I absolutely love this -- the sculpture, and the writing. You've put the experience of being in the studio into beautiful words.

Expand full comment
Oct 11, 2022Liked by Jennifer Rabin

I'm so glad you found your way back to making with your hands. The hyperfocus and time blindness of the studio is my meditation, and it helps me feel grounded and more able to deal with life. I, too, started working without plan when I was nearly overcome by grief last year—and I am a heavily process-oriented person. Grief is unpredictable and messy, so it felt right that the creative process reflect that. Not that anyone would see it in the finished work! The making is for the artist, anyway.

Expand full comment
Oct 12, 2022Liked by Jennifer Rabin

Even unfinished, this piece is mesmerizing. Engaging. And your musings on art and the sacred never fail to move me. You always find a way to articulate that which is so often beyond words.

Expand full comment
Oct 15, 2022Liked by Jennifer Rabin

Coincidence, Jennifer. I have just now sent a nephew a supply of art crayons and a description of gesture painting. He is in poor shape emotionally, very bright (MBA from U of Chicago etc) but a real mess. His family is desperate. Been on every drug that psychiatry has to offer etc. So, I'm trying long distance art therapy and trying to describe gesture making, using his whole body, expressing his emotions and experiences. I don't know if it will work as it is totally foreign to his experience, but I agree with you totally that Art can save lives. It has magical powers . . . and I'm very glad that you know how to use it. I did too, but that is a story for another day, perhaps over a cup of coffee. David

Expand full comment
founding
Oct 16, 2022Liked by Jennifer Rabin

sigh...this...you.

Expand full comment
Oct 23, 2022Liked by Jennifer Rabin

Subterranean house of worship... let’s build a tunnel between ours

Expand full comment