The Outlier Conversations with Faye Dobinson: Art and culture curated.

This conversation was recorded one month ago in Gozo, and is an exchange that celebrates the release of a book that myself and my great friend Andrea Britton have created together.

10 Years ago, while celebrating our birthdays together, a coffee and a question sparked the beginnings of our book. We gathered together comments, quips and wisdoms from ourselves and all those we encountered that day in response to the question: what advice would you give to your 10 year younger self?

A lot has gone on in the decade in between the initial note taking and the book release, with life getting even deeper and more expansive. It was a fascinating point to dive into, covering where we are at now and how we might keep it real in the face of radical changes.

Like the day the book was begun, this conversation is broadly roaming and a rich exchange about the nature of creating, heart led initiatives, love as a fierce force for change and what can help in times of lesson-learning and deep shifts.

I really hope that you enjoy it xxx

Artist, curator and love activist Faye Dobinson sharing conversations about all things creation and culture.
https://www.instagram.com/fayedobinsonprojects/
https://www.fayedobinson.com/

In this episode I muse upon 'the middle'...that often uncomfortable stage of a creative endeavour where you cannot see the wood for the trees.

I have been teaching over the last month in two very different contexts, and yet in each the disruptive energy present in the middle of creating something presented itself.

Feeling like you have hit the wall- that’s the middle. 

It has none of the excitement as Day one (the beginning) or the level of completion and achievement as Day three (the end). Just a tired, difficult state that anyone who is in it tries, in all sorts of creative ways, to resist.

It is a curious, vulnerable state that when named can release its gifts.. and the knowledge that you are within a universally acknowledged and experienced journey, that occurs across cultures and across time, may give you some sense of solace, along with the grit to continue.

The only way out is through..xx

Read more about the educational aspect to my practice:

https://www.fayedobinson.com/education

Delve into the offerings of Prentis Hemphill, who I quote:

https://prentishemphill.com/

Brene Brown:

https://brenebrown.com/podcasts/

Artist, curator and love activist Faye Dobinson sharing conversations about all things creation and culture.
https://www.instagram.com/fayedobinsonprojects/
https://www.fayedobinson.com/

In this musing I discuss ideas and insights, gleaned from my role as teacher and mentor, about the rhythms of the creative act and what is asked of us within that process.

We are asked to endure the 'not knowing', to dwell within creative tension, and we are exposed to the absolute inevitability of discomfort within the life cycle of making, which can deepen our relationship with discomfort.

I talk about the negation of the self that is required in the  capitalist model to constantly create, and the fact that this leads to a dryness in our offerings and ideas along with exhaustion in our beautiful bodies.

A kindness to ourselves AND to the process of making is fundamental to ensure that we make heart-felt and heart-led, authentic work. This in turn fosters a sense of shared humanity, and offers the possibility of connection and a certain medicine for our weary culture...and our weary bones.

Thank you so much for listening xx

Artist, curator and love activist Faye Dobinson sharing conversations about all things creation and culture.
https://www.instagram.com/fayedobinsonprojects/
https://www.fayedobinson.com/

In this stream of consciousness conversation from September 2024, I sit with ideas around working cyclically and how doing so can keep our art and creative endeavours juiced and rich.

(Thank you for bearing with my very occasional lapses in sound quality, it's all a learning curve!)

In an age that demands constant production, artists are finding themselves exhausted, dried out and without the palpable love that keeps their artworks vital and medicinal, both for themselves and culture.

How do we fill our bowl? How do we keep our minds and hearts limber and flexible? The somatic practitioner and activist Prentis Hempel says 'the most powerful body we have is a relaxed body'. So how might we inhabit the fruitful and restorative depths of fallow cycles that help us relax and repair?

The podcast I refer to and give thanks for is:
We Can Do Hard Things-
334. How to Save the World and Yourself with Prentis Hemphill.
https://open.spotify.com/episode/0OxvbdZuccJVrQB1LJsEMx

Enjoy xxx

Artist, curator and love activist Faye Dobinson sharing conversations about all things creation and culture.
https://www.instagram.com/fayedobinsonprojects/
https://www.fayedobinson.com/

This episode is a conversation that I had in October 2022 with artist and friend Susie Chaikin.

Susie and I have many cross overs in our art making practice- we both use working wth community as a medium in itself, we share a belief in the capacity of art to create community, and we both hold the possibility that the art we make can act as medicine for ourselves and for culture.

Our conversation holds treasures regarding the transference of love and how we can honour and hold huge emotions and ruptures through the creative act.

Enjoy this humour fuelled, emotion driven exchange of fierce Love.

Books mentioned:
The Subversive Stitch by Rozsika Parker
Threads of Life by Claire Hunter

@fayedobinsonprojects
@susiechaikin
fayedobinson.com
the-jupiter-project.com

Artist, curator and love activist Faye Dobinson sharing conversations about all things creation and culture.
https://www.instagram.com/fayedobinsonprojects/
https://www.fayedobinson.com/

Artist Faye Dobinson and myth worker and keeper of the stories Lucy Cooper were recorded live in conversation at the renowned Porthmeor Studios in St Ives, UK, in May 2024.

Their rich exchange was in response to Faye's exhibition 'Shadow Work: La Otra' and its relationship with the Heroines Myth. The exhibition was full of imagery both celebratory and grief drenched, dense with story, silhouette, descent, rising, deconstructing, reconstructing, possibility, fierce love and rigorous hope.

We hope you enjoy its lived-in, live flow.

Artist, curator and love activist Faye Dobinson sharing conversations about all things creation and culture.
https://www.instagram.com/fayedobinsonprojects/
https://www.fayedobinson.com/