Who exactly are The Glimmerists? – Well it could be you if you want. The Glimmerists is the new name for my email newsletter. Until recently the newsletter was almost dormant but I have been studying since last Christmas how to work more effectively with all my online resources – so that’s Social Media, This website and my Email list.
Introducing The Glimmerists
The idea for The Glimmerists came at a time when things on the world stage were looking particularly bleak so the concept of something that included hope and creativity in the form of art seemed like it might meet a need for people.
At the core of my work is a constructive drive that is really useful in countering cynicism and the inclination to give up which is so often fuelled by news media and the general reverses that life throws at us individually.
I think there is a difference between the need to be informed about world events and the feeling that they are so depressing that we should not even bother to follow them. I often feel like I need some kind of help in bearing the burden of contemporary news, I often find myself struggling to take a position and even to take it in at all. I do believe it’s important to be aware of what’s currently happening in the world but to find ways to protect yourself from the most demanding aspects of it.
A kind of solace
Making art provides a kind of solace without being an escape. I believe my work contains all kinds of ideas that are embedded in the work without being overtly stated. Often the complexity of what I have tried to include only becomes obvious when I work out the titles for the work and even more comes to light when other people see the artwork.
In visual media you don’t have to specify exactly what you are saying or what you are depicting (if anything). I believe my work has a creative drive at its core that is almost irrepressible, not that it makes me immune to all the ups and downs of my own life or of the community at large. That force is not always present but it does always return after it leaves – in a cycle which I have written about here: The Creative Cycle. This is still the case even after major bereavements and other major life traumas, in my experience.
Keeping in touch
So The Glimmerists is intended as a way of keeping in touch with these ideas, the notion that there is a glimmer of hope in even our darkest moments. Our very human need to make things comes from a place that is built into our psyches which is about survival and mental resilience and I dearly hope that is evident in the artworks I make and that the new newsletter will help spread some of the the benefit that comes with the impetus to be physically and conceptually creative.
Goodie bags
If you do sign up for The Glimmerists you will get a coupon code that gives you a 50% discount on my new Limited Edition Prints
