Two sunny days have helped me return to work, where I’ve been happily starting a new series of small stone cubes.  On a recent studio visit to my dear friend Joel Schapira, we spoke of the special territory multiples can occupy in artmaking.

One of the things frequently interrupting art making (in the guise of serving it) is the voice of the critic.  Making multiples quiets that voice, letting an artist shortcut through the very twisted path of “Is this good enough?” to  “this is simply what it is”.

Joel took a workshop in collage years ago.  The teacher said,  “sometimes, feeling stuck, I just make parts.”  We liked this approach, because the pressure is off, when one is just making parts.  I often do that, drilling holes into stones, adding metal.  It helped these past two days, having lots of prepared parts at hand.

Making multiples can be freeish: knowing you’ll be doing another, that the one you are making doesn’t need to carry all the weight, eases the burden.