The What Goes Around Blog

Discover Your Meaning

The 2015 Meaning Conference is just poking its perfectly formed nose over the horizon. 12th November still feels quite a way off but it will be here in no time. I’m going to the conference again – this will be my third consecutive year as a paying guest. It’s an enjoyable and useful experience, and if you like you can read about my visit to the 2014 conference here.

My attempt to capture a sense of Meaning 2014 -based on my own reflections and some tweets I spotted. I sketched this on the train on the way home. — My attempt to capture a sense of Meaning 2014 – based on my own reflections and some tweets I spotted during the event. I sketched this on the train on the way home.

I bought my ticket for 2014 as soon as I left the 2013 event, and I bought my ticket for this year, as I left the event in 2014, only this time, I did something a little different. This time I bought two tickets. My question for you today is simply this – would you like to discover the meaning of meaning for yourself? Or to put it another way, would you like a ticket to Meaning 2015?

For me a big part of my meaning is paying it forward, I simply enjoy giving. I’d like to give away my spare ticket for this event, and if you’d like a chance to receive it – all you have to do is ask. Leave a comment here on the blog post and I’ll put everyone who asks for the ticket into a hat and draw a name at random. This offer will also be in my newsletter and I may offer it in other places too. The draw will be on Thursday October 1st. Once I’ve drawn a name I’ll be in touch with that person and if it’s you – you will have 48 hours after I get in touch to claim the ticket or I’ll draw another name, and so on until we get a confirmed winner.

Do you want to discover the meaning of meaning for yourself? What are you waiting for – just ask.

Update: I’ve been informed by several people that they’re having difficulty commenting on the blog. Sorry. While I try and figure out why, feel free to contact me in any other way you want if you want to be in the draw for the ticket and I will collate all the requests. Cheers!

Boring small print alert! You’ll be responsible for all additional expenses including transport to and from the event which takes place in Brighton. This give away is for a free ticket – the rest is up to you.

Still Figuring It Out

Yesterday I drew six years of trading as What Goes Around to a close in readiness for the seventh, which starts today. In the past few days I’ve also accepted my first artistic commission. I’m very excited about this. When I started out on my own I never imagined the range of possibilities and opportunities that would come my way, many of which have been delightful, all of which I’ve learned from.

A Brief Reflection

Trying to make your own way in the world is simultaneously exciting, scary, joyful and desperate, satisfying and frustrating. Working in this way is not for everyone, though I’d encourage everyone to try it at some time. It’s also not for me to say that working for yourself is somehow better than working in a bigger business, but it is different, and it is that difference between big and small, which I experience and apply, and my inherent curiosity, that have become some of the greatest ways I can now contribute usefully.

If I’ve learned anything more it’s that gentle persistence matters, doing the work on yourself first is vital, trying to be kind to yourself and others helps enormously, and being curious and invitational is a great way to approach pretty much anything. Give generously, trust first, be thankful – thank you Carole, and thank you everyone who has given me work, supported me, encouraged me, let me down, and screwed me over. I’ve learned something from all of you.

A Brief Look Forward

I’m not so hot when it comes to predicting the future, but I do know I’m about to launch a new business designed to help develop the more artistic side of my work, and bring it to many more people. I’ve also recently agreed to join the LPI consultancy team – early days and this feels like a lovely place to make another home. I will continue to offer facilitation and consulting work through What Goes Around, as well as writing and some public speaking too. Lastly for now, many of you will have noticed over the years I enjoy giving stuff away. With this in mind I’m formulating a way to establish a stronger more intentional volunteer element to my work and I’m finding a way to make a regular financial contribution to some good causes too. More news soon.

Last year was a good one, and I feel like I’m due something better than good, something great. If you can help me make it great through us working together, please let me know – I’d love to explore that with you.

Thank you again. Love – Doug.

Art is Theft

This is the first of two posts about the importance of attribution, acknowledgement and more. This post focuses on art, the next one will focus on work.

‘Art is Theft’ Pablo Picasso

‘Nothing is original. Steal from anywhere that resonates with inspiration or fuels your imagination. Devour old films, new films, music, books, paintings, photographs, poems, dreams, random conversations, architecture, bridges, street signs, trees, clouds, bodies of water, light and shadows. Select only things to steal from that speak directly to your soul. If you do this, your work (and theft) will be authentic. Authenticity is invaluable; originality is non-existent. And don’t bother concealing your thievery – celebrate it if you feel like it. In any case, always remember what Jean-Luc Godard said: “It’s not where you take things from – it’s where you take them to.’ Jim Jarmusch

‘You don’t sell ideas, ideas are for stealing’. Malcolm McLaren

‘Nothing is original. Steal with pride and acknowledge your inspiration.’ Yours truly, stealing from Pablo Picasso, Jim Jarmusch, Malcolm McLaren, and no doubt, a few others besides.

There’s a widely held notion in the arts world that the theft of ideas is inevitable, and to some extent, even acceptable.

Inspired By

I know from my own experience how it feels to be inspired by the work of others. I painted this picture after visiting the Museo Picasso in Malaga, and subsequently, several people have commented that it is Picasso-esque. Although this is an original work, it’s not hard to see where I took my inspiration from, and that taking of inspiration from others, is part of what makes art, art.

Copied From

Here’s another of my sketches. This time, what you can see is a copy of someone else’s work, specifically the pattern on our kitchen curtains. When I blogged this picture on my art website, I made this clear in the accompanying text and linked to the original design.

When you are inspired by something – it can be helpful to acknowledge that inspiration, and when you copy something, I think it really matters to acknowledge the source. There’s a significant difference, isn’t there?

I recently spotted a statement on Facebook about the importance of art. It was on a page run by an artist named Erik Wahl, and the statement seems to be positioned as if it comes direct from him to us. Here is a screenshot of the statement in full.

As I read the statement, it feels odd to me, the flow isn’t quite working. Then I’m sure I begin to recognise in it, parts of other people’s work. For example:

‘Creativity lies not in the done but in the doing.’ This is a quote from the artist Julia Cameron. As an aside, a quick Google search revealed this on The High Road Artist blog from 2011. ‘As Julia Cameron says, “Creativity lies not in the DONE but in the DOING… ” It is ACTIVE and incomplete—always shifting, always becoming.’

‘Art is a process not a product.’ MaryAnn Kohl

‘Art is a human act…You can be perfect or you can make art. You can keep track of what you get in return, or you can make art. You can enjoy the status quo, or you can make art.’ Seth Godin

I may be wrong, I often am, and currently I cannot find any attribution or acknowledgement of the work (and/or influence) of others on or around Erik Wahl’s statement. I suppose there is always a possibility that I’ve simply stumbled upon a series of coincidences, in which case fair play to Erik Wahl, but I’m not sure, and to me his statement would have much more power if he had acknowledged his sources. Currently it feels odd that something which, when I last looked, had been shared over 20,000 times, and liked by over 13,000 people, might not be all that it seems. And that’s OK, because art is theft, right?