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October 2008 
Wisdom from Martha Graham
Posted on Oct 4th, 2008
by 
Nomali
Nomali
For that part in us that is insecure about our unique gift...
'"There is a vitality, a life force, an energy, a quickening that is translated through you into action, and because there is only one of you in all of time, this expression is unique. And if you block it, it will never exist through any other medium and it will be lost. The world will not have it. It is not your business to determine how good it is nor how valuable nor how it compares with other expressions. It is your business to keep it yours clearly and directly, to keep the channel open. You do not even have to believe in yourself or your work. You have to keep yourself open and aware to the urges that motivate you. Keep the channel open. ... No artist is pleased. [There is] no satisfaction whatever at any time. There is only a queer divine dissatisfaction, a blessed unrest that keeps us marching and makes us more alive than the others"'
~From The Life and Work of Martha Graham
'"There is a vitality, a life force, an energy, a quickening that is translated through you into action, and because there is only one of you in all of time, this expression is unique. And if you block it, it will never exist through any other medium and it will be lost. The world will not have it. It is not your business to determine how good it is nor how valuable nor how it compares with other expressions. It is your business to keep it yours clearly and directly, to keep the channel open. You do not even have to believe in yourself or your work. You have to keep yourself open and aware to the urges that motivate you. Keep the channel open. ... No artist is pleased. [There is] no satisfaction whatever at any time. There is only a queer divine dissatisfaction, a blessed unrest that keeps us marching and makes us more alive than the others"'
~From The Life and Work of Martha Graham
Access: Public
Ms N,
Reading this entry drew me back to a the Bio part of my art portfolio of 2001. Written in the second person its last paragragh went:
“Throughout Dugan's rather unique development it has remained self-evident that the identical sensibilities operate in his music, art, poetry, friendship or manual labor. When prompted to respond to inspiration, if he reaches a piano before a drawing board, then that medium might inherit the qualities insisting on expression. If he sees a friend before findng a piano, their conversation may fulfill the need to articulate the perception. He's held no particular bias for what mode or means he uses, nor for or against recording the impulse materially. For this artist participation in the uncommodifiable life of the mind has always taken precedence over the production of artifact. An illucrative proposition, to be sure, but honest work.”
Tonight I recognize that, although I'd long understood and agreed with what Martha meant by “keeping… open”, until now I didn't see that my flexability-of-vessel may have been a way to compensate for insecurity about unique gifts, that I'd found comfort in deconstructing the objective side of expression.
Thanks again. I can't turn to your blog and not learn. This is good!
K