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Welcome to WTF, the Other F Word podcast with Dr. Leslie C. Sotomayor II and Dr. Katie Ballard. And just want to say we are so glad you're here with us. And so here we come together in the spirit of wondering, listening, and becoming.
We make space for the stories and questions that live between us. The one shaped by feminism, creative practices, decolonial thought, community care, and femtorship. This is a place for honest voices and open hearts, for what we know and what we are still learning.
It is a place to linger, to reflect, and to remember that we are not doing this alone. Thank you for being with us here today. Let's begin.
Awesome. All right, Katie. So thank you for the beautiful introduction.
And what are we talking about today? Creative practice, supporting transformation. So yeah, creative acts, creative practices. Yeah.
So we want to take a little bit of a deeper dive into the language of creative acts, right? What do we mean by this? Because you will hear that we reference it a lot. We write about it, right? So it's in a lot of the vernacular and language that we're using. And it's cemented in coming from Gloria AnzaldĂșa's work, where she uses the terminology of creative acts.
And she did this in her writing, right? And her scholarship, which was pioneering in the 1980s and still continues to be the basis and the platform to the work that we are working in, right? And she described creative acts as including writing, dancing, music, performance, and any other embodied forms of expression, not just the visual arts. So in the book that Anna Louise Keating edited, based on Gloria AnzaldĂșa's work, Light in the Dark, Luz en lo Oscuro, she explores AnzaldĂșa's use of imagination, creative process, transformation, and the role of the artist activist, which Katie and I will be coming back to repeatedly. And she saw creativity as a way of making meaning, healing wounds, crossing borders between identities and imagining new possibilities.
So this really is a visualizing of how the in-betweenness that we often feel in a lot of different ways is actually an opportunity for inner work and healing that initiates a process for healing and for creative acts and transformations. And so she believed that creativity emerges from living in the in-between spaces, and she called these nepantla. Did I say this correctly? Okay.
These are moments when we're changing and questioning, grieving, growing, or becoming something new. And creative practices help us navigate those transitions. The writing, painting, cooking, baking, gardening, storytelling, dancing, curating, teaching, community building, these are all creative acts.
And as we pointed out, it's not just visual art. It's any of these that you engage in fully, mind and body, and getting your hands dirty. So one of her most powerful ideas is that creativity is not just intellectual.
But I love that idea of moments when we're changing, questioning, grieving, and growing. Reminds me of what we'll talk about later, our blue snake period. Absolutely.
And she, Anzaldua, wrote, quote, writing is not about being in your head, it's about being in your body. And this is something that, you know, being in academia, being a writer, right? Logic and the headspace, right? The theorizing through logical cognitive means is valued, right? It's prioritized, it's at the top of the hierarchy. And so, in thinking about creative acts, and Gloria Anzaldua's theorizing, she's saying how all of this is connected to the rest of our bodies, right? And so, our neck is this bridge, right? This bridging of this somatic experience between the intellectual and the body, the feeling, right? The knowing within our bodies.
Um, yeah, that mind body connection is so important, and that it's a feedback loop. And I think you're right, it definitely academia, it's seen very much as being so cerebral, and forget that connection. So, and can I add one more thing, Katie? I think that the mind body spirit, right? That component, right? Mind body spirit is what is this holistic imagining and holistic place from our lived experiences, right? That we're either grappling with or expressing in a variety of these ways.
And I think a lot of us block those. I know that there have been times in my life where it's like, I don't want to feel or know what's going on in a connection to my body. And for me, that's not a good place to be.
To block those connections. Yeah, it reminds me of when we first met, and we started to get to know each other. And one of the things that we got into a ritual, a routine about doing before art shows and different events that we were curating and creating, is that you initiated a grounding ritual for us, right? And so the connection between, right, we are in this together, right? With the people that we are working with, we invited them into that circle.
And you led and facilitated us through these different types of grounding rituals. And maybe I think that connects to what, what we're getting at here, too. And maybe you can speak to that a little bit more.
No, that's an excellent point. It's something I personally had to learn. You know, you start with the three deep breaths, really, if you take your shoes off and get your feet in the grass, and, you know, thank, thank the universe, or whatever it is that you see as something higher, thank the people that you're together.
And it is, it's that connection to come back down. Don't just be stuck in your head. But yeah, that was the thing I had to learn.
And I was really glad that I could share it with you and Sophia and the others that later became a part of what we do. Yeah, and I think that that's a really great example about what activity right? Can can we can do that connects us to being fully present in our in our bodies, right? And it was about being barefoot in the ground in the earth, touching her right, touching each other by holding hands if we wanted to, but also the prompts that you use to facilitate those circles, right with how we could share out maybe verbally out loud, or in thought or in spirit, right? Those all of those are different ways of how individuals we can be present in our in our bodies, right? Yeah. Yeah.
I think maybe one day we can start our podcast that way. Oh, yeah, that's great. Yeah.
Yeah. Yeah. So what, you know, we've we've done a lot of different work together.
So thinking about what are the creative practices that have helped you and I feel connected to each other to ourselves, and to building community, and I think we have a lot of examples of what that has looked like for us. But what are some of the ones that come to the top of your head? No, I was trying to think, but I was actually thinking of what you and Sophia did, and little Sophia, and y'all were doing the big paintings in your backyard. But just installing the hide and seek show that we did in March of 23.
And really just all the artists and everybody that came together to put that together, working on the we had a children's nook and my mom's blanket area. But just I don't know, there's been times when we've just sat and painted together or our baking, or our bilingual story times that we in the community, right families, we invited them in, and had books that were inclusive, right? And people reading in English and Spanish, right? Because that's the community we were living in and serving right with these art spaces. Yeah, to create and then we had tea.
So creating so imagine this huge art space. And in the middle, we had a two chairs, and a little area with a chalkboard, because we wanted to invite people in we didn't want the conveyor belt walk through the gallery and walk out. We're using the chalkboard while the adults were sitting and lounging and just chilling and picking up books and reading or having a cup of coffee, right? Right.
My mom was crocheting. She was sitting in her chair comfortably. Right? Yeah.
Well, that made me think of what I really what one of the things I really loved about that was, Courtney brought her children, you had Sophia, my daughter wasn't there for that one. But my mom was and that it was generational. And it was, you know, making art with family and friends.
Well, your family and students, right? We brought in students, undergrad and grad students to not only showcase their artwork, but also we had one that did the clothesline project, right activist in nature. My little Sophia had her little section of art she had created and exhibited and curated the space for and shared it out and sold some pieces too. Right.
So yeah, no, um, I just, it was so cool, just seeing everybody work together. And, and the way we curated it, and this will be a later podcast, just, you know, rethinking the patriarchy of art galleries and art spaces and how people interact in the space and with the artwork and that we were inviting people in to touch and be there and be in the space. And it was just, it was a wonderful experience.
Well, and, and we facilitated conversations with women and local women business owners in the community, right, where we invited them in to have just a platica, a chat, right, and really got some positive feedback from all of those experiences. And one of the things that sticks out to me, and that you and I have discussed a lot over the years and, and have been writing about is creative acts as survival practices, right. And so this is something that Gloria AnzaldĂșa worked tirelessly in during her her life, right, often framing writing and creativity, and making and all of these interdisciplinary different forums as acts of search, survival, and self creation, right.
And so one of the things that, you know, sticks out really, in my memories, and in the work that we do, that I see a common thread that keeps coming up is the survival and the self creation, right. And how, you know, in doing this, we are healing ourselves, but we're also part of the healing process for each other. And AnzaldĂșa asked why she was compelled to write, and she answered, and I love this quote, by writing, I put order in the world to discover myself to preserve myself and to make myself right.
So we are, I believe, born creatresses, right? We are born as creators. We're all artists. And when we are intentional to sit and get grounded with ourselves in ourselves first, right, we are actively creating and making and then is when we can expel and share out.
But if we don't do that inner work first, right, how can we share that out? Oh, that's a really good point. That is a beautiful quote. I was thinking back to when I first moved to Taos and how uncomfortable in the place and my body I was.
So I took a ceramics class. And I remember just getting in there and touching the clay and making something. I love that.
Putting order into the world, taking earth and putting it into the shape of a vessel or a sculpture. It was really important to me at that time. And art still very much is.
That's just a very strong memory for me of how much I needed that when I first moved to a new place, like left my family and my job. Absolutely. Yeah.
And I think I think the other thing that that brings up is how we don't need to ask permission to be creative, right? Like we don't need we have our PhDs. We don't need our degrees, right? And I feel like I tell this to my students often to remind them, right, you do not need a degree, right, to give you permission or to validate the things that you already know in your body, right? Because you have we have that already in us, right? We don't need the gallery show, we don't necessarily need right, the large audience or the perfect result. If you make something, it's imagining, right? That's the that imagination that you're bringing something into the world that wasn't there before.
And this is what Gloria Anzaldua's work is largely about, right? The imagination is the creative act. And then the manifestation is whatever comes out of that, right? Whether it's the writing or the painting or whatever. And that's what I love that it is not limited.
You know, and you can get out right now I have a huge garden going and that very much feels like a creative act very much a part of, you know, planting and the dirt and watering and it's just beautiful. So that can broaden, you know, talking about order in the world. And it helps us survive, as you said, and that was what came to mind for me.
And so somewhere along the line, you'll hear us say, or many of us here, you're not an artist, you're not artistic, your work's not good enough. Makes me think, you know, children, like you said, we're born creatresses. But we have that taken from us, I think slowly by parents and teachers.
And we're told stay inside the lines, which isn't just stay in the lines of coloring, it's stay in the lines of life and culture. Stick to where you're supposed to be. You can't draw.
Art isn't a real job. I have a history degree. And I love my history degree, but I have it because my dad is like, and I love you, dad.
What are you going to do with an art degree? Or it's just a hobby. And even right now, there was something earlier that came up. And I still feel like my art making is just a hobby, or I'm not doing it because I have 5 million other things I'm trying to do.
I'll take classes just to force me to make art. Yeah, I love that about you. Yeah, yeah.
When you'll be like, look what I did in my class, right? You send me a picture. And it's wonderful. It's like, because if we're not intentional about creating those priorities, right? In some way, right? It can be so many different different ways.
I have my easel, my small little collapsible easel set up in my dining room with, you know, a canvas and blank canvas on it and my brushes and paint next to it to remind me so it's a visual cue, right? Maybe when I have a minute of downtime, or I'm frustrated and need to take a break, right? It's my visual cue. Okay, I can sit and make a mark. Right.
And I think that that's really powerful when we're thinking about how, when we're taking inventory in how does creativity get separated from our everyday life and handed over to a small group of people that are in the category of artists, right? And you and I were that title, but we were like a lot of other titles. So how can we be intentional through a holistic framework and a holistic approach to, you know, that it's this doesn't only belong to people who do this full time, whatever that means, right, and are showing at MoMA, right? It's for all of us. Right? No, that's an excellent point.
And then, unfortunately, even those that are making it, well, not unfortunately, making a career, but they are, that's their focus. They're often working, low paying side jobs, because even those that make it don't often make a lot of money. And that shows a bigger problem with our society is where we put our money and our value.
It's not on the arts. I went to a university where the football team had the biggest stadium and the biggest budget. And then our art school really, really needed some repairs.
So it just shows what's considered important in our world and what's not. So we make meaning in the world. And we can find that through, and we've said this, writing poems, baking bread, planting a garden, cooking, a family recipe, crocheting, which of course, makes me think of my mom.
I told her at that first show, I said, you're a fiber artist. And she was like, what? And then she really thought about it. She's like, I love that title.
Decorating your home. I think that's such a great example of how having these conversations, right? These conscious raising, right? Speaking with others, we can offer each other language, right? We can imagine and notice something about someone else and offer up that language, right? With them and for them. Your example just reminded me of a friend that I have who is an amazing badass woman.
And she does amazing work at a neighborhood art space in Erie, Pennsylvania. And when I met her, her work is like blew me out of the water. She's an activist.
She does all this stuff. And I'm like, my gosh, like, you and I are an amazing artist. And she was like, taken back.
She was like, right, she never self described herself as an artist until our relationship. And, and then she describes herself as an artist now, right? But it's offering that up. I mean, that's a beautiful offering to, to share with your with your mom, right? And for her to see herself in a new imagined way because of it.
Now, well, and when she sold some of her stuff at the first show at your house, she was so excited. My mom makes a coochie coosies. Oh, yeah, we should put that on our Instagram story.
Yes. There's a great picture of all these. So I'll give a quick explanation.
They're shade koozies. They go like on a can, but they have a vulva on the outside and she in every shape, color. She did pride ones.
Anyway, I have this picture on the coffee table that we need to get that out there. Yeah, we should add that to our to our stuff so people can can see. But and my mom's a badass.
We're not talking about she is she cusses like a sailor. And, you know, she says what she thinks she's brilliant. She's amazing.
But I still love the idea that people would think somebody in their 70s would be embarrassed to make coochie koozies. Oh, hell no. Embraces it and is loud and proud about it.
I love that. Yeah. So I love that idea that we can't always see the amazing things that we do until somebody we love sees us.
And I what I hope is to if somebody tells me Oh, X thing about me is that I can hear it. I don't block it out. No, no, no, that's not true to say thank you.
I or we can sit with it right and really use it to be present with it. And does it feel right in my body? Is this true? Right? In my spirit? Yeah. So why do so many people stop creating or consider themselves not creatives or artists? Right? Like, how many people even listening this to this podcast are thinking, Oh, well, right? Maybe I used to love doing stuff when I was a kid, right? But I don't do that anymore.
Right? That's when I was young. Right? Yeah, that. I have a friend of mine.
I love her dearly. And her husband is an artist. And Sal, you know, and so a lot of people ask her, well, you're an artist too.
And she'll say no. And then her husband points out, Chrissy, what you've done with the garden and the chickens and all these other amazing things. That's your art.
And I'm still not sure she sees it that way. But yeah, yeah, just Yeah, well, and I think that that brings up how sometimes along the way, we might learn fear, right around these, these identities and the stereotypes associated with them. We learned that creativity should be judged for whatever reason, right? We learn about comparison and competition, about perfectionism, we learn that some people are artists and the rest of us are not right, whatever, whoever sets up those standards and guidelines, right.
And because of that, many people stop creating altogether. But what happens if we take that back and reclaim that for ourselves as creativity as joy, not performance, right, not attached to expectations, or the perceived expectations that I should be having about how I should be feeling about this, right? Because that's the how can we change our mindsets, and recognize that these are the thoughts that that are going through, right? I like that creativity is joy, not performance. And going back to that, we learn comparison.
It's like mine's not good. Theirs is, you know, people are gonna like this one, but not mine. And what if creativity doesn't have to be good? What if it's not about making money? What if it's not just content for social media? These, you know, and just thinking about why do we make art? What if creativity is valuable, simply because it brings us joy, connection, healing, expression, or rest? I love that part of rest, you know, when you make art, if it allows you to come into your body and be in the moment and quiet the head.
I know that I lose track of time when I'm doing artwork, whether it's baking or ceramics or painting, I lose track because I'm in my body. I'm doing what I want to be doing. Yeah.
So we would love to hear from you all listening to this and wondering how do you create a creative community and rituals or practices for yourself, right? What comes up for you after hearing this conversation with us? And share with us in the comments or email us. Yeah, I cannot wait to hear what other people are doing in their community or their creative acts that they do alone or with others. I'm really excited to hear what people share.
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(Transcribed by TurboScribe. Go Unlimited to remove this message.)
