Artists Are Sacred Space & So Is Their Creativity
A few years ago, I was toiling along as a single Black mother of five young Black boys. I thought to myself "What would I want right now if I could have it?". I had my aha moment in that moment. I wanted a block of time, in a peaceful space to create artwork that would be meaningful for me while producing some new children. Art children! Oh! And I wanted it in a different space. Away from my daily hustle. 
“I created the sacred, creative support I would have wanted.” We as the keeper of time through creating, are sacred and so is our creative practice. It should be honored.

My first love was my art...and I nurtured it. 
I am not more special than any other creative with an urge to make from the spirit. I AM a fighter determined to have my first love outside of my Dad and that love is artmaking. Activating the energy that speaks to my spirit whether it be painting, writing, cooking, baking, dancing (and if only I could sing!). Not everyone has the bandwidth to do the research and fill out the application...but I do! 

With all the challenges life offers, I have always refused to sacrifice the part of myself that needed to create. It may not have always shown up as a painting or quilt or traditional medium, but I've learned to express through my cooking, writing or experimenting with adding my creativity to everyday mundane activities. I determined that the innate ability to use my creativity as a vehicle for expression was my birthright. I was... AM worthy of the time and space needed to allow my creative self to shine through. Let me help you get there as well! Artist services - KOTTAVEI

#Kottaveiinflux #KottaveiInResidence #ArtmakingPractice #creativity #Woman #IncubateGrowEvolve #ArtistServices

Be an entrepreneur they said! It'll be fun they said!

​I've heard more than a few people say "work for yourself so you don't have to answer to anyone else!" The truth is when you are an entrepreneur you don't have one boss. You have MANY!" Every client. Every order. Every business encounter demands your time and you must answer the call to be effective.
"The amount of work involved to get a business going is beyond any 9 to 5" 

​Maybe it's easier to just to choose someone's 9 to 5 but truthfully, I'm not built like that. I want to create a better space & world for my creativity to grow up in. My inner girl deserves THE absolute BEST! This requires me to leap over obstacles others would have tripped over!

All the things entrepreneurs may not tell you...
You will lose sleep.
It may take a minute to profit.
Your vision was not a conference call.
You friends & family may not be your biggest supporters.
It may be lonely.
You may have to amend the original direction often.
Some days you'll be the only one who believes in you.
Your kids don't care your need to work. Neither does your grocery shopping, home maintenance, laundry nor bill paying.
Every piece of your life wants it's due.

And these are just a FEW things! So why do it at all? Why not take an easier road? For me as a Black Woman moving through the world, I still believe that there is the potential to make this world better beyond myself. The world does not end nor begin with me, however, while I'm still in it, I'm going to LIVE!

#Kottaveiinflux #KottaveInResidence #CreativePeace #BlackWomen #SacredSpace #Dreams #IncubateGrowEvolve #flight #Icarus #Phoenix

Artists Have Temperamental Inner Children

​She always wants to play...she is me.
I understand clearly the frustration of a toddler as they fling themselves onto the floor crying and rolling around with frustration. I've been there MOST days.
Wanting to be free to create but tethered to the responsibility that often time comes when being an adult. I still have not found a balanced work/ life harmony or place to reconciled the fact that this may be my ongoing struggle.

​But I look forward to the "letting go" very soon. I liken my life to baking a cake. You must measure accurately. You must have the right ingredients...but we all know the best cakes have a sprinkle of something extra that can't be named. The cakes are LOVED into existence! 
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I don't normally negotiate with toddlers as they can be unwavering terrorists when trying to get their needs met. My inner child refuses to negotiate with me either and gets her way many times.

I have missed and been awaken from a sound sleep at an ungodly hour, typically the hour of the creatives, to paint or quilt or sketch or simply document an artistic moment to come. I've been likened to a bird seemingly flitting from place to place but trust that it's all purposeful flitting and flying. I ALWAYS want to make my art or write...but sometimes I have to rock the inner toddler to a level of comfort so we can play another day.

#Kottaveiinflux #KottaveiInResidence #ArtmakingPractice #BlackWomen #BlackWoman #IncubateGrowEvolve #WhyIWillAlwaysChooseToPlay

Well for one, I'm Black AND a women!

I ALWAYS want to see me in the artwork I make! And if I don't see me, I want to see my melanated sisters... if the artwork requires a slash of blue on a yellow background, I can tell you which Black Woman inspired the abstraction.

“Black Women in my opinion are the archetype for every other woman.”I'm not debating this or asking that you agree. It is just what I believe when looking at what manifests at the hands of a Black Woman.
Take up space unapologetically
My master's studies in art education centered around how Black women are portrayed in art and how they see themselves or not. Young Black women have often given up on the idea of embracing their creativity because the imagery portrayed of Black women is negative or simply nonexistent. There IS room for us to take up space visually loud expressing what is most important to us. It is important that we show what we want to see.
#Kottaveiinflux #KottaveInResidence #CreativePeace #BlackWomen #SacredSpace #IncubateGrowEvolve

No one talks about this vortex!

Some days I get swallowed just like Jonah in the belly of the whale and all I can do is sit there waiting for that feeling of lostness to subside. How did I get here? WHERE did my time go? "Why is my 24 hours less than everyone else's?"

That's when I acknowledge that I DON'T slow down...Once I go to my 9-5, parent my children, complete household chores to keep the house standing and the occasional emergency my day has ceased being my own.

“If you are a Black Woman who is anything like me, you can't think about being free to do artmaking unless the whole world around you is settled first.” How did I get this way? Why do I feel as if I need permission from life's chaos around me to go get making?

We learn from watching...
I remember the Black Women around me keeping impeccable homes, making homemade meals and cheering on the family around them. I've felt at times that is was my tradition to be in continuum of that even though the world has changed drastically. I have neglected my artistic self sometimes trying to still be Keisha homemaker. My freedom of time came the day I decided to leave the dishes in the sink, the clothes unfolded. take a creative mental health day, dream, daydream, sketch, write, paint & give that time to my creativity instead of my responsibility. I saw that the world will still be there when I returned to it so I happily fell into the vortex releasing any ideal of what I SHOULD be doing or how and gave myself over to a personal clock that gives me ample space to make art.
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#Kottaveiinflux #KottaveiInResidence #ArtmakingPractice #BlackWomen #BlackWoman #IncubateGrowEvolve #TimeIsAnIllusion