Art and Anxiety: A Lesson from Theater

Meredith Hinckley Schmidt as Olivia in "Twelfth Night"As my new paper sculpture series shows, anxiety has been an obstacle for me as an artist over the years–and I know it is an issue for other artists as well. What has helped me, among other things, is to talk to artists about how they deal with anxiety about their work.

This week I had the pleasure of seeing my daughter-in-law, Meredith Hinckley Schmidt, perform in Looseleaf Theatre Company’s production of Twelfth Night. As we debriefed the performance, she gave me an important insight about directing plays that spoke directly to my experience as a sculptor (she has had success as a director, actor, and educator).

She said that with theater, the director’s vision for the play–a cohesive production of her interpretation–is not realized until it is performed for an audience.  This means that the director is facing a work of art that is incomplete, in process, and disjointed until the very last minute. 

When I enter the studio and see my work before it is finished, still weak in some areas and not yet expressing what I want it to say, it can shake my confidence as an artist. But I remember that art takes time, and that I must have faith in the process.