What does it take to be more present?
The latest from The Side Woo with Artist & Associate Professor Libby Black
On the latest episode of The Side Woo I talk with artist and professor Libby Black about sobriety, learning to stay present, lesbian visibility, teaching before and after the pandemic, and that time she swam the Rock, yes Alcatraz.
Libby on enjoying the process of training, then swimming Alcatraz (edited for content):
I was working with somebody to prepare for the swim, and they're like you are not part of the journey. You just want it to be done- which is all of this, right? Everything we go through. We're not patient. We want the sales. We want the shows. We want all this stuff, right?
Then as I was preparing for the swim I was like, ‘Libby, you are not doing this right.’ It was all about self-doubt. But I did it anyway. I decided all I gotta do is swim 90 laps in 45 minutes and I'll be able to make it for the whole race.
It’s finally the race and I jump in (from two stories off the deck of the boat) and I'm like, Libby, just get home. So I'm swimming, swimming. And then I remembered that I read somewhere, stop for a minute and look. Take a moment.
It’s clear from our conversation that Libby considered the larger implications of the challenges that came up while learning to swim in the frigid, dangerous waters of the San Francisco Bay. How many times do we fail to look around and be grateful for where we are and how far we’ve come? And why do we neglect to do so? I think, like Libby in the middle of the Bay surrounded by potential sharks and other aquatic creepy crawlies, it’s natural to be afraid when uncomfortable and we just want to get it over with as fast as possible. We spend all our time wondering how can I get rid of, or outrun my fear. Maybe if I go faster it won’t feel as bad.
I know I did that and missed being present for some really great moments with people and had experiences that I couldn’t appreciate when I was younger - and now too I suppose.
Like Libby, being sober has helped. Stopping drinking caffeine has helped too. Keeping the occasional gratitude journal. Meditation, walking, drawing, hot pots. And honestly the least fun one but maybe the most effective: loss. Experiencing the loss of people, pets, friendships, and career trajectories, and grieving the natural ebbs and flows of life has done a lot to snap me out of a fog that change is not inevitable.
What about you? What has helped you stay present?
About Libby Black
Libby Black is a painter, drawer, and sculptural installation artist living in Berkeley, CA. Her artwork charts a path through personal history and a broader cultural context to explore the intersection of politics, feminism, LGBTQ+ identity, consumerism, addiction, notions of value, and desire. She has exhibited nationally and internationally, with such shows as “California Love” at Galerie Droste in Wupertal, Germany; “Bay Area Now 4” at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts; “California Biennial” at the Orange County Museum of Art; and at numerous galleries in New York, Los Angeles, and San Francisco. Black has been an artist-in-residence at Headlands Center for the Arts in Sausalito, CA; Montalvo Arts Center in Saratoga, CA; and Spaces in Cleveland, OH. Her work has been reviewed in Artforum, Art in America, ARTnews, Flash Art, and The New York Times. She received a BFA from the Cleveland Institute of Art in 1999 and an MFA at the California College of the Arts in 2001. Libby is an Assistant Professor at San Francisco State University.
More art from Libby: