Meredith Monk Quotes

The ultimate point of a piece for me is that it drives the next one. Does it open new doors? That's the success of a piece.

That's what's great about the arts. Everything inspires you, and you get a chance to grow from watching other people and how they do their work.

Artwork is not like a commercial business; there is no such thing as a schedule for art. You can't hurry art.

The creative process is not like a situation where you get struck by a single lightning bolt. You have ongoing discoveries, and there's ongoing creative revelations. Yes, it's really helpful to be marching toward a specific destination, but, along the way, you must allow yourself room for your ideas to blossom, take root, and grow.

What an artist learns matters little. What he himself discovers has a real worth for him, and gives him the necessary incitement to work.

I believe sometimes we aren't always in charge of everything that we do creatively. We submit to things as we're going on our own journey.

Nothing prepares you for making art except making art. You have to do it to get better.

Even if you're not releasing songs, the act of creativity is important. That's the part I love, when you're in the moment. The rest of it I'm not particularly interested in at all.

Often, especially young artists, you feel like you should be doing something. And I think that can be very destructive because creativity is about connecting with the stuff that's deep inside you and making something out of that.

I'm very interested to see how this new painting will go - I know I want it big and stark, and as I said, I follow the muse, and that's when it always works perfectly for me.

It is important to make your own stuff. Even if you are not an actor, it is important to not stop involving yourself as a creative person.

I draw the line at letting people into my songwriting cave. To me, that's where the alchemy happens and where the mystery is.

When I am composing, I try to clear my mind of having to publish, or having to sell a book or find readers. That kind of thinking gets in the way.

In any of the arts, you never stop learning.

I take this art very seriously and passionately. I love what I do. You can't help but grow. That's not to say you don't make mistakes or make bad choices, but that's part of the art. Painters paint bad paintings.

Like all artists, I go through creative spurts.

Everything that's created comes out of silence. Your thoughts emerge from the nothingness of silence. Your words come out of this void. Your very essence emerged from emptiness. All creativity requires some stillness.

The little dissatisfaction which every artist feels at the completion of a work forms the germ of a new work.

I think it's bad to talk about one's present work, for it spoils something at the root of the creative act. It discharges the tension.

There is nothing deeper than to work for a year with the same artist.

I think it's a great document of John Stevens' originality. At that time he was already much more fully formed in his conception than I was. I was sort of struggling to keep up, and sometimes it's pretty obvious.

I can't imagine anybody who ends up being an artist who didn't pass through a time of geekiness.

I think any kind of hiatus one takes in an artistic journey is going to make a huge difference. The pause will inform the choices that you make.

If at noon you sit down and there's just silence or blank tape, in an hour if you have a song, that didn't exist an hour ago. Now it exists and it might exist for a long time. There's something empowering about that.

I don't paint every day. I'm not that motivated. I don't do anything the same every day.