Artist Feature: Jocelyn Hunter
Artist, Reiki Practitioner and Yoga Teacher
Unfiltered Creativity
Anne Heart: Tell us a little about your creative process?
Jocelyn Hunter: I am a silversmith and have been creating sterling and gemstone jewelry for the past 20 years. As a professional artist, my creative process has been hijacked by the need to monetize my creations. What’s going to sell? How can I reduce my costs? How much money can I get for this piece? These are questions that guide my art production and quite frankly have started to suck the joy out of doing it. When the pandemic hit and I knew sales were going to plummet, I decided to make a deal with myself. What if I give myself permission to just create whatever I want? Don’t worry about sales or marketing. Nice concept, and one would think it should be easy, but I actually have had to make it a conscious practice. I chose to work with a different medium, sculpting with felt, to see what happens, and similar subconscious programming popped up. This piece is taking too much time. That was a stupid design mistake. I must not waste the raw materials. I need to know why I am creating this thing. What’s it for? Is it good enough? These critical thoughts are stifling, pervasive, and I give them way too much power. How can I nourish my creative energy and give it more freedom to flourish? This is a concept I want to explore not only in my arts and crafts space, but in all areas of my life. How can I practice truly being free, to create what my heart desires, to do what I want to do, and to live the life that I want to live? And how can I stop passing on these restrictive programs to the next generation?
A: So I’m hearing you are wanting to set your creative voice free. To create without subconscious and conscious controls. This makes me curious, where do you feel your unfiltered creative voice comes from?
J:I believe we are spiritual beings having a human experience. We are divine consciousness, lifeforce energy, inhabiting a human body. Creativity is lifeforce energy. My creative voice comes from this spiritual consciousness. There is a part of me that innately understands my power to manifest thoughts and ideas into form, the abstract as concrete. It is my birthright. We all have creative energy available to us, and we all use this energy in different ways.
A: What happens inside you when you are free enough to listen?
J: When lifeforce energy is flowing freely through me, I feel connected to all of creation, plugged into divine purpose, and a deep sense of belonging. When I am free enough to listen to my own creative voice, my life becomes more easeful, more joyful, and more authentically mine. I find it easiest to tap into this energy when I am in the kitchen cooking and baking, when I am working with certain mediums (items that are not for sale), and when I am in nature, or inspired by nature.
A: You said you want to stop passing on these restrictive programs to the next generation and you've been really diving into this practice with your work this past year. Do you have any words of wisdom you'd want to whisper in the ear of young children and artists today?
J: My Mom always supported my creative impulses. Even though money was tight, she always found time and resources for experimenting, especially in the kitchen, baking bread, decorating cakes and cookies, making cheese and yogurt, trying new recipes, etc. We learned to eat what you made as long as it was edible and try again if it didn’t turn out the way you wanted. I think her permission giving was essential for the early development of my inner artist. We always had a sewing machine and textiles were fun and inexpensive projects, like quilting and embroidery and making clothing. The feminine arts. Still drives me crazy how textiles are deemed less valuable than paintings, comparing the price tags of art quilts versus oil paintings. I’ve tried both. The quilts demand so much more time and skill in my opinion! I guess my message would be just create, follow desire, give permission to make mistakes, and stay curious.
