Welcome to Issue #11: Escape

What is about summer days that invite us to escape the everyday? To step out of the familiarity of our comfortable spaces and explore what’s on the other side of the world. Or just on the other side of our town.

When I look back on my childhood, it’s almost like I can remember every summer vacation from school. I always loved going to school and learning about the world, yet I could easily immerse myself in another world on those hot summer days: the world of my mind. I escaped the boredom with books and found myself in places like Oz, France, and Sleepyside, New York. I escaped the heat of the day creating world for my Barbies.

There was also the world outside to explore, especially the woods, where I could be an explorer or a pioneer or a fairy princess escaping from the wicked witch.

As an adult now, I know that my creative life is an escape, too. Though I no longer have that long stretch of summer with no responsibilities, immersing myself in my creative life mimics what I learned as a child. A good book still invites me into my own imagination and the world the author created. The simple act of making a salad allows me to indulge my senses and my artist’s eye as I pleasingly arrange tomatoes, cucumbers, avocado, and chicken atop greens.

I also know that sometimes, I just need to escape from myself. The adult responsibilities and worries can plague us and I like to think that no matter how challenging the world may feel, I can find an “out” by leaning into creation of some way.

I think about the symbiotic relationship between the beauty of real life and the desire for more is at the heart of why we create. The esoteric concept of escape is the vehicle that allows us to do that.

“I believe that stories are incredibly important, possibly in ways we don’t understand, in allowing us to make sense of our lives, in allowing us to escape our lives, in giving us empathy and in creating the world that we live in.”
–Neil Gaiman

Welcome to the third issue of 2018 – Issue #11: Escape.

When we were choosing themes for Modern Creative Life, we thought that choosing “Escape” was just the right subject to dive into as we enter the summer months and work our way towards fall. In what ways can all aspects of “escape” allows us to connect with our art, challenge our minds, and honor the joy of creation?

What can a fantasy world allow us to connect to in the real world? How does a world of imagination invite us to see ourselves more clearly? How might travel open us to new ways of living and creating?

Part of living a creative life is the understanding that we can stay firmly planted into our everyday life while allowing the desire to escape it, even for a moment, propel us to loving our lives even more deeply. We must refill our own wells in some way on a regular basis, otherwise, we find ourselves feeling trapped and restless. We remedy that by escaping in some way. A story of our own creation or the story of others. By allowing planes, trains, and automobiles to ferry us to another place, different from our own. Yet, still threads of the same.

Our souls demand that we uphold the responsibility of using our gifts. So how can we explore escape as a way to make that happen? This what we are exploring in this issue.

In this issue, you’ll get a peek into the daily lives of other creative folk in our Studio Tours and Typical Tuesday series, and meet people walking fascinating creative pathways in Conversations Over Coffee. With photos and fiction, poetry and essays, as well as all kind of enlightenment, help each of us find a deeper understanding into all the ways in which you create.

As always our mission at Modern Creative Life is to honor the pursuit and practice of joyful creativity. We believe that the creative arts enrich our everyday living, enhance our environment, create lasting connections, and sustain our souls. Please join us as we look to other creatives for ways in which they nurture and tend their own creative life so that they regularly find their process – and lives – feeling nourished instead of parched.

As we share the stories of other makers, use their experiences to illuminate your path into your own Modern Creative Life.

What stories might you have to share with the world? How does escaping into a world of your imagination make your daily life richer and more beautiful? Don’t be afraid for a deep dive into all sides of escape to give yourself – and others – a sense of permission to take time to restore their own hearts and minds.  We are open to single contributions as well as new regular contributors. Email us at moderncreativelife@gmail.com.

I can’t wait to see how ESCAPE speaks to you in the coming weeks.

With love,
Debra Smouse
Editor in Chief