The Internal Journey: Two Books - Part 1 Daybook

Pith, 1969 — a minimalist sculpture by Anne Truitt,
who shared her process and her worries in a glorious book, Daybook.

Daybook chronicles Anne Truitt's journey as an artist over a period of seven years -- beginning in June, 1974. She had just been honored with two retrospective exhibits of her work at major institutions: the Whitney Museum in Manhattan and the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. 

Suddenly cast in the public eye, she lost track of herself. This book is a journal of her reactions to the attention, and of using writing as a way to deal with the anguish of self.

She says in her introduction, "the only limitation I set was to let the artist speak." Meanwhile, all the details of her life continued -- being a mother, keeping house, teaching, doing her work. All of these find their way into these pages again and again.

I've read the book before. (It has a prominent place on my nightstand.) I turn to it when I am lost in the direction of my artwork or my self, in the same way I turn to the ever-laughable voice of Anne Lamott and Bird by Bird for critical instructions to take it easy.

Truitt's artwork is hard-edged minimalist and abstract, but her writing is clear, honest, and meditative. There's poetry in her searching: "People who set their sails into art tend to work very hard" or "It was in this familial context that, one year after Sam's birth, my work suddenly erupted into certainty."

It's the process of writing that makes her see herself. Reading her words helps us see, not just the world she lives in, but our places in our worlds. 

Next post: another chronicle of daily activity and more thoughts on why they work