We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Marilyn Traeger a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Marilyn, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. We’d love to hear about a project that you’ve worked on that’s meant a lot to you.

You don’t know what you don’t know and I don’t know what I don’t know! Sometimes I think that much of life is a series of projects – some more meaningful than others. Sometimes you don’t realize you are in the midst of a project or that it is meaningful until a little or a lot of time has passed.

Recently, I stumbled across the term liminal. I found that liminal is from the Latin word ‘limen’, which means threshold. And that a liminal space is the time between ‘what was’ and ‘next.’ It is a place of transition, a time of waiting and not knowing the future.

A lot of what I read about being in a liminal space sounded uncomfortable and angsty. However, liminal space can also promote great understanding and growth. I can’t help but think that making art is all about spending time in the land of liminal – often annoying, sometimes joyfully life-giving, but always compelling. Those are feelings I have come to expect whenever I am creating anything. Paintings. Gardens. Lessons. Events. Homes. Prose. I seldom know what will happen next.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

My deep love of creativity, art, and learning as well as my parent’s and teacher’s support brought me to my 37-year career as a public school art teacher. During that time I was fortunate to “plork” in every grade level, with magnet students, a museum, and a university. The word “plork” means to play, learn, and work – Thank you Julia.

Although I was honored to receive too much state and local recognition for my teaching and my art, I am most grateful for the relationships I had and still have with my students, their parents, and other educators I met along the journey. Sometimes they become my partners in crime, because as Linda Emm once said, “One is work and two is a field trip!”

One might think that 37 years of teaching is enough. But it is not! During “retirement” I have stumbled upon many opportunities to share my love of art, creativity, and learning with others. The Fund 4 Design & Art Education, I Want to Draw I Want to Paint, The Gallery of Light, artandgratitude.org, and tutoring middle and high school students develop their portfolios.

If you are open, opportunities find you. Sometimes you say no, because the idea doesn’t resonate, and time is precious; but more often than not I say yes. I eagerly look forward to stepping out of my latest liminal space into whatever comes next! Please feel free to contact me if you would like my help with any of the following: Organizing a new project, teaching art, making Wix Websites, drawing, creating in Procreate, or preparing an Art Portfolio.

Have any books or other resources had a big impact on you?

The subjects of the two nonfiction books have significantly impacted my thinking this year. You might think they are total opposites. However, upon closer examination, James Clear’s Atomic Habits and Rick Rubin’s The Creative Act; A Way of Being, are so very connected in more ways than I can begin to explain.

Each of them literally spoke to me, I first listened to each on Audible encouraging me to revisit them and listen again and again. Even though my learning style is visual and kinesthetic, I understand better visually and on paper, listening to each author’s voice was an intensely moving experience. They are talking to me. They are in my ear and in my head!

I was compelled to purchase the hardcover Creative Act so I could write all over it in response to Rick’s thoughts. Did you know there is actually a term for that? It is “marginalia” which refers to notes or embellishments in the margins of books. When I was in school I would highlight and take notes in my textbooks to better understand the main ideas. But now I ask questions, add exclamations, underline, and make comments and reminders for just me. There is no test!

You can continue the party with James by signing up for his 321 emails. https://jamesclear.com/3-2-1. It is free and shows up in your mailbox weekly. Every Thursday, the latest issue is sent to over 2,000,000 people. Each message includes 3 short ideas from JC, 2 quotes from others, and 1 question for you to ponder. I love it because the subjects are so random and it makes me think.

Because I want to find meaning in my art, I need Rick. Because I need to create a system for making art consistently, I need James.
Their thinking might resonate with you too. Let me know what you think.

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Have you ever had to pivot?

When I was sitting in a rather tedious art education class my senior year, one of the students said, “The only thing that you can always count on is change.” I naively thought he made up that statement and that it was the most brilliant thing I had ever heard! It was only much later that I found the original quote came from Heraclitus. It goes like this, “There is nothing permanent except change.”

Change and the pivot it can create is neither a good nor a bad thing – it just is. Here’s an example. My friends and I had envisioned a gallery in the unused library at our synagogue as a place for local artists and the community to explore the wonders of spirituality and the visual arts. We worked tirelessly, thankful for the opportunity and the possibilities it brought with it.

We spent months fundraising, programming, networking, creating social media and a website. And then the very month the renovations were completed our state was placed on COVID lockdown!

Our pivot brought about a robust 2020-21 virtual season which included 6 gallery openings, 14 art workshops, 16 artalks, over 40 artists, hundreds of Zoom participants. You can get a sense of it here: https://vimeo.com/581296501?share=copy This pivot provided the unique opportunity to reach and connect with people from all over the world. Probably needless to say, it brought an abundance of joy and purpose to a very difficult time.

Contact Info:

• Website: marilyntraeger.com
• Instagram: @marilyntraeger
• Facebook: marilyn traeger
• Vimeo: https://vimeo.com/581296501?share=copy https://vimeo.com/583039762?share=copy https://vimeo.com/user113792449/photo?share=copy