On Making Knowledge Yours | Studio Notes
08. Full Moon - May 2025
I’m considering making Studio Notes a monthly publication, though I like the bi-weekly rhythm of sharing something here. I’m about to start a 6-week writing workshop in Corporeal Writing, where I’ll explore new, embodied approaches to creativity. Maybe I’ll generate material I’ll want to share with you, and if so, I’ll put it in a different section, under Writing Portals, the new home for my creative freewrites. So you can still expect something from me in synch with the new and full moon, and because I want this Substack to complement my practice (not overtake it), I’ll share one or the other based on how I feel.
Writing Lately
I’ve been working on an essay off and on since January. What I thought would be a simple, straightforward piece to write turned out to be this ever-growing, morphing, transforming, living, and breathing… thing. A couple of months ago, a Dropbox syncing issue (I won’t bore you with the details) meant I lost part of the work I had painstakingly done. Great distress ensued. Now I know the process was to lead me somewhere else altogether. The mysterious ways of Creativity never fail to astonish me. I am not in control; in fact, control is often what stands in the way. Surrender.
Something I’m grappling with in my writing is how to weave research in without relying so much on the words and metaphors of others; how to lend my unique voice and creative expression to something I learned in a book, something I’m in the process of making sense of. In a sense, writing is making knowledge yours. As much as I love researching, reading, and notetaking as intellectual exercises, I see understanding and insight as embodied experiences — the outcome of cohesive subliminal processes through which knowing becomes possible. Throughout the writing lab, I intend to explore the possibility of a more holistic, mind-body approach to meaning-making — one in which conceptual understanding and the poetics of sensory experience amplify each other.
This leads me to the question of attributing sources in the context of a creative non-fiction piece. I’m considering compiling a list of “Works Consulted” over a more formal reference list, something I’ve seen other writers do, such as Lilly Dancyger in First Love, her essay collection on friendship featuring admirable examples of braided forms. I’m mainly trying to break free from the academic writing habits that continue to shape my work, restricting form, flow, and expression in exchange for a more authoritative structure and tone. Even though I’m drawn to writing about a broad range of what I consider “important” and “serious” topics, I don’t want to pretend I’m an expert on anything, projecting an aura of authority via robust claim substantiation. I’m an artist with mystical, occult leanings. I romanticize the Unknown and long for what is hidden and beyond reach. I long to be broken open by the unbearable, exquisite, heart-shattering, terrifying magnificence of the Sublime. I write from there. I’m biased.
Painting Lately
I’m taking a break from the Megalithic Cyborg series to return to the more earthy, organic feel of wood grain backgrounds. I like how the wavy pattern informs my choice of composition. This painting is based on a small concept sketch I drew a few years ago. Flipping through the pages the other day, I felt a visceral response to the swan symbolism, enough so that I knew there was something in it for me to uncover. I shall find out.
Wishing you all a regenerative Scorpio full moon. Feel free to share your thoughts about the connection between writing, studying, research, knowledge, and knowing if you feel so inclined. <3