Joan Mitchell, Paris, France
Joan Mitchell (1925 – 1992) in her studio, Paris, France, September 1956. Photo: Loomis Dean / The LIFE Picture Collection / Shutterstock.

Invitation and Theme – Winter 2025: Stuck!

Being “stuck” is something all artists encounter at one point or another—it might even be a constant experience. So how do you figure out a way out of a creative dead-end or start when artist’s block besets you?

This issue will offer an opportunity for our contributors to compare notes on what gets your creative juices flowing. We invite you to share examples of works that you managed to resolve and tell us what creative strategies you used. What choices and decisions did this involve? How did you discover what you really wanted to say, what new direction to take?

Stuck Carracci Hercules at the crossroads copy
Annibale Carracci, The Choice of Hercules, oil on canvas, 65 x 93 in. (166 x 237 cm), 1596, Capodimonte Gallery, Naples (photo: Wikimedia Commons).

One possible approach to this theme would be for you to have a conversation with a friend (not an interview!). This could take the form of a show and tell, in which you would get feedback, seek a second opinion, and share your experiences resolving works. Each of you could pick one work (or a few in a series) that you’re not pleased with, that feels unresolved, that you are stuck on, that feels unfinished, and that troubles you. After sharing with your partner your intentions for the work(s), you would invite them to discuss how to resolve it, where to go from here: should you abandon it or keep trying? You could show and discuss works that you are happy with. If possible, you could even send us a photo of the work before AND after you’ve worked on it based on the feedback you received.

Stuck Dark Dreams Ingres copy 2

Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres, Oedipus and the Sphinx, oil on canvas, 74.4 x 56.6 in. (189 x 144 cm), 1808, Musée du Louvre, Paris (photo: Wikimedia Commons).

Let us know about your “go-to” strategies to get unstuck. Do you sweep the studio floor (or clean your entire house), wedge clay, take drugs, organize your thumb tacks, cruise Instagram, send texts, organize your pastels, take a nap, walk in nature, stretch canvases, prime surfaces to paint on? Do you turn the canvas you are working on upside down, look at old paintings, take a picture of the work in progress, or put it away to “let it rest”? Do you recycle and repurpose earlier work that you are dissatisfied with, painting or collaging over it, taking it apart and reusing these bits and pieces, giving them a new lease on life? Is feeling stuck in your personal life and in these uniquely uncertain times reflected in your work as an artist? If so, how do you express it? Does your art help?

We look forward to the remarkable privilege to see work that’s in process, unfinished, and unsatisfactory and to benefit from your experience.

Stuck Portrait de l'artiste au Christ jaune de P Gauguin (Grand Palais Paris) (26391788479) copy

Paul Gauguin, Self-Portrait with Yellow Christ, oil on canvas, 15 x 18 in., 1890/91, Musée d’Orsay, Paris.

Deadline: 1 December 2024.

Guidelines for UMVA Members’ Showcase:We invite MAJ member artists to participate in the Showcase (become a UMVA member).

  • For Stuck issue, submit up to four JPEG or png images (NO TIFF files), approximately 2800 pixels on longest side, resolution 72dpi.
  • Label each image file as follows: your last name_Number of Image_Title (with no spaces in the title). Please DO NOT put whole caption/credit in image file label, see image list/caption format below (if you are submitting for a group put your own last name in first).
  • Include a numbered image list and statement or brief essay (600 words or less) in Word doc. format, NOT a PDF.
  • Image list/caption format: create a list that is numbered to match the number in your image file label that includes the following in this order: Artist’s Name, Title of Work, medium, size (example: 9 x 12 in.), date (optional), photo credit (example: photo: Ansel Adams) if not included we assume it is courtesy of the artist. Example: Unknown Artist, Untitled, oil on canvas, 9 x 12 in., 2000 (photo: Ansel Adams).
  • Label your document file names: Last Name_Title.
  • Please wait until all of your material is compiled to submit.

Put “Stuck” in the subject line and submit by email to umvalistings@gmail.com by the 1 December 2024 deadline. MAJ will limit the “Members’ Showcase” section to UMVA members who have not been published in the past year.

Do not send preformatted visual essays. Our editors will lay out text and images submitted using the guidelines above.

It is the MAJ’s policy to request and then publish image credits. We will not publish images the submitter does not have the right to publish. However, it is to be assumed that any uncredited or unlabeled images are the author’s/submitter’s own images. By submitting to the MAJ, you are acknowledging respect for these policies.

Thank you for your interest and support.

MAJ editors: Natasha Mayers, Nora Tryon, Véronique Plesch and Betsy Sholl (poetry editor).