Meet Dorah Blume

We had the good fortune of connecting with Dorah Blume and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Dorah, we’d love to hear about how you approach risk and risk-taking.
Each person needs to know their risk tolerance. Some people think starting a business or making a life in the arts is highly risky, while I always felt a regular 9-5 job, especially if it were going to be something I hated, would be life-threatening.

Hooking up with an inappropriate life partner is highly risky, so I’ve been very conservative in that area of my life.

I’ve taken many risks in business and in my creative work. Many of my projects involved learning a whole new craft, forcing me to learn how to work with new materials. I always encounter discomfort at the outset, and part of me wants to give up.
Being a beginner over and over again has become a pattern throughout my life.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
Whether teaching yoga, designing a logo, or writing a short story, the assignment is to remove the obstacles so the essence is left—unblocking energy to get to the gold, the flow. My willingness to follow my curiosity into a wide range of creative pursuits and drill down to the basics is part of my signature. This has required that I be a perpetual beginner, which is a humbling position, but it’s where I live when I take on a creative project. Whether it be a copper-clad door, a 30-episode podcast series, or a historical novel, I struggle at the start until I can learn my way, allowing the unconscious to lead the way. I’m not a jogger who likes steep inclines, but as an artist, I’ve always embraced steep learning curves to create something out of nothing, following my curiosity and determination to finish.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
LA is such a rich, exciting place, and I’ve barely scratched the surface of what to see and do. I’d take my friend for a walk along Echo Park Lake, grab a delicious hot meal at Erewhon on Santa Monica in Silver Lake, show them the Mosaic House in Venice, and challenge them to climb all the memorable staircases throughout the city.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
So many individuals and institutions moved me toward carving out a life in the arts. From a high school art teacher, Joan Babineau, to the experience of Bennington College, where creativity and artistic pursuits trumped required courses and exams—where I learned to question, take creative risks, and think for myself. Putting writing in the first position, which I could do while attending graduate school at Emerson College in my 40s, to the broad community of writers I’ve cultivated since. I owe my passion for prompted writing to Pat Schneider, founder of the Amherst Writers and Artists method of creative writing, which helps us find, claim, and express our writers’ voices. To both of my sons, who treasured my quirkiness and tolerated the unexpected from a parent who listened to the voice within even when it meant we had to navigate some very lean economic times.

Website: https://dorahblume.com

Instagram: dorahblume

Image Credits
For personal head shot: Claire Brueckner