Heart to Art

Explaining what my art is to me is never an easy thing. It's always complicated to explain something that is so broad and so diverse and has such an impact on my life. Art has always been important to me. In my high school year book everyone had to write what they wanted to be. I put "world famous artist". To me art has always meant more than just painting or drawing or sculpting. It also means writing. It means combining the two, which could mean illustrating my own work or someone else's writing. Or making the words themselves into a visual experience. 

"Split Earth" cuff bracelet

Yes, I do a variety of work. In the past year I've worried a lot about my art lacking a specific focus. I guess my whole life has been like that up until now. I've neglected my art career over the last decade quite a bit. In the 1990's I was in several juried shows, particularly for my silversmithing work, participated in group exhibitions, and had my work displayed in galleries throughout Western Canada. Could I even name one of those shows today? Nope... I lost all the information ages ago, probably when I moved to Germany, where I completed my MBA. That was a waste of time for me!

Well, maybe not completely. I did manage to visit some awesome galleries and museums. I got kicked out of the Louvre because I didn't hear the closing announcement and was still sketching and looking at work. <sigh> And I was about the 10th person in that day. I still didn't get to see everything I wanted, in that museum and several others. I'm hoping to go back again someday, perhaps when my kids are a little older. That way I can take them along and they can enjoy it, too.

I read a great quote from another artist earlier today:

"...I have stopped believing in a lot of what is thought of as art these days. It’s as if a couple of hundred, dull-headed middle-aged men and women – not just artists, but educators, curators, gallerists, and critics – have come up with a set of rules to define what real art and real artists are. The rules are vague and yet still as constrictive and moralistic as anything concocted by a Reformation cleric. Which is, I guess, exactly what one should expect since art became a kind of religion in the late 20th century, a cargo cult for the upper-middle-class, with the artists themselves playing make-shift shamen." - Hazel Dooney

It reminds me a lot of when I was in art school, back at the University of Calgary. It seemed that the professors were so pretentious and that if your art wasn't similar to theirs and what they thought art should be, it simply didn't matter. And even if you met all of the "technical" and other criteria that was outlined in an assignment, you could fail for their own judgement mattered most. It had to be the "art" they wanted it to be. And realism was greatly frowned upon at that time. It's one of the reasons that I switched my major from drawing to English composition (writing). And the dean of humanities almost didn't let me, because I had so many art courses that it was usually looked at as a double major. I bit the bullet and had art put on my transcript as a minor. Meh... I'm not sure it matters at all today. What I think matters most is the art itself.

Nowadays I make a lot of different things, artistically. I still do quite a bit of jewellery. And as drawing was my major, I do a lot of that. I sculpt. I make armour. I paint. My topics for all artistic mediums include landscapes, animals, people, historical and mythic subjects (my art professors hated that!), and some more controversial things. I'm very interested in fantasy, sexuality, and the human condition. And so I explore these things in my art and my writing. Even when I make jewellery I want it to be at least somewhat artistic. I rarely do anything that isn't like that any more (I'm glad I don't have to).

Art is truly the core of my heart. It is in everything I do and how I view the entire world. It influences everything I do - so it's no wonder it was such torture for me to be a full time accountant, which I did for a number of years (due to family pressure, particularly those I had married). I realized a couple of years ago that I had to live my life for me firstly. And then for my children. And that is all that matters, truly! My kids needed a sane dad. I was literally losing my hair and having a lot of health problems because of the stress of my life. And a huge portion of that was coming from doing work that I hated. Since I've been back to doing art full time, I've been healthier, happier, and easier to get along with. And my kids love that I can actually spend some real time with them! They their priorities straight -- they'd rather I spent time with them than worked tonnes and tonnes away from home to make a living. And being an artist allows me the flexibility to be with them on the days they live with me (they spend half of their time living with their mom).

With my kids I never have to explain my art. They simply accept that all the things I do are okay, and it doesn't have to fit into a particular style or genre or medium of work. I can make a leather belt with cool drawings all over it one day and the next day do the plans for a historical Norse Spangenhelm, complete with cool dragon knotwork in brass, then the next day work on an abstract drawing or painting, and a week later be doing something realistic. My son's favourite, of course, is when I draw monsters. He loves the fantasy theme work. And my daughter's favourites are my butterfly series and my fairies (sometimes I think I do those just for her) and one of my abstract paintings.

So, really, how do I define my art? There is no simple way to do so. I have to say that it is whatever inspires me, regardless of medium or topic, genre or style. My art ranges from the abstract to the comic, to realistic to fantasy, to wearable couture to the impractical and modern, from family oriented to sexually provocative. Maybe it's because I'm complex and don't fit into a simple mould. Nor would I want to. Life is much too interesting for that.