This gallery contains 1 photos.
Difficult things may be more easily read. The words on the page create a space between the reader and the writer that helps make ugliness or sadness if not more tolerable then easier to turn away from. But images can linger in the mind, and call the person seeing them back to look again even when the looking is uncomfortable. Continue reading
When I started to work on developing my blog, I thought about all the things that interest me. There are far too many. So I whittled them down to the things that I thought were the most important, the things I felt most passionate about. One of the those is the way people combine their imaginations with the tools they have around them to create unique art and objects. Then they find a way to sell those creations, and use the money earned to support themselves and their communities.
Sometimes they are taken advantage of; but other times their efforts spur others into helping them. I remember meeting the owner of a gallery in Bermuda who worked with some of the Shona master carvers from Zimbabwe. In his words and his eyes you could feel and see how much he loved the sculpture they created and how much he cared for and respected the artists he worked with.
He cared enough to make sure they were well paid, had what they needed to do their work and to help them find commissions. He was the kind of person I had in mind when I created my Arts For Life page. There I wanted to list the kinds of people or groups whose purpose was to make strong and useful links between art and artists in communities that need support and people who want to support them. The page has languished, but the interest remains strong.
As in life, so in art – supporting those who produce by making sure they are paid fairly helps to create and sustain strong communities. And the best part about it is, you can create a little bit of beauty in someone else’s life while buying something beautiful to cheer your own. I hope you will.
And if you know of other groups that I should include on this page, please let me know!
Posted in artists, Life and living, On Art
Tagged art, artists, compassion, creativity, Fair Trade
Sometimes there just isn’t room enough for everything I love in my life. The music I am listening to is distracting, the book I am enjoying reading demands my time, the painting waiting to be finished calls and calls, I want time to see how things are with friends and family. So I scatter myself here and there and end up feeling unsatisfied. Some things are accomplished, but it never feels like enough.
Finally I turn off the radio, take my fingers off the keyboard, put the top of the laptop down and watch the leaves on the trees blowing in the wind gusting past my window. Such simple things to do. Why don’t I do them more often? I know that sometimes I need to make space for silence, for contemplation, for the pause that will bring me back to who I am and what I want to do.
It seems that somewhere along the way we have learned that we should be constantly active, always doing. Contemplation and quiet are ‘down time’. And the only value of ‘down time’ is that it is a bridge to the next ‘up time’.
I have decided that I prefer to think of the quiet times as an inhalation, a time for taking things in. Like breathing, those quiet times are necessary for a healthy life. After a deep breath we feel better, more focused, more relaxed. Like watching the tide ebb, it gives us a chance to see what lies underneath the surface.
Perhaps we need to ebb before we can flow.
Between Earth and Sky
Is the creative person more fragile, more lonely, more likely to risk all and fail? And if so, is that something which creative people must live with, a risk that goes with the territory? Why?
Elizabeth Gilbert, author of “Eat, Pray, Love”, has her own thoughts about this. In this TED video she talks about the creative life with humour, insight and humility – and invites us to think about creativity in a way that allows us to enjoy the gifts it brings without being paralyzed by the fear of failing.
Here she is:
