this past weekend i was gifted a 3-day printmaking course at Pratt Fine Arts (a birthday present from my parents!). it was the first art class i've taken since elementary school and it blew my mind. a playground of materials, colors, tools, and ideas, i soaked up every second of it and found myself sinking down into it and resisting the effort to resurface. the waterline of my life at this moment feels choppy and stuttering, like i'm waiting for that clear day when i can see that i've made my life revolve around what i love.
i learned a little bit about composition this weekend from my art teacher Romson Bustillo. he is an amazing meaning-maker! (check out his work here.)
he talked about shapes and how we orient them in space or on a page. triangles have to do with ascending, discovering "what's up there" or "what's out there" and are often linked with ideas of spirituality and faith (think of the tops of churches). squares are about tangibility, the here and now, they remind us of the things we lives with and that support us- buildings, furniture, the structural elements of our surroundings. circles represent universal truth, heaven and earth, are found surrounding spiritual beings.
he asked me important questions about my work, why i chose to etch a bird into my wood plate, what it represented for me, why the baseball hat, what is with the color green....? it was refreshing to confront my choices, tangibly, staring back at me and to have to find the answers inside myself. i'm used to to stumbling upon meaning through random play, but it is important to know why I make certain choices, to know what the images, colors, and shapes mean to me. it was a good reminder to look at the way i am ultimately making my life, the composition and organization and the intentions i set behind my choices, where i take myself, how i spend my time, to what efforts and fights i give energy.
to know why.
it's not to say that i have to know all the answers already, but i have to check in with myself to investigate the impulse. and open the door from there.
i chose to keep anchoring myself to the creative process. staying grounded in what i love, giving what i have, and working toward making that a possible reality for us all.
So are you going to show off the fruits of your labor, or what?? Can't wait to see what you made.
ReplyDeletePS I just had a Jauja :).