A Surprise Phoenix
Oct 26, 2020
I awoke one morning not so long ago with a very sore forearm. I didn’t realize it at first, but upon trying to lift an insulated hydro flask, a sharp pain caused me to nearly drop the vessel. I donned elbow and wrist supports and spent some time massaging the arm. As I adjusted movement to work the computer and make myself a meal, I kept wondering what I had done to strain my arm in that way. The arm twinged frequently while I finished Mod Podging some leaves I had collected the day before. And it hit me. The action of working with these leaves was nothing I had ever done before and I was twisting oddly, clenching the muscles in my arms to fully cover the leaves. That realization halted my activity. I looked at the other Mod Podged leaves. And then raffia lying about. And some brown clay. Purple twine. Glue. Scissors. Crumpled paper and strips of cloth. My living room overflowed with odd objects and art utensils. Goodness, I thought, I’m a closet visual artist.
Please note that I have long avoided visual arts, claiming I both felt uncomfortable with the artform and awkward with painting, sculpting, drawing and on and on. Sure, I did requisite arts activities as a kid and on occasion have reluctantly participated in visual arts experiences in teaching artist trainings. But I never found myself interested in pursuing any of it with any seriousness.
And yet here I am. My home filled with objects, tools and utensils. Frequent trips to the craft store. Ravaging my house for interesting implements. In essence, experiencing creativity from a whole new perspective. Mostly. My foray into the visual arts world has been prompted by my long desire to create and tell stories. However, current story development and presentation has been driven by visual arts choices. Transforming a model canoe paddle into a character. Creating coconut trees out of chopsticks, raffia and brown clay. Turning leaves into hearts and teardrops. In fact, such an explosion of ideas occurred in the isolation of the pandemic that I have spent months creating one short puppet film after another.
How sweet an experience to have the visual arts creep up and become, surprisingly, a part of my creative life. It helps remind me that the end result of creativity isn’t necessarily a product, but equally the engaging challenge of playing; taking raw materials, whatever they may be, and exploring ways to express yourself, simply express yourself. I suppose in some ways I was uninterested in the visual arts because I got so caught up in the techniques, of drawing the ‘right’ way or painting ‘well.’ When I suddenly had an impulse to create and found the tools and means to give my idea life, I worried less about the right way to use the tools and more about how I could manipulate the materials I had on hand to realize my idea. And once I got going, the visual arts no longer seemed an impediment because of my perceived lack of talent and knowledge, but offered a world of possibilities for creatively satisfying my impulses.
As an artist I have found this experience freeing. As an educator, I have found this process one that reaffirms the need for me to provide the opportunity to my students and not impede them with my expectations. Watch out world, a phoenix arises from the darkness of rigid expectations!
I welcome you to another of those films. Click and enjoy.