Is it really a worthy endeavor?
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Loading ...What prompted the following muse, was working on images of an old adirondack chair that was part of the yard that became a literal park at the hands of my neighbor, Carol Andrews. Carol is gone now, lost to a valiant 3 year battle with cancer. But in the years BEFORE the cancer, she spent so much time beautifying everything she touched. Her house, yard and gardens looked like they belonged on the cover and in featured articles of Southern Homes & Gardens. As her disease progressed however, such pursuits gave way to the necessity of spending all her energy on simply staying alive. This once charming chair is now a pile of rotted rubble, unrecognizable. The butterfly net, tattered and rotting on the ground. The wind chimes are gone, like the subtle music that was Carol’s effect on most every life she touched. Carol’s gardens have been uprooted and burned, or overcome with weeds and brush. Her multitude of decorations that she so painstakingly sought out at yard sales and antique shops, lay in a pile by her garage. Life will never be the same for anyone who knew and loved Carol. It will go on, but it will never be the same. Yet, in the countless images I took wandering around in her gardens, the memories stay alive and well… and so I started thinking…
It’s been a while since I’ve written. There’s been things turning over and over in my head, just been too busy with other things to put it all into words. Busy with things like cleaning house, working on websites, working out. When I think of the things that take up so much time in a day, I’m struck by the amount of time and effort I put into temporal things…things that, in another world and time, would mean absolutely NOTHING to anyone.
If we were hit with some manner of disaster of apocalyptic proportion tomorrow, no one would care that my house was clean, or that my living room needs painting and the floor, refinishing; no one would care about my pedicure. My quest for fitness might prove a worthy endeavor in helping me survive, perhaps a bit longer than otherwise, but no one would care about all the pretty pictures I devote so much time to… or WOULD they?
Pictures document the progression of our lives; they not only preserve the moment that has passed, but the emotion evoked by that moment in time. Pictures of family, friends and loved ones become all the more valuable when that person is taken away from us, whether by the change of direction in our paths, or the finality of death. If an apocalypse fell upon us tomorrow and our present way of life and the blessings that we so glibly take for granted today were lost to us…perhaps forever…would not every image we held in our possession take on a whole new meaning to us?
The creative arts aren’t some frivolous pursuit – the creative arts comprise the expression of all that is in the human soul. Music, dance, films, writing, imagery, fine art and photography in all their myriad forms and applications emerge out of who we are and what we have experienced…what we are experiencing now…and it touches that place in the souls of others that resonates with our own place in space and time – it brings us together in one moment of experience. Sometimes, to partake of the creative expressions of others allows us a peek into worlds and experiences that we would likely never have access to, or even KNOW about, if not for the creative expression of some eccentric soul.
Imagery, whether stirred by what we hear or by what we see, enables us to experience things we might not otherwise experience; it causes us to remember what was and gives us hope for what could be. Remembering is not always a bad thing…not if we allow ourselves to learn from our mistakes and from the mistakes of others, and not if we allow ourselves to be enriched by the discoveries and accomplishments of others. The creative arts gives us the ability to do both. The creative arts are an integral part of the fabric that weaves not only humanity, but all of creation, together, reconciling all the scattered pieces into the ONE life that is the source and essence of all that is. Just as all that we see around us in this material world is but an expression of what IS in a very real but unseen realm, so art gives expression to the very real but unseen realm of all that is within Man, both good (enriching) and bad (destructive).
I began this day thinking that perhaps I spend entirely too much time fiddling with images. But after giving the whole subject a bit more consideration, I feel both proud, and also rather humbled at the same time, that I have been entrusted with such a gift. I have been given the power to document, inform, share, invoke memories and emotion, to join souls together, through my own creative gifting. It is my firm conviction that there is a spark of the creator in us all. What is YOUR special gift? Are you faithful to nurture it, to grow it, share it?
Perhaps they are right…all those people in my life who often accuse me of ‘thinking too much.’ Watching movies like The Road and The Book of Eli probably don’t help…
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Love the article. May I post paragraph (4) on our art blog with a link to your article? Hope you are having a great summer!
Yes ma’am! You may, and I am, and I KNOW YOU are! LOL!