Sunday, August 19, 2012

revealing your abilities

mary jane dodd


'i am always doing that which i can not do,
in order that i may learn how to do it.'
- pablo picasso

for me, this isn't just about technique or media - but about the making itself... 

i was always kind of serious and studious (you are shocked, i can tell) and any art classes i took focused around drawing - i was terrified of color... 

i had zero confidence in my ability to dance with it and allow it to express feeling -


fast forward 27 years and here i am, understanding how to channel emotion into metal using patina, fire, enamel... counting on it, in fact, to do that for me... to take what my heart, mind and body sometimes cannot hold all by itself... to be my pressure valve... to save me...

i wish that young self had felt safe enough to be vulnerable, to know that there was a place to put all that feeling...

but she needed to grow, to find safe people, to connect with others who had experienced similar things, to descend to much darker places and come through into the light... and still be standing...


what has your making done for you? (not just how it has taken what you could do and evolved, but how it has allowed you to do what you didn't think you could)




2 comments:

Artisan Beads Plus said...

Maire, That gave me chills :o) How true that if we only knew then what we know now. When I think about what I could have done differently, I also think about the fact that I probably would not have not it differently because I needed time and experience to even know that "differently" was even an option. Lately, I have been painting book themes on toy boxes for my grand children. I let myself go and told myself, "You can do this. Find that young child in you who wouldn't have worried about the critics and go for it." It is the best thing that I've done in a long time. I'm excited to see where this current project takes me. I've had to put other things on hold for a bit, but I'm enjoying the learning experience.
MaryAnn

Mystic Indigo said...

Oh my gosh...where to begin? Agree wholeheartedly with MaryAnn...time and experience plays such a huge part in realizing what we can do, are made to do...I had too much stuff in my head when I was younger to have the ability or desire to get quiet and really listen. I hit menopause early, and now, without all that hormonally charged emotion in my head, I am finally 'clear-headed'...in a way I wasn't before. Beautiful post..lovely photos and I totally get where you are coming from.

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