"The artist is a receptacle for emotions that come from all over the place: from the sky, from the earth, from a scrap of paper, from a passing shape, from a spider's web."
Pablo Picasso
We are an artist community. Right on the bank building, artist William Forrester painted the history of our island. Depicted are our first settlers who landed on our shores, then the farmers who civilized the forests, and also those that founded the first bank, the mural was funded by the bank, after all.
Not to be forgotten are the many musicians, who are always present at community gatherings, who are lined up in the painting like music notes on a staff. The mural is an example of the presence of the artist here. Walking down the street galleries show dressed up canvases much like window displays in the city. Musicians play in restaurants every weekend.
Knowing local artists has slowly dispelled the mystique surrounding the artist way. They are not magic, peculiar, or blessed by heaven in some way. They have surrendered to the call to take pencils, paint, paper, and reorganize the tools into expressions of deep feeling. Their inner light shines more brightly when they play their violin, guitar, or whale on a piano. I don't run in their circles, but, yet I do. I am on the fringe. The tipping point to owning my desires came when I first gave piano lessons to an artist in exchange for a painting. Tomorrow I will write about our collaboration.
I am writing for 31 days this October about Island Life. Click here to see the other days of writing.
I like the mural and I love your description of artists taking pencils, paint and paper and reorganising them into expressions of deep feeling.
ReplyDeleteI adore public art! Murals are just amazing and add such vibrancy to buildings.
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