Art For Heart’s Sake
So much about the world feels summarily turned upside down right now.
There are reasons to feel hopeful (see my last post).
Some days you dedicate as much of yourself to battle as you can. You fight and you scream. You march, you donate. You call and you write your members of congress. And some days what you’re left with is frustration, anger, a sense of futility. It’s hard to explain to your children that inexplicably heartless forces seem to be actively tearing apart everything you hold dear. You’re overwhelmed.
Well, maybe you aren’t. Is it just me?
If you’re still with me then hopefully you’ll get this: some days… for the sake of mental health and preservation, you just plain need to step away and recharge. To fill your batteries and steel up your suit of armor for the next day’s battle. You need to go out of your way to do something that feeds your soul.
Today was one of those days. One of the best kind.
Today, we got to make ART. For the sake of art.
Even better, we got to make art together. My muse was my gorgeous, talented, dear friend Valerie. A life-long dancer who shares the calling to create art for the sake of art.
We got to make art inspired by art; giant, abstract expressionist art.
We made art inspired by the “life-lines” that run vertically through so many of Clifford Still’s vibrant paintings. Inspired by the movement we found in his colorful canvases and the sumptuous light in this special space, designed specifically to house this one artist’s prolific body of work.
Downloading the photos tonight brought a tear to my eye, watching what we had created come to life on my monitor. What a liberating experience it is to create art for the sake of seeing, for capturing a moment, feeling depth of color and composition with no agenda outside of discovery, and possibly a desire to share (if anything ends up being worth sharing). The act of sharing would be the icing on the cake. And for what it’s worth, after today, I can’t wait to share.
My heart is full tonight.
I’m ready to stand up more effectively tomorrow.
We all need to remind each other to make moments for those things which make our hearts full.
Thank you, Valerie, for your beautiful heart, for your life’s art, and for coming to Denver to share this crazy idea with me. And for letting me collaborate with your dance today. I can’t wait to share the final photographs!
