Thursday's Thoughts - Is there more to art than meets the eye? • Art House Co-op

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Thursday’s Thoughts - Is there more to art than meets the eye?

Hello Sketchbook Artists!

I hope this post finds you all feeling happy and creative! I’m Veronica, the newest employee here at Art House & the Sketchbook Project. I, like most of you, am working on my 2012 Sketchbook. I chose “The Companion Book” theme, because I plan on keeping it with me as a constant companion throughout the next 2 months – in my bag, at home, at work – in an effort to be more present with my work and artistic practice.

What theme did you choose and why?

I have a background in art therapy, so I’m always interested in the motivations behind people’s choices, artistic or otherwise. I find myself looking through the sketchbooks trying to discover hidden secrets and meanings. Art is a fascinating entity because of its interpretive flexibilities: meaning generates from the artist and from the viewer — and no two people are ever alike — so almost infinite significances can arise. We’re all affected so differently by an artistic work.

The other piece to my fascination with art is the infinite ways in which the act or pursuit of art affects artists themselves. I have always been one whose goal is to express myself through my art, rather than worry too much about the final outcome of the piece. But not everyone works in this way, or for the same reasons. There are some who strike out onto the blank page, canvas, or space, with an exact picture of what they want the end product to be; and others who create for personal reasons, such as healing, closure, or to find a new mode of emotional expression.

This said, I am extremely amazed when people have the ability to convey their thoughts, find healing and/or closure through making their art, AND have it come out in a way that’s aesthetically pleasing.

Luckily, I have a sneak peek from the 2012 sketchbooks that have already been submitted to us, and there are many here that have inspired me, broken my heart, and left me visually awed all at the same time.

This sketchbook is by Jane Housham from the United Kingdom, themed:

“I remember you”.

Jane tells the story of her mother, Audrey, who “was born in 1932 in a small market town in the Yorkshire Dales.”

She used lace on the second page, and it’s almost like you could reach out and touch her mother’s sleeve. This sketchbook is full of mixed media, which I love — it gives the work a very nostalgic feel.

Jane goes into great detail about Audrey’s childhood: her alcoholic father, and the eventual divorce of her parents. The picture below is an old family photograph, with a transparent chart overlaid with descriptions of each person. Very creative!!

There is so much of this book to share, so I will try not to give away all the details … it’ll digitized in 2012, so you can search for it in the future in the Digital Library! http://www.arthousecoop.com/library

But I do want to show you just a little more, for Jane & Audrey’s story is truly fascinating:

The next picture represents the confession of Audrey to her fiancé on the eve of their wedding that she was 4 years older than him. “My father felt justified in being unfaithful, I think.”

Jane created sort of comic book strip depicting the relationship between her parents, and the birth of herself. (This technique is sometimes used in art therapy practice to help people talk about certain events that happened in their life.)

Jane goes on to explain that Audrey was an artist, a writer, an actress, a producer, a local politician, a teacher, a singer, a make-up artist, a director, and a choreographer! Now there is a woman worth devoting a sketchbook to!

The tragic nature of this story evolves, however, when we find out that Audrey eventually develops Alzheimer’s disease. Jane includes an original painting from Audrey, shown below … It portrays what Alzheimer’s has done to Audrey’s painting and writing. Jane writes on the side of the drawing, “Mum was a really wonderful artist. She could draw beautifully. This is a drawing of me – thanks Alzheimer’s”. I can feel Jane’s anger towards the disease here, and in a weird way, I see this as a positive thing: Jane’s been able to use this sketchbook as a way to process and express her feelings about her mother’s ailment.

Audrey passed away just after Jane had completed this book.

Thank you so much Jane for sharing this with us!!

I hope Jane & Audrey’s story has inspired you all to tell your stories. I know it has inspired me. But while I’m still working on my own sketchbook – and that’s not ready to share just yet – I can share with you a cool strategy that my amazing art therapy professor from Western Michigan University, Gay Walker, once shared with me:

BRIDGE DRAWING

Choose a problem or challenge that you have in your life, and that you would like some clarity about. It doesn’t have to be a big problem.

1. On one side of the paper, represent the problem/challenge. You may use symbols, colors, lines, and/or words to draw this. Stick figures are fine to use, this is not about drawing ability.

2. On the other side of the paper, draw how the problem/challenge would look if it were resolved, healed. What do you want to happen in the future?

3. Connect the two sides with a bridge. The bridge represents your support system. What kind of support do you have? Is the bridge strong or shaky, missing some planks? What kind of construction is it? Is it made of rope, stone, steel? Does it have side rails, and what are they like? You may want to name your significant support people. (Your support does not need to be people only.)

4. Under the bridge, draw the obstacles that you might encounter crossing the bridge to get to the other side. What might stand in your way?

5. Look at the bridge and decide where you are on the bridge today and draw yourself there.

6. Share your drawing with someone and discuss each part.

Feel free to share your stories with us if you like! We would love to hear about your sketchbooks, and what you may have learned about yourself in the process of creating them.

Happy Healing until next Thursday!

Veronica