Thursday Ramble: Art

Over the past few weeks, I have made a specific effort to get out and experience some of the wonderful art around me. One of the reasons I wanted to live in the Washington DC area, was the incredible museums and galleries that are here. Truly world class museums, and most of them are free of charge to enter.  

Art touches our emotions.   Love-Hate, Pain-Pleasure, Joy-Sadness, Anger-Contentment, Excitement-boredom. 

Art can either make you want to see more, or to never see that again. 

Art can convey a message, or simply stimulate the senses. Really by stimulating the senses art is communicating a subtle message.  

Art education often fails the artistically handicapped.  I have little ability to draw, or to sculpt, and art education tends to focus on developing those abilities.  

But there is more to exploring art.  

In college I needed a studio art class to finish, I took a silver casting and construction class.  For the most part the pieces I produced were bulky and clunky. The most important thing that I learned in that class, was that I am capable of spending hours, days, working on a tiny project, perfecting it one pull of the file at a time.  The finished product was really more me, than it was the changes in the silver. The focus that I learned helped me in academic studies, and in my work over the past 40 years.  But the art class, never gave me a chance to say, what did I learn, how did the class change me.  I was graded on the artistic outcome, and that was okay, though I think the professor was generous in his grading.  The real lesson, the learning that changed me, was much deeper and not reflected in the metals and stones turned in for grading. 

I paint, not because I produce great images, but because doing so moves my mind into a different place, a blending of colors, and tones, of light and shadow. 

I take photos, because it allows me to capture a little glimpse into the world around me. To freeze the color and light that excites my mind for a moment.  

Look for the art and beauty around you.  Visit a local museum or gallery. See what touches you in some way.  Express yourself, doing so builds something inside of you.