You know who you are
Something Playful
She stared back at me incredulous, and said, “You mean they forget?”
—-Howard Ikemoto
This anecdote comes from a book I read last year called Art and Fear by David Bayles and Ted Orland.
The author writes that “making art is a common and intimately human activity…” and “…the difficulty artmakers face are not remote and heroic, but universal and familiar.”
Here’s a question to get us going on the M is for Humanity Monday:
When did you forget how to draw?
How can we reconnect with our playful, creative, expressive element of our humanity?
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Nicolas Nelson on -
Actually, I still draw about as well as I did in high school-- which is to say, well enough to impress folks who have forgotten, and poorly enough that I can't maintain a straight face if I call myself an artist.
My problem is having forgotten how to play with musical instruments.
Oh, I can "play" the harmonica, and I took bass guitar lessons one summer, but I mean play WITH instruments. I remember having so much fun just noodling around on a piano, an organ, a mandolin and a dulcimer, not to mention whatever percussion or rhythm instruments I came across.
I mourn my inability to enjoy playing "poorly".
It was so much fun...
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Permalink Reply by Geoffrey Baines on -
What a great comment insight by Howard Ikemoto's daughter.
I took Art as a subject at A level (UK examinations for 18 year olds) having not taken it as an exam subject as a 16 year old. I have occasionally returned to draw and paint - some oil, watercolour, pen - but not in any ongoing way. The closest I get at the moment is to sketch out ideas and thoughts. The one thing all of this has in common, I think, is that it has allowed me to know something or know someone, depending on the subject or them, and with ideas, this helps me move on.
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Permalink Reply by Kevin Hendrix on -
I used to draw all the time. You know the type... doodling on everything. People told me I could draw well, but I always knew that I was mediocre. I think I quit my drawing once I stopped going to school and began to work a "real" job. I "remembered" how to draw about a year ago when I took my son (who loves to draw, by the way) to a "how to draw animals" program at the local conservacy. As I sat next to him and participated in the exercises, I realized I could still draw, and I actually did a pretty decent job sketching a hawk. I haven't done much with it, but it's good to know that I haven't "forgotten".
I feel that I am a pretty creative person. I am a musician. I like to do some graphic design and layout work. I have recently been dabbling in photography. Where I get frustrated is with my limitations in these areas. I'm a good guitar player, but I want to be able to play piano, drums, and even violin. I wish I could read music, but I'm worried that learning will cause me to become stifled. I want to be able to paint. I'm sure if I learned the basics I would be able to do pretty well.
My question is this: Do we all, as humans, have the same potential for creative, expressive abilities only to have our environment shape our tendencies, or are certain people more inclined to be artistic/creative than others by default? (kinda touches on the "nature vs nurture" argument I guess)
- is this a result of the boomerang comment?
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Permalink Reply by Alex McManus on -
No. I had planned on using the quote from Art and Fear for this discussion before the "Boomerang" comment.
But that's funny.
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Permalink Reply by Gwen on -
I stopped drawing when I realized that to most people the output is more important than the input.
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Permalink Reply by patrick voo on -
this weekend i was discussing with some folks about when people stop not drawing, but dreaming. i think, along the line of gwen's reflection, that sometimes others shatter our dreams for us, and we move into that inhuman place where we stop dreaming altogether.
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Permalink Reply by terry timm on -
it's a small world alex. two weeks ago my daughter (an art education major in college) engaged me in a conversation about the book, "art and fear." since then i have been seeing references to it all over the place.
i never really could draw ( i received a mercy D from my art teacher who happened to be my football coach in junior high). but one of the things my daughter the artist taught me many years ago (when she was 3 or 4) was the joy of coloring. it's a beautiful fall day in pittsburgh and i may have to break out the crayons....
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Permalink Reply by Alex McManus on
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Funny thing...Art and Fear is the best leadership book I've read in the last couple of years. Many of the concepts transfer. Highly recommended.
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Permalink Reply by terry timm on
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my primary artform is music and what i have read so far in the book certainly transfers to the creation of music. many of us have forgotten how to sing, or whistle; that may be even more primal than drawing...
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Permalink Reply by David Quattlebaum on -
Very interesting subject. I am a painter, went to art school for high school and was a painting major in college, still draw and paint.
This idea that art is a distinctively human activity really is true. Think back to the historical "residue" of cultures past. MOST of the knowledge we have of any particular society is through its art (though not always visual art) and the farther we retreat in time, the more likely that is to be the case.
There have been a number of artists that intentionally try to "relearn" art as a child, the most famous of which is perhaps Cy Twombly. Take a look at some art HERE
Forgetting to draw is inherently linked to learning to see differently. We are "taught" that a face looks a particular way, via what we expect a face to be, rather than what we are actually seeing. When I teach drawing, the most important factor is re-teaching people to see what they see instead of symbols of what they see.
This is also true of the Chozeh seer. To see spiritually, we must often learn to see beyond the "symbols" of what we think we are supposed to see or experience and get to what we are actually seeing. I have found that Jesus is very willing to participate in our daily lives and that he shows us truth everyday about who He is and we are in relationship to Him. We must be willing to see clearly though.
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Permalink Reply by Alex McManus on
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David,
So true.
Drawing is all about learning how to see. I learned this when my wife, Niza, was taking
art classes at UCLA. I wrote a post I think you would appreciate called The Red Carpet Room three years ago this week.
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Permalink Reply by David Quattlebaum on
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Bro you are right, i love that post!!! Now that the issue of memory and drawing has come up, I have another link for everyone. It is a link to a savant artist who looks and landscapes and then draws from memory. Be sure to follow links to the videos of him working. This is just a glimpse into what our mind is truly capable of: CLICK HERE for the link
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