Birds on the Wing

I had gotten a reminder yesterday that this morning was the intake day for the new Birds show in Belmar.  A little unusual, as in all the years I have been a artist there, intakes have always been on a Saturday, not a Sunday, but one day is the same as another most of the time.  I was there on time, and it all got done.  I think it opens next week, but I'll post something here soon.

But it was indeed a Sunday, so at one point I had on the CBS Sunday morning show, and once again there was some art.  A story about a wood carver, a guy who was doing some very fancy wood carved sculptures.  Very complex and delicate, realistic renderings of things as thin and delicate as leaves and feathers, but executed in wood.  Spent years learning to do it, but the result was there.  His workshop showed his tools- a table with dozens and dozens of wood carving gouges, some looking not unlike the ones I use. I guess that makes sense.  If my tools were sharp enough, and I had wood that could handle such carving, I'm sure I could do things like that as well.  Luckily woodcut is never that fancy.  The goal is a two dimensional image, and blocks that can stand up to the pressure of hand printing.  I can make things that are quite delicate, but the viewers will never see them.  Just need something that can make the print I have in mind- the block is not on display.  Once again, I see a story like that as something that can build interest in what I do.  Possess quality tools, and if you have the ambition to try it, why not?

Part of the story was about the artist's career ending, a medical condition catching up with his physical ability to make the sculptures.  That happens, too.  In his case, it was ALS so the last fancy sculpture that he completed was the last one he ever did and would do.  The story didn't mention his death, just that he was not physically up to the task of wood carving anymore. The human body seems designed for about 40 useful years, then after that they start to gradually break down.  I passed 40 a while back, but I can still carve as well as I ever have, so I will keep going.  There's always another project to be done, another idea to be executed.  When I finish the narwhal, I have ideas ready  to go for the projects that will follow.  I recently caught a M*A*S*H rerun that I always felt was an accurate description of how art works.  A wounded soldier arrives at the hospital and Major Winchester uses his skills to do amazing repairs to his leg (which he expects will eventually be good as new) and  his arm (which will be usable and look fine, but not quite what is was) but the patient is not happy.  Turns out he is a concert pianist, and realizes that the ability will likely be gone forever.  The doctor feels he has failed, not just because the patient will never be able to again play a piano at the level he could, but because the patient is too despondent to see any other possibility.  What the episode becomes about is Winchester getting the patient to realize that there is far more to his musical gift than his physical ability to play a piano.  That may be gone, but his artistic ability can live on if he can find another outlet.  What the doctor eventually gets him to see is that the lessening of manual dexterity in one hand does not affect his brain and his soul (where our music loving doctor feels the true gift resides), so there are still things he can accomplish.   At the end of the episode, we don't know what this former piano player will do, but he seems to realize that his musical knowledge is still there, so it's just a matter of him picking a new path and seeing what he can accomplish. And that is a lot of what art is.  Most of my students are true beginners, no real skills yet, so I try to get them to think how art gets made.  Master that, and the rest will follow.  I don't know if this retired wood carver has a new career ready to go, but he clearly understands how three dimensions work.  He has a disease that eventually takes down the whole body, so he may not get the opportunity to do much else.  But he clearly has an understanding of the world that most people don't, so one hopes he finds another way to use that knowledge and transmit it to someone else.

As for the rest of my day, a lot of e-mail mostly. A lot of people out there need to learn a lot of things, and I have the ability to share my experience with a lot of people, so I do what I can.  But tomorrow I will likely also be back in the Studio, continuing on my latest block.  That's another thing that can be shared with people, and probably the most fun one to accomplish.