Trust and Art
Currents – black ink on recycled door shade; 76” X 31”
In between my more demanding projects, I paint and I draw. It is my way to keep my mind, eyes, and hands coordinated and fit. I painted the above image on a recycled IKEA door shade. I do it quickly. I render the first line, keeping it going until the stroke runs out of ink. The brush has long hair, allowing me to make the lines thick or thin.
I look at the finished line, put down the second line, and so on until I think the whole thing is done. I walk around the table to see it from different sides.
Do I know what the image will look like at the beginning? No. I do know, however, that I want to capture my admiration for waves and currents, for clouds and grasses bending in the wind. I observe these movements closely whenever I can. When I draw, I try to capture my amazement.
I am surprised by how it turns out.
It is all based on trust that one step will lead to another and add up to something of value.
For me, this approach to life is entirely natural. Under slightly different circumstances, I would have a more respectable life. I would be more successful, certainly by the established standards.
But, being an immigrant (my wife prefers to describe me as ‘imported’), I could not transfer my university credits and had a family to support. We adopted the 'one line at the time' approach to survival. It launched me on a rollercoaster journey, and, amazingly, I somehow survived. I was tested in every step about trust: with my family, in my art, and in my work with communities.
Pomegranate Center’s gathering places were all about practicing confidence in people’s ideas and their good sense to create something of value. The ink drawing (above) was done in 60 minutes. Community gathering places take months, but the process is the same: start with an open mind, release your expectations, remember the qualities you wish to express, respect your tools and materials and coworkers, and take one step at a time, which will tell you what the next step will be. And you will be surprised how much joy this journey will bring and how the result may exceed your sense of what is possible.