Doing Visual Art

I am Peter.  Mixed Media on Canvas (2008)

Crosses to Bear.  Mixed Media on Canvas (2008) 

Stations of the Cross demanded I do something I haven’t done much of in the past. Creating visual art that is not a bridge into a theatre production was a new world for me. It’s quiet work, work that is by nature reflective, but the process of thinking about it is far different than reflecting on an idea.

Last year, Lent and Easter were all about photography. I spent hours looking at flowers, cities, shrubs, birds, cars–anything that would take me out of the reflective process, at least in terms of thinking about rational ideas. The effect was profound, and life hasn’t been the same since. This year, working on the visual art pieces for our Stations exhibit, I found much the same thing happening: a suspension of linear thinking, and a soft-focus intuitive openness to what was “suggesting” itself through the work. It was draining and exciting at the same time. I spent hours piddling around with this color or that, this structure or that, playing with this found object, then throwing it away. Having no idea what I was doing, I was just responding to the moment, in much the same way an actor does.

What did I come up with? A couple of pieces that I enjoyed, though I would hardly call them art, especially by my definition. “The skilled creation of form with metaphoric meaning.” Skilled creation? Nah…but what fun it is to try.

Go make something…