TwinB: Artists' Statement

TwinB is in the midst of applying to attend the Alberta College of Art & Design (ACAD); one of the requirements is an Artists' Statement.  She composed a piece that sums up her life beautifully and it made me a tad teary.  Her Grandma thought she was going to tough it out as I read it to her but was practically bawling by the end. (HAH-ha! she ain't so tough after all!)
TwinB told me she thought she should have gone back to school earlier but I pointed out that she most likely hadn't been ready till now.  She responded that she was much 'shinier' now and probably had needed all that time in the tumbler.


"Personal Statement"


or, "A Brief History of My Time, So Far".



It seems too lofty an undertaking for me to write an Artist’s Statement, but perhaps my left hand is up to the job. After all, it was my left hand that set me apart from the first day of kindergarten, and later distinguished my supreme reign year after year as the class Artist. A “good drawer” was one thing, but a Left-Handed Artist? Those were words you could repeat to yourself in the mirror.



The onset of puberty and a stint in the psych ward complicated things. “Crazy Artist”, the mirror amended, and my left hand surged with the anarchic landscape of suicide. It was satisfying. More than that it was a reason to stay alive; I could destroy every part of myself, but never my left hand. It had value incongruous with what the mirror told me.



At the age of 17 I moved from my hometown of Kitimat, B.C., to attend the Art Institute of Vancouver. Propelled by my parents’ money and years of affirmation from teachers and peers, I left with my high school art award and every intention of being a Real Artist, a Digital Animator, a creator of imaginary worlds. I was shipped home ten months later, crippled by a second nervous breakdown.



“Mentally Ill Adult”, was the merciless report of the mirror.



Everything stopped except my left hand. I picked up addictions but never set down the pencil. Worthless, Failure, Drop-out, Stoner – these words the mirror spat in my face could not coexist with the woman who compulsively created and drew. Like the old jokes, my left hand really did feel like another person.



Without my mom I’m sure I would have ended up like any of the hometown heroes I wasted time with. But she had a ferocious love in her, and an “art room” packed full enough of every kind of paper, brush, canvas and pigment to render it a tiny labyrinth. I spent a lot of time in there, painting, penning and colouring images she would mount, frame, and hang in the local museum alongside her still lifes and landscapes. We presented lessons in watercolour, pencil, and pastel to every class in every elementary school in town. We orchestrated two school-wide murals involving all the kids. We designed and painted every set and backdrop for the high school theatre, semester after semester. I even had the opportunity to instruct my former teachers in the local Art Club, and they began to mistake my work in the museum for my mom’s. This was high praise, because to my mind, my mom – “Mrs. Hutson” to the kids – had always been primarily an Artist, as sure as the ocean was the ocean and a raven was a raven.



But the mirror still called me Unemployed. So in 2007 I risked a move to Calgary, where I would replace the label with more respectable ones like Janitor, Night Stocker, Cashier, and finally, Disabilities Worker. My left hand never stopped. Every spare moment, I drew on paper towels and unwanted receipts. (This made me more proficient in Bic pen than almost any other medium.) I’d draw remembered glimpses of the forest I’d left behind and abandon them to be found by coworkers – waiting, hoping, for them to call me that ethereal word I wouldn’t call myself – Artist.



Other times I just got in trouble for “doodling”.



It’s hard to see an artist in a face that’s been spattered with so much toilet water over the years. But there must be one in there, above the eyes and a little ways back, because every day it sends its signals like Morse code down the dendrites of my arm to my unstoppable, unappeasable, undeniable left hand. As a lifelong mental patient, it’s a daunting thought to look in the mirror and say, “Student”. I hope I’m ready to take on this new challenge. Because by now, I know there’s only one word to describe what I’ve always been, and what I want to be.

Artistic Endeavors...

...from My Other One!

I love her handmade cards!

TwinA has never held her artistic abilities in high regard, not even her caligraphy and passion for typography and fonts.  In her mind they're just the grunt work or poor cousins of 'real art' and since her skills lie in that area she dismisses them as something anyone could do. 

Certainly doesn't help ones' esteem to have a twin sister with creative and technical ability in the highest percentile...however that might be measured...??

TwinA just started a 2 year course at SAIT in digital graphic communication; I hope she'll do well.

Success!  YES!!

  

From Panic To 'Perfection' (Halfway Pleased) In 30+ Hours

My Great Adventure began 2 weeks ago, today.  First 6 days we hung out at our lot in Fraser Lake then I spent the night in Prince George before boarding the bus for a 15 hour journey to Grande Prairie.  (the actual drive is only about 7 hours but construction delays, an Amber alert and long layover in Dawson Creek stretched it out).

These ridges mark the where one exits the Pine Pass on the eastern side of the northern Rockies; the weather was wonderful and not only did I have both seats to my self, I had an entire section so could bounce around shooting photos from both sides of the bus.  It was at this point (when I realized I'd probably lose money on my pending venture that I decided to consider this a vacation that was mostly paid for)

Behold the grand vista one surveys from the Dawson Creek bus depot on a Friday evening! This is as good as it gets and I will be eternally grateful that I didn't have to wait on the bus during winter because the depot was locked and they didn't even have the lights on outside.  Fortunately there were decent passengers to wait with me.
On to Grande Prairie and my assignment...

View from the stage.  Yes, I found myself in a construction zone and now that I think about it, I'm lucky that was the case since it meant there were several people coming and going that I got to know over the 3 or 4 days I was there.  I was stashed away with my flats against the back wall of the stage so was out of everyone's way except when a young construction worker was grinding something where the emergency exit had to be installed:

Look closely; he's in there with his still pristine lungs.  I admonished him to wear a respirator since lifelong exposure will eventually bite him on the ass/lungs.

My job was to depict the strip club district of Bangkok circa 1975.  I chose not to go generic Broadway 'cause I just don't swing that way...

Instead, I researched scenes old and new from Bangkok and Saigon then mashed 'em all together for the final compositions.  I arrived with a fully developed sketch but the dimensions weren't what I'd hope for so had to scramble to re-design.  Thank goodness I had a helper who stepped forward from the chorus because otherwise I really don't know if I could have survived alone (he was a wonderful assist).   Technically I did get paid and it worked out to $1.38 per square foot. I believe I'd be paid more for painting a living room.  So I've graduated from painting for free in Kitimat.  I now travel 1100 kilometers in order to lose money painting sets.
And I'm still in a facility with no running water or bathrooms.
Could be good exposure though...will keep my fingers crossed and my web presence current...

Destination: Douglas Channel

There's been a boat living in our driveway for the past five or six years but I've only had one tiny little trip down the Douglas Channel.  It wasn't even a trip, more the smallest itty bitty hop to the nearest small bay five years ago.  The husband resolved to get-me-on-the-channel-come-hell-or-high-water before summer was over and by golly he-did-it!!
The view above gives you a look down a small section of the north end of the Channel.

The water was calm enough that we were able to dash about and cover quite an area.  Here, we're looking intoKildala Arm which meanders endlessly to the east.  Would be fun to really explore it right to its terminus.

This fellow was the piece de resistance! The husband noticed a plume exhaled from quite a ways off so we roared over to the general area so we could get a better look at this young Humpback whale.  We drifted closer to shore to watch him from afar when...suddenly he rose to the surface between us and the shore, exhaling a curtain of drifting mist, only 20 feet from our boat.  He's obviously comfortable around boats and people (had to be rescued from a fishing net the week before) so we bobbed quietly enjoying the peaceful rhythm of his breathing as he leisurely surfaced, exhaled, inhaled and slipped back below the ripples until he decided to head farther out into The Channel.

Bye-bye whale!  

Wednesday Expedition

If this is Wednesday, it must be Hike Day and here we are trekking through the swamps of deepest darkest Hirsch Creek rainforest. Note the dainty picking our way through slipperey, icky places pose? It's surprisingly common; I've taken several photos depicting this very position featuring a variety of people from several excursions.  The large leaves belong to Skunk cabbage, the surest sign of a wet patch around here.

We're pretty certain we disturbed a bear from it's salmon, that's how fresh it appeared. Unfortunately my camera wasn't co-operating and this turned out rather fuzzy.  Nice to be in a larger group when following alongside a major salmon stream at this time of year.

 Puny humans beneath a mossy deadfall, beside a fallen sitka spruce!  The last part of the hike was rather cool because a youth group had gone in this summer and turned a few of those blown down trees into rudimentary but navigable pedestrian walkways slightly above the undergrowth.

Little Lost Girl

Both TwinA and TwinB had major meltdowns over the past few days with a distraught phone call from each yesterday so when TwinA went sort of incommunicado (smashed her phone Saturday night) this morning I was overwhelmed with apprehension.  She's by far the more implulsive one and in the past has joked about taking 'a vertical exit'.  As I was in the midst of texting her partner I received a call from her on his phone.  And there she was.  Just fine.
I still feel shaky though.

Wednesday Morning Hike

What great adventure awaited us today??

The rushing waters and moss clad cliffs of Humphries Falls.  I'd heard of them - TwinA actually visited there with friends once - and today I finally got to see them.

Here's one of our grey and grizzled group, leaning over to capture the best angle. Won't find me there.
Nuh-uh.
They can be the daredevils and I'll get a photo from them. 
I don't think I've seen a more perfect waterfall; the deepening greens of the water, the weathered rock dotted with ferns and moss and then of course the series of falls all added up to a masterpiece of natural design.
Of course everyone expects to see the resulting paintings from these hikes!
Oh...and the mushroom du jour:

These babies.  Never seem 'em before.