The tables were covered in white paper. Crayons, pastels, and smooth sticks waited quietly. Then came Lucy’s glittery purse—her 8-year-old hands had filled it with stones to pass along, one by one, to the strangers around the table.
We traced them. Pushed them. Held them.
Then we let the colors lead:
-Red for emotion.
-Yellow for curiosity.
-Blue for memory.
Each color came with music, with story, with space.
At the Museum of Wisconsin Art, we made marks not for meaning but for presence.
Thank you to Ann Marie and MOWA for the invitation and trust. And thank you to the participants—some new friends, some old students—for showing up and making lines that listened before they spoke.
My painting professor drew this diagram on the board and suggested that it is a diagram for a painting. "Begin with large areas, covering the canvas with general colors and shapes. Refine the shapes and begin adding details. Refine the details and work with smaller brushes. When you are adding marks that your viewers would not notice, be done." There is more, but that is enough to ponder for now.
Rediscovered the German language versions of Peter Gabriel’s third and fourth albums (terrific btw) and come ‘Schock den Affen’ was intrigued at how the German word for ‘monkey’ sounds a hell of a lot like orphan… of course that might just be my ears, you know?
Always a weirdly beautiful moment when you butcher your spelling momentarily, only to discover you’ve inadvertently found the very artwork title for you were looking for...hehehe.
