Non essential
Hard times right now being an artist. We are deemed non essential for society. Really tough going to the studio to try and make something that means something to somebody. If what's essential makes money or saves lives then is what I am doing of value? Would someone bang pots at 7pm for me and my fellow artists?
I went to the dentist the other day. Haven't been in over a year. I don't like going anyways but with COVID I had an excuse. I felt it essential I go as I had a filling fall out.
If this continues on into the summer how many of us will re-evaluate continueing on doing this? I will hit 3 score and 10 this spring and I'm wondering if as Ellen G suggested on my blog I might be best to leave my obsession for life and love. I used to spring out of bed with the enthusiasm of new work in the studio. Now it is on the back burner and my excitement is for a ride in the woods.
So last night I got a call from my friend Jen Drysdale's squeeze Ed. Thanks Brother Ed! He told me that he was an avid reader of my blog and that yesterdays blog softened him, touched him and meant something. In a former life he was a writer and stand up comedian and it made him want to write again. We talked about the power of Art. We talked about how in his association with Jen he could feel the energy in Art and in particular his newly found addiction to adding clay to his life in the form of a collection. So there in a currach of thought is a reason to make.
My Uncle Jimmie used to quote Ghandi- To paraphrase "If man had two dollars he would spend one dollar on food and the other dollar on lilies. One is food for the body and the other food for the soul.
My friend Emma Smith sent me a pic of one of my bird houses they had mounted on a plumbers pipe up on a cupboard. It looked amazing surrounded by plates by my buddy Ronnie the Rat. Great company to be in a room with Ronnie, Emma and Jesse. BTW Ed has one of my bird houses too!
So today I'm going to revisit the bird houses. If they are not essential to someone's life I will take them to the woods and put them on some trees as an essential shelter for some homeless bird ready to start a family and a new life.
This blog was inspired by a good program on CBC today with spoken word poet Ian Kamau citing a poem on "Being Non essential. https://www.cbc.ca/listen/live-radio/1-50-q Ah, the power of Art. I knew it was essential.
Be of good courage my brothers and sisters of clay.
a
Comments
https://www.brookings.edu/blog/brown-center-chalkboard/2019/02/12/new-evidence-of-the-benefits-of-arts-education/
God of compassion and grace,
we pray for all those who,
through age and infirmity
find themselves imprisoned
within the loneliness of home,
watching a world outside
that once had their
full involvement
increasingly pass them by.
Be with and bless them, Lord,
along with family and carers
calling through the week to help.
May they know that they are loved,
still precious in your sight,
and feel your arms support them
in the day and through the night. Amen
For those who walk
more slowly
through this world
than in the days
when they were young,
may each step
be made lighter
and their joy be greater
for seeing beauty
in little things
that the hurrying pass by