say something

Failure’s such a creative gift. When the ability to fail is taken away, it fuels a lot of fear.

~Matt Bronleewe, Jars of Clay

If you hop into the carpool lane traveling west on U.S. 60, it’ll plop you smack into Central Phoenix. That’s 25 miles of freeway driving without the need to merge into the suicide mission we refer to as traffic around these parts. Glorious!

However, there’s this narrow overpass bounded by guidance pylons just before the transition onto Interstate 10 West (guidance is such a congenial word. it’s a trap!)

Suddenly, you have The Fast and The Furious! Pylons to your right; embellished with vestigial paint and a smattering of headlight plastic within the gore point. On the left, concrete barriers with layers of cursive tire scuffs. If you’re claustrophobic, it’s certainly tight. And, if this isn’t the lane you really wanted to be in…too late. Even if you are in the correct lane, the visual history of panic coupled with speed is a little scary. It’s pretty messy in there.

That overpass reminds me of the process of creating art. It’s pretty messy in there (truth: it parallels so much of life – pick an allegory)

Lately, I’ve read several articles that speak to what the authors believe art really is (Joe Q. Public has been asking that question for a long time – there’s a whole other conversation) Each writer concludes that the process of creating is the art. They state that there is a beauty in the process of creating which then constituted the creation as art.

Um…no. I disagree. These are the muddy waters that wash over the claim that a thing is art simply because I made it (those are participation awards, folks)

Art happens in the communication. There is a certain struggle – as there is in any attempt to communicate our passions. No one invites failures but, they happen. It’s messy. The beauty is on the other end of the struggle; after the panic and pylon slalom, after the white-knuckle turns and skid marks when you’ve traveled oh-so-many miles without compromising your work.

In the end, I just want to communicate well. There’s the art. Glorious!

go see art!

The Evidence of Hope

~an exhibition of ceramic drawings by Beth Shook~

That sparrows continue to sing despite the brokenness of man is a testament to hope.

The Evidence of Hope is a field painting made up of 33 individual compositions; a flock of sparrows on a field of lilies (see what I did there) with a few outlying observers.

June 1-30, 2017

Practical Art
5070 N. Central Ave.
Phoenix, AZ 85012

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