Reception Mirrors Art Mirrors Life

A clear message of my "900 Lives of Vision" exhibit is that we all have tools within us to get through rough times. If we can harness these tools we might even be able to create something wonderful during the process.

Below are two images of people caught in the act of getting the best out of life.

This person clearly knows how

to swing to the music of the people she meets.

A wise man knows that the right tools can turn

an average experience into a kick.

(Photos by Dana Pianowski)

Enhanced by Changing Seasons and Persistent Viewers

"Expanding Vision"

"Window"

The gallery has mostly natural lighting in the form of a skylight. With the coming fall there is a moody quiet that pervades the space later in the afternoon. Perfect for introspective quiet reading.

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Surprises delight visitors: In the "Clover" grouping a visitor found a friend who happens to be an olympic swimmer. Elsewhere an elderly man found a long-time pen pal. A visitor from the East Coast found a high school teacher. Home towns and college towns from across the nation seem to bring up the questions: do I know that person, that street? Can I relate to the drawing and what does it mean to me, to you?

One visitor found name after name after name that meant something to him; He had discovered the mystery theme that originally linked these cards in their black file box thirty years ago. Hint: All the drawings in this collection are in black India Ink on purpose.

Learning How to Fly

"The Fool and the Phoenix"

Of late I have become fond of fools and Fools. I see both types of foolishness everywhere, me being a very active hat bearer/wearer. Perhaps it is lucky to be foolish. In the very least it makes for a much more interesting ride.

It's the fool who lives on the edge of a cliff and irresponsibly falls off it. It is the Fool who lives on the edge of a cliff, sees potential in the open space, jumps off the cliff, and figures out how to fly on the way down. In a hopeful world there are a lot of lucky fools who turn into Fools while falling off the cliff.

Tools to Aid in Reaching a New Perspective

I was just out in the garden, minding my own business, when a tiny, irritating splinter appeared on the end of one of my right hand finger tips. I tweezed with my left hand nails, but failed to do any more than push the almost invisible stinger further into my flesh. I rushed to the medicine cabinet and scrounged up a pair of tiny metal tweezers and set to work, aiming as best I could and pulling this way and that... but soon found I was still missing miserably. Finally I put on multiple layers of magnifying glasses and enlarged the tiny annoyance into a giant log. I aimed my now giant metal claws at the irritant, grabbed hold easily, pulled gently back and up, and dislodged the aggressor. While flinging it willy-nilly into the air I marveled at how what we take from an experience is directly related to how we look at it.

(I will be providing magnifying glasses at my upcoming exhibition.)

Visual Art as an Experience, Not a Commercial Commodity

When we go to an art museum we go to experience the collection, not to buy it.

My temporary installation of drawings, "900 Lives of Vision," is presented in the same light. If you are in the area, please come to experience the massive grouping of individual lives, as there will be nothing to buy.

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Think about the time that was spent creating a little story for each individual, how no one was left behind, how some people have strong ink lines and others more delicate, how some people are presented linearly and others more sculpturally. Why are some drawings so light they are almost invisible and what do you think about the confusion in some? Why are they placed in the groupings that you see? Why are some drawings wandering off center?

What kinds of people are presented? What is it like to live like a flowing brush stroke? Or a map? Or an organically branching plant? Can a life line have more than one branch or does a life line go solely from point A to point Z? Is this person at point P or at point X or, dear God, are they even alive today? If they have passed on, did they have a sense of success to their life? Would any of these people actually find themselves within these drawings? Can you find yourself?

The most overwhelming question of all: Can you take in this many people during a single visit? How much can any of us take in at one time?

I keep remembering a Muse Concert I went to a few years ago with my husband and daughter. We were up front, standing squished together in the second row. Hundreds of people surrounded me intimately. I wanted to ask every single person his or her story. I shared their sweat and their joy as we swayed to the music, but I never got beyond a grunt and groan of communication with them.

Maybe I will play Muse at the reception. Or jazz or classical or world or some other rock. It's all part of the art experience I had drawing them. The music is in the lines.

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Just came back from a John Zorn experimental sax performance. We grinned through the whole organic, quirky, bizarre experience. His music is the sound that I hear in many of my drawings.

Beauty Flows Out of Awkwardness

I have a philosophy that out of awkwardness comes true beauty. Above you see a line that grows steadily in size but changes little in shape as it moves towards the right. Mid point the line shape is strong and stable. Then, in the next shape, there's a leap to giant but awkward uncertainty of new form. When I drew that clumsy shape I felt a sense of failure and discouragement.

It took a leap of "oh, what the hell" faith to let go and scratch out the four little squiggles to the far right. Without the awkwardness I wouldn't have leapt, and those three elegant leapers wouldn't exist. Three out of four isn't bad... and therein lies Eileen's story of hope for the future.

Not One to Stand Still

Here's a "cropped card close up" which you will see even closer if you click on the image. The lines are India ink, drawn with a crow quill. This one has an ink/water wash to create a sense of atmosphere for this person's very active life. His young years are on the left, so he's oldest at the right side of the card. I'm staring at that odd shape on the right and wondering what he's up to! I surely don't know, but it does look like he's still fishing for ideas.

Shapes of Things

Plateau Hopping

I just noticed Neal had to go through the shadows in order to progress up to levels 4 and 5.

The Beauty in a Good Jiggle

I'm sticking Joseph here in, just to see if you're paying attention. This guy clearly has a charmed life, which I hope to emulate for the rest of my days.

What Can You Build in Thirty Years?

I have been trying to pick one drawing out of 900 to represent my show. This is so difficult I just want to eat those cookies, pound a few nails (wham, wham, wham!), and draw some more...

But that is just one day's thought. Above is a lifetime of learning and living. I wonder what Hershel ate during his teen years. I wonder if he is satisfied with his constructions in life. Does he feel confident in his ideas and how he expresses them to others? This Hershel on the card has a little smile. It looks like he's keeping any negativity zipped up inside his shirt, but maybe he just knows a satisfying way to express it.

I found this name the day after my daughter came back from college. I recognized the city as that of her institution. I asked her if she knew Ted. Remarkably, he was her professor of one month, and had lived at that particular address back in 1975 or 76. The card was blank at the time, and I had to draw on it. What a panic! My daughter would be appalled if I did a dud drawing - which has definitely happened more than once. (Part of life is a multitude of dud days, all to be glaringly apparent at my show where no card will be thrown away.)

Now that I look back at this drawing I chuckle that I must have called forth the hypnotic energy of a whirling dervish. If he could create beauty so mindlessly by trusting his body to do the right thing, so could I! And don't we all, in times of need.

Details that Stick

Here is another image I keep coming back to. This detail from a larger painting holds a certain fascination for me. When I was a kid my parents were in community theater and one of the skits they put on had a man standing on stage just as this man stands. Actors would come on and off stage, walking by the man, finally noticing him and asking each other (but not him), "Why is he standing there?" and stating, "He's just standing there." The scenario repeated itself again and again. The man kept standing there.

I would pass by this image on my wall and I'd think, "He's just standing there." Usually I saw my father in this image. Just recently I recognized myself.

One of a Kind Instead of Multiples

Two days ago I was at a reception for an art exhibit, me being one of the participants. I was advised to bring along business cards. I don't have business cards. I don't think "business" when I do my art, so I end up forgetting to have cards printed. I quickly drew some up. Each was an original thought and a tiny drawing. When I handed them out I felt like I was dealing in sterling silver instead of stainless steel.

Profile Story ~ teenager thought

My first job: At the age of 14 I worked as a janitor in a cold barn-like community building. What did I learn there? That there is satisfaction in making things change: dirty to clean, ugly to beautiful, messy to tidy. And that there was a world of mystery behind the patchwork curtains that hung at the end of the hall, on the stage of my future.

Giggling with Joy

Every now and then one happens upon a grand "a-ha!" This painting is one I return to again and again in my trips through life. Meaning, I trip and get mud on my face so I go look at the silly grins on the buddha faces and grin back through the mud. If only life could be so joyous all the time. Clearly, the shoveler knows that working near paradise is pretty good, considering the options. So, what's a little bit of mud ... but something to grow a seed in, if that mud is collected, saved, and set aside in a fertile little pile of hope.

It took one year to paint, and it sure is different from my other art. I'm not one to stay in one place... can't help but explore the world through all means possible.

Time for a Snort, Cackle, Chortle, & Guffaw

This project has been quite a lesson in looking on the bright side. I really didn't want anyone to have a negative life drawing on their card, no matter how true to world experience I attempted to make these. Sometimes darkness did encroach, and isn't that indicative of life, you can't control it! At these times I'd react by trying to make the next card more hopeful and even humorous. Humor has a way of unsticking even the most dreary and dense glue.

Tripping in the Search for What Works

There are about 65 more drawings to do. I am sad that I soon won't be walking around in this crowd of amazing people. I have continued to draw without knowing who most of these people are, but I must admit I would often google names after the drawings were finished. Again and again I have been astonished by the brilliance of these people and what they have achieved in the past 30 years. Above you will notice I took the last names off the labels for internet purposes because I am not yet sure of privacy issues. Somehow it works for me that David Y. now symbolizes "David" in general.

In September these cards will all go on display at Avenue 25 Gallery in San Mateo, CA. The originals will be full of life and flaws, uncertainty and triumph. I have drawn these images while experiencing every human emotion, fabulous to horrible. The common denominator is that I always strive to give each person a hopeful life full of heart, art, and human value. I do not want one person to go invisible, so I will include any cards that are drawn awkwardly... because we are all awkward at some points in our lives, even the most graceful of us.

Lucky Find

This is approximately number 550 out of 800 drawings that I hope to finish by the end of next month. I try not to pay too close attention to the names of the people on the cards, since portraiture is not the point here, but every now and then I can't help but wonder who these people are. I'm finding some of the addresses, though a quarter of a century old, might be accurate, so I've decided I'd better do some label photoshopping before putting them on this blog. As always, clicking on the image gets you a better view of what's what. These images are always read from left to right, a symbolic story of a life well lived.

The Wisdom of Youthful Hope

"Facing It" is approximately 4"x4" and reminds me of the little girl behind so many women that I know these days. It is so curious that strength of character develops so early in life and for the wisest, can support one through a lifetime of hardship. I am so grateful to have known well a few women with this strength. They have taught me, through example, how to shine the flashlight on my own inner strength... and thusly is created this drawing.

(Sold)

The Walnut

"Treasure Within"

Art making is a very selfish act explored while living in a world full of criticism, and the best art comes from minds that are open and aware.

Think of the art maker as being a walnut, a rich and active little brain with a hard but porous shell surrounding for protection. Imbedded within that shell are thousands of tiny little telescoping cell windows looking out into the world... the little brain inside switching from one viewing hole to another in search of wisdom. Meanwhile, overhead hangs a hammer, threatening to tap, tap... or to smash down at any moment. Does the walnut ignore the hammer? It's clearly seen. Or does the walnut adjust it's shell so that if the hammer does happen to come down too hard, the little brain inside will remain whole and intact as the shell cracks into a perfect half, not crushed to pieces at all.