The Artist Life.
I think it is good to find places, however small, that have not been "developed" by people. I'm discovering natural patches here and there, and exploring their unkempt beauty. Wilderness is still all around us and her lovely chaotic sculptures draw me in. Katura is a small Muskoka island that has remained untouched. It was never logged or tilled, no shacks or development of any kind. Her mosses are thick and the trees are tall. There was an old native fellow in the 1950s who we use to see camped there to fish during the summers. Ed Snake was there for years and he left no trace. The natural beauty of the island captured my afternoon.
The varieties of mosses on Katura, Bea and I have known well, but during this visit I was attracted to the rocky outcrops and specifically its clinging lichen. I was interested to find out that Lichen is actually two organisms living in a symbiotic relationship... all twenty thousand species of them. The lichen make rocks come alive with color and texture and seem to blend sharp edges. The way light strikes natural material is art. Plants are made of light so it is no surprise the wonder I found on this close inspection.
I was led to remember our trip to the Great Barrier Reef which is just off the
eastern coast of Australia. Twelve hundred miles of coral which is also a
symbiosis somewhat like lichen. Coral is a colony and when we were
given masks to swim with the fish I underwent another transformation. However hard
man struggles to design shape color and line in pleasing combinations he will never duplicate the beautiful medley of coral
fish. We try to grab one here and there and put them in fish tanks but
the results are pitiful. The most beautiful fish you can imagine...(existing in the wild) there are hundreds everywhere, all different and in complete artistic harmony with each other. .
It is a transformational experience to see flora and fauna as artistic composition. I think of the brush strokes and palette required to capture even a square inch. Move a few feet and a whole new story is told. Art can elevate people to their highest good. You begin to reach deeper into yourself as you see art. I don’t think it requires an analysis of the work. Too much thought slows the process. We find it difficult to express the art we recognize inside us, but that challenge is part of the enjoyable process as we react to life around us. We seem to feel the delight in our senses. If we can shut down our brains a little it opens a gateway for art. It seems to be very healthy stuff.
On a side note the words "The Artist Life " was the name of a Toronto band. Jake, my friend's son was their amazing drummer. For years I wanted to say the name as the artist's life, using an apostrophe for easier more familiar understanding. Life is an artist, and the more this is accepted as truth, the more art becomes part of my life. I look at sunset pictures with renewed vision, and I am much slower at processing pictures of flowers.
