You Must Be An Artist

 “…Meet this solemn question with a strong, simple ‘I must,’ then build your life in accordance with this necessity; your whole life, even into its humblest and most indifferent hour, must become a sign and witness to this impulse.” – Rilke

 We are, all of us, meant to create. We are creat-ures, thus it is evident in the world around us that as a spider spins a web, a bird builds a nest, humans are possessed of a spiritual and biological mandate to spin and build a world of beauty and function. The human distinction is the ability to make symbols. Symbolism is the art of investing the world around us with meaning by expressing the invisible or intangible through visible or sensuous representation. This is the simplest, the least unsettling definition of art and creativity. From this definition, we have come to believe and to thoroughly accept without question that art belongs to those who paint the paintings, write the words, and mold the clay, into those representations of the intangible and the invisible. Art has therefore been divided into those who do and those who don’t.

 The reinstatement of art into every one of our lives, both in our ability to receive and to recreate it, is to return to living with meaning. Creativity is, like evolution, like all growth and change, an irrepressible force in nature. Thus far, only humans have attempted to turn away from this call, and a case can be made that it is this turning away that is the cause of so much of our pain, suffering, and longing. This suffering, however, is the result of confusion and misdirection, not hapless circumstance.

 Art, like science, philosophy, and civility, is our best defense against the insupportable weight of all that we don’t know. If we could disperse the weight among us citizen artists, come up with a more inclusive outlook, we could lighten the formidable load of ignorance. In the broadest sense, art is a response in whatever form it takes–an expression of the love and beauty and terror as it is given to us through the visible bounty of Nature

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I Love To Collect African Art

 I love venturing around the world and learning about other cultures. I huge part of me comes alive when I’m in another culture. Ever since I was a little girl I have always been fascinated with the faces of people from other parts of the world and I’ve been intrigued by the way other people live life. Photography seemed to be the right profession for me because it allows me to travel the world and get paid, literally, to see people and cultures and things. I love it. I also love collecting special things from other continents and nations that I visit. My latest fascination has been growing my collection of African art.

I’ll admit that at first, African art seemed a little too strange for my liking. It wasn’t typically in my color scheme and I couldn’t see it fitting into the home I had created back in Vermont. So on many of my first journies to Africa I came home without any African art. If you’re thinking that it is strange for an artist to pass up any chance to collect art, I agree with you now, but I haven’t always.

 I learned to love and collect African art when I took my two daughters with me to Africa on my latest photoshoot project there. It was a busy three week trip during which we would be making our way through six different countries. I didn’t expect to find much time for shopping, but my daughters kept insisting upon it and so I frequently found myself in the most quaint markets meeting stall owners and finding more shots for my photography project than I ever imagined to.

 I had given each of my daughters a set amount of spending money before we ever arrived in Africa, and they had that amount gone within the first two markets we enjoyed. I learned to love African art through the eyes of my daughters. They were intrigued and captivated by the art more than I had expected they would be. Watching them pick up new items and love their look I too began to love looking at African art. I decided that I wanted to forego my need to have everything matching in my home in order that I could collect important art work from Africa, the continent that I had grown to love.


 If you come into my home today you can hardly walk through a room without seeing the imprint of Africa somewhere. That’s because African art adorns almost every room that I spend time in. I have had a transformation: I went from being someone who practically ignored the beauty of African art to being someone that is enthralled with its beauty.

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