The Joy on Her Face

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Photo Dec 05, 11 12 33 AM“I did this myself!”… With sparkly eyes full of satisfaction and proudly showing off her sculpture to her friends, this lady at the Milford Senior Center made my day. The joy on her face was priceless. During the last few months I’ve been conducting a few clay sculpting workshops at the center sponsored by Always Best Care Senior Services. In our last workshop, each one of the participants created a bust. I went to the center to glaze the pieces and return them to their makers. Three of the ladies were sitting in the living room of the center hanging out with their peers and listening to music. I came in and delivered their pieces.

Wow! If you could only see the joy and satisfaction on their faces when they saw their work ready to be displayed. Their peers were very impressed and began giving compliments. They were so happy. I must confess I almost cried. They were so excited and proud of their creation. That for me is one of the most rewarding aspects of what I do. The satisfaction I get when I see them happy is something I don’t have the intellectual capacity to articulate in words.

Photo Dec 05, 12 06 59 PMI honestly believe that what I do means nothing if it is not touching people, inspiring people, making them think, consider, reflect, wonder… Moreover, if there is something I want to see is change. I want to see people happy when they find themselves discovering new talents. I want people to identify themselves with my art and allow each piece to serve as a stepping stone to tell their stories. I don’t want my art to be another dead piece in a gallery or museum. I want them to speak to people. Not only my art, but everything I do.

 

Read also Sculpting With Your Heart

The Deal with Self-Promotion

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A while back I was having a conversation at an art gallery with the curator and another artist. As I am trying to explain my vision and technique the artist said in a sarcastic tone: “You like to talk about yourself a lot”. Although I wasn’t talking about myself I replied: “Yes, I do. You are not going to promote your work for me, are you?”.

1378061_10150322435744956_1463205766_nThe deal with self-promotion is not about talking about yourself or self-adulation. The deal with self-promotion is that no one else can explain or describe your vision and ideas better than yourself. We all have a way to explain what we do. I can be very passionate when explaining what I do. I add a little drama to my explanations too (that might be in the blood or the comedian in me… or both). Explaining my art is no exception. I get very excited when I describe my ideas and process of each piece. I like to tell the stories of the people I teach and encounter and their testimonies because I truly enjoy seeing people happy and satisfied with the experience of art. I am not talking about myself, but I have to talk through myself.

I came across an article by Nathan Hangen, The Art of Shameless Self-Promotion. Hangen stated the difference between self-adulation and self-promotion. The first is when people exalt themselves and their accomplishments in a prideful manner. The second is when people share their vision, concepts, and ideas. The last inspires something. It is important to share the ideas when people fit into them.

It is not about you or what you know. It is about what you do with your knowledge. Powers don’t define a hero. Superman and Zod have the same powers. Each one decided what to do with them. Ideas, vision, and knowledge are like superpowers and part of who you are. What you do with them is up to you. I won’t mind wearing a symbol of hope on my chest. I will wear it shamelessly not for my own sake but for the sake of others. Finding some enemies on the way is just part of the deal.

The Healthy Don’t Need a Doctor

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Sharing your knowledge with people with knowledge is a good practice. It helps to grow knowledge by making sense of others’ experiences and points of view. Great discussions emerge when people share what they know among themselves. On the other hand, it becomes inevitably a competition when some people only respect their own opinions and points of view with or without facts. Such individuals need not knowledge since they claim to know it all. It is a different story when someone wants to learn giving the opportunity for a teachable moment and we turn away. Because some people lack the knowledge is why we should take hold of the opportunity to share. Because they don’t know we can teach them.

Jesus answered them, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. (Luke 5:31 NIV)

Life Incomplete

Life Incomplete by Ivan Tirado

Sounds simple. In theory we understand what it means. However, when it comes to practice it is easier for most people to ‘preach to the choir’ instead of reaching for those who actually need it. No, I’m not talking about religion. I’m talking about sharing knowledge with those who are lacking. It applies to any domain and field. It also applies to our role in the situation. Sometimes we are the ones who need to ask, listen, and learn. We don’t know it all no matter how much of an expert we think we are. Looking up to someone to learn something new is not demeaning or humiliating, it is strength of character and a sign of trust.

There is nothing wrong with accepting that we don’t know it all. The opposite is plain absurd, foolish, and unhealthy. Only those recognizing a need will seek for that need to be fulfilled. Denying the need only closes the doors to growth and development. We all have something new to learn. If we let our pride and ego to surrender we will be in a better position to receive attention.

 

How Long Does it Take

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Photo Sep 30, 10 29 20 AMIt is very possible that half of the people who see my work ask this question: How long does it take to finish something like this? I take it as an honest question. We humans are trapped inside the clock.  Even when traveling to another place we don’t ask how far it is waiting for a response in miles or kilometers. We want to know how far it is in time measures: “How long does it take to get there?” We create deadlines in an attempt to beat time. The workplace establishes a shift based on hours. In many of these places it is of little importance quality and production than the time spent there. We are measuring nanoseconds to switch from one screen to another with a touch of a finger and we panic if takes “too long”. Even sharing a cup of coffee with someone is based on how much time they have for us at that moment. It seems that control is leaving us out of control and ripping away some of our humanity.

Yes, I understand we need to be accountable for what we do and time is a way of measuring productivity, results, and outcomes. I understand that time is important to keep things running “under control”. However, what does it matter how long it took when the result is already in front of them? It is not like they are waiting for me to finish the sculpture. It is there. They don’t have to wait for it. Of course, if they are requesting something specific for them, time is a concern. I don’t want to promise a massive sculpture of a horse and take ten years making it, but art takes time.

Photo Sep 29, 10 16 01 AMThe measure of time in art is not about how long it takes to make, but how long it took the artist to master the technique to make it happen. It is about how long it took to study and understand how to turn the idea into life. Time for the artist is about thinking how to pour the self on that piece. I can finish a painting in an hour or two, but it took a long time to get to that point. Even so with sculpting. I can finish a sculpture in a day but it took many years of practice, effort and sacrifice to reach a comfort level of my technique. However, the joy of creating and the bliss of the moment should not be shortened or retrained by time. The feeling is too good to rush.

Rise Above the Daily News

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A while back I received a large frame as a gift and placed it in the living room. Every time I came upstairs I saw the frame almost asking me to do something with it, something different. I took the frame into my studio, covered the board with newspaper and painted on it. I don’t consider myself a painter but I paint a little. I don’t like to make social/political statements in my art, but this time I did. Not criticizing or supporting any causes or movements, but motivating people to hold on and thrive in the midst of today’s overwhelming news. That’s how “Daily News” was born.

Last week I decided to bring to fruition some company to the painting. Two more pieces were born that day: “The Life we Live” and “Rise Above”. Again, linear figures painted on newspaper. I’ve been working on a clever way to put them together in one sentence to make sense of the set and its message:

The life we live must rise above our daily news.

 

The fact is that more than just a title or explanation of the set this is the soul of a society calling for a chance to live not just exist. The almost asphyxiating images and reports of the news are suffocating our lives and hopes. We need to rise above the constant negativity of every day. Moreover, we can become an oasis of hope. Our behavior, our work, our daily interactions should be refreshing to people. This is applicable online as well. The last thing people need to encounter is another self-centered, self-loving, know-it-all, contemptibly obnoxious person. A smile, a kind word, a gesture of humanity, someone to listen, time given… all this things can make a great difference in the life of a person who might be drowning in the fierce waves of the life they are living each day. Rise Above!