Do you have it?

The Artist's Eye

“An artist is someone who turns his coat inside out and falls in love with the color of the lining.” Jean Tardiveau

The other day, I was behind the counter at What's on 2^nd, where I've been filling in a couple of days a week. I was busy pulling sports cards out of plastic sleeves, stacking them into boxes, when a woman came in looking for a small porcelain sculpture of a cat—preferably the Cheshire Cat. She informed us that she was making an Alice in Wonderland Mobile and wanted the cat at the top to hold all the parts together. She could paint one if she had to, so any cat would do. Another woman was looking for flat metal objects, like gears or clock works; she welds them together to create sculptures. The shop has sold out of teeth—the kind that denture designers and crown makers use to match color on their products. And the crystal tear drops that typically hang from chandeliers, and random board game pieces are popular items for artists. I confess that I, myself, go to thrift stores and buy clothes to cut up for quilts—the old fabrics that were made in America hold up much better than modern ones. That's not a nationalistic statement, it's just a fact. Sad to say, it's been twenty years since fabric was made here.

An artist is someone who looks at things differently. One who looks at an object, a rusty old tool or a man's dinner jacket, and thinks, “Oh, I could make something neat from that!” Patterns in nature, on buildings, or even on manhole covers are inspirational. We like to take old things an recreate them. I noticed several chairs at the shop, the old wooden folding ones whose seats had long since worn out. Someone had made new seats for them by cutting up a tapestry rug. Renew, reuse, refurbish. It's fun and useful at the same time.

Here's the thing—everyone is an artist if they let themselves be. Any one can take an item out of context and put it in an unexpected place, and create an experience for themselves and others. One woman who came into the shop coveted an old wooden chicken crate that was perched on the top of a bookcase. I asked, “What would you do with it?” She screwed up her mouth and thought for a minute, then said, “Hmmm, I don't know but it would be something fun! Maybe fill it with quilts and stack it on top of suitcases in my guest room.” That's it! That's the artist's eye. It's seeing the world through the prism of imagination. Anyone can do it.

                                                In the spirit,

                                                             Jane