Article Link: http://exchangepress.com/article/a-manner-of-speaking/5022496/
As a young child I thought there was one way to draw a tree, a right way to draw a family. I believed that some people, children then, could draw and others couldn’t. I felt that some children had artistic talent and others did not. I knew that these talents were not mine. Thought, believed, felt, knew.
Where did this information come from?
Did I create all of it on my own?
What were the adults in my life messaging me about my creative spirit?
Why wasn’t my spirit strong enough to support self-knowledge?
The outcome is that I don’t draw. I crush paper into balls so no one can see what I doodle. I erase, scribble over, hide. But I love color and materials and shapes. I buy wonderful paper and pencils and markers and books. I look at all this great equipment, but I don’t draw. Because I don’t believe that I can.
Sitting at a table with Jim Wike, Kirsten Haugen, John Rosenow, Helle Nebelong, and Jill Primak, the conversation turned to pencils and drawing. I had this wonderful ...