What’s Your Story? Drawing Club 2
Our Saturday morning drawing class has been invited to participate in the The Arsenal Center for the Arts summer theme exhibition— What’s Your Story? As I mentioned last time we are starting with art pieces based on the word shoe and on Saturday we shared stories.
Mine is—When I was nine I had the awful realization that apart from the queen of England everyone important in the world at large was a man—Jesus, the Prime Minister of Canada, Elvis Presley. I had faint hopes that Prince Charles might cast his eye my way but it took a great deal to imagine that as he was in England and I was in Canada and I was already schooled in the rules of monarchy. Then Elvis came out with his song, Blue Suede Shoes, and I convinced my mother to buy me a pair. I really hoped, that with the right shoes, I would be important too.
The other stories were fabulous—a young girl realizing her feet were as big as her mother’s; a grandmother, whose granddaughter is far away, thinking of shoes she bought the little girl and missing her; a young Jewish girl begging her disapproving mother for yellow shoes then being asked by a stranger in front of her mother if they were her Easter shoes. Little snippets of life that say so much.
Now we imagine how we might create visual images to accompany these stories. The way we create the art piece will say a lot about where we are now in relation to the story. I expect that each artist will create a piece based on things that they like to do. Some like to paint, others use fabric, others like to make three-dimensional things. The choice of medium will speak to the story, for sure.
As wondrous as each piece will doubtless be they will be especially evocative when hung together. It’s so liberating to step forward and speak your truth and fun to step forward with our fellow travelers. No blue suede shoes necessary!
