for blue and violet

This is not exactly interesting in terms of creative work, but I've decided it's important enough to garner at least a small amount of written attention.

For the last few weekends I've been moving out of my art room. Since you may not have an art room let me tell you exactly what that is. My art room is the designated indoor space for all my art related stuff. It houses all of my art tools, art materials, books, nick-knacks, every 2D work I've created since middle school, small sculptures not in galleries, boxes/packing materials, a large stuffed red tailed hawk, drawing table/chair, shelves, 2 guitars, 1 mandolin, several framed concert posters, an autographed photo of Mean Joe Greene, photo lights/equipment, 2 computers, and quite possibly an undisturbed tribe of quiet pygmies.

Essentially what most of you would call an extra bedroom, I've turned in to a storage and work space for my creative efforts. It's been a perfect space for this use all the years we've lived in this house. Not only have I been able to keep stored sculptures cool, dry and spider free, I've also been able to work well into the wee hours on projects without disturbing the other occupants of the house.

However, when you have 2 kids you no longer have an "extra" bedroom. Or "extra" cookies for that matter, but let's deal with one issue at a time.

It is really amazing how much "stuff" I have packed into this room over the years. I think there's a southern phrase about 10 pounds of sugar in a 5 pound sack...or something like that. It would have been only slightly irritating to have to move this stuff into another room but since we love a good challenge, it became our task to move this stuff out and NOT into another room. Basically all this stuff just has to disappear. (which may mean it's a great time to make an offer on that drawing or sculpture you've always had your eye on)

Now, we've established that this probably isn't of any real interest to you. And the irritation of moving the stuff and not being able to work on new sculpture or drawings for this period of transition is not really something I would want to archive so I could think wistfully upon it at a later date. So why document it?

There are at least two reasons.


First, I'm convinced that great ideas come from examining simple personal experiences and having the guts to be honest about them. I do not expect to create a series of sculptural works based on losing my art room. That would be terrible for everyone involved. But if I'm honest, there's much more going on than just having to move lots of stuff and find places to stash it. There's something here about interacting with change, about trying to be less selfish, and about learning how a parent is supposed to think. And I'm pretty sure there's some good conceptual content in there. When I figure it out and use it creatively I'll know exactly where the thought process began.

Second, I suppose that with this being preserved indefinitely in the Internet world there's a chance that my son and daughter will stumble on to this note 30 years from now and every crazy thing they've thought about their dad will be confirmed. But, when they get to this post they'll see what a wonderful sacrifice their father made for the sake of their independence and comfort. They'll realize what a completely unselfish man he is. Then they'll demonstrate their appreciation by buying me a beach house. Just don't tell them that I'll have a lot more stuff to store by then and I'll need their help to move it all into the beach house.