My fifth donut date took place inside my head. I know what you are thinking...this took one of my donut date spots? Relax, I decided to do a "baker's dozen" so this will not take anyone's spot. Birds have long been my muse since my grandparents gave me a bird book back in elementary school. I practiced and practiced until I could draw a bird anatomically correct from memory. Birds, especially crows have shown up time and time again in my work usually as distractions or temptations. In stark contrast to the vibrantly colored donuts that have only been my muse in recent years, it only seemed fitting to marry the two in one artwork. I had been thinking about this for some time and then a former student suggested it in my quest for subject matter for a different smaller work I was doing. It was a tiny artwork titled, "nesting" that only had the donut nest of fledglings and became a study for this larger work. This piece, while a whimsical marriage of my two muses, actually houses a multitude of symbolism. Much more than I can type here, so I will just hit the highlights...teaching...it's hard to portray the idea to anyone who is not a teacher. You spend all day feeding small bits of information that you try to figure out how to make attractive to your kids so they "bite", all the while juggling a million other things going on inside the room and your brain hence the confetti of different things dancing in the background. An artist's brain much like a teacher's is equal to having about 53 tabs open in your browser...even though you can only see one page at a time, you know they are all there distracting your focus. The most important thing you can do as a teacher is be who you are....because if you are willing to be yourself in your classroom, your kids will feel safe enough to show their own unique spots and stripes and feel comfortable expressing themselves. Like all humans, they just want to know that someone sees them and hears them.
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AuthorGood art isn't about matching your sofa, but about the conversation it starts. Archives
August 2021
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