Thursday, June 14, 2007

Wednesday Nights

I have the good fortune to have a friend that is part of the Beaded Journal Project. We get together on Wednesday nights and work on our journal. Last night was the second one.

I only started this blog yesterday so let me take you back to our first night.

I share a house with another artist, she is a papermaker, that is how I met her. She came downstairs to check on our progress. She looked at mine and said that's nice. Then she looked at my friend's and oohed and aahed. At that moment I felt very awkward about my own page. That is one of the reasons I am doing this project.

Since I was young I wanted to be an artist. I started beading after my grandma took me to an indian exhibit with all the wonderful beaded objects that they used for everyday. In my family though art was something you did on the side if you had time, it was never something you could make a living at. At least that was what I was told. So I grew up with that thought in my head.

My theme for this project is "My Healing as an Artist". Every bead and every stitch that I apply to my page will bring me one step closer to being able to call myself an artist and to live my life as an artist. There is 40 some years that I will have to unravel and reweave so I am quite happy that this project will take a year to complete. I have a lot of work ahead of me.

2 comments:

nologic said...

Your theme speaks to me. I have never been able to think of myself as an artist, but have always wanted to be an artist. I now wonder the meaning of the word 'artist'.I look forward to sharing the journey of the BJP with you.

Timaree said...

Did you think perhaps, the paper maker's style just doesn't match yours instead of your work not being as artistic as your friend's? Not everyone likes Picasso but that does not make him any less of an artist! Expressing your ideas is what makes you an artist not whether someone likes it. (But I sure love to get the affirmations on my work too) It's hard to stay true to your message when someone else gets the kudos but hang in there.