After a recent interview on whohub.com, that asked me about
the origins of my creative expression, I started to think more deeply about the
question posed. What drove me to want to
be an artist? The question is simple yet
the answer is more complex than I can articulate. To start, I grew up in a creative household
within a truly inspirational natural environment. My mother loved art and was quite creative as
was my father. The two had their own
craft store called M & R Handcrafts.
They made and sold ceramic plaques and sculptures and other crafts
including decoupage and repose. Their most popular lines dealt with
astrology—the Aztec calendar and the zodiac.
I spent many hours with them, working in a log cabin, painting these
plaques along with my brothers and sister.
There was a fireplace to keep the space warm and a kerosene stove and
knotty pine paneling. We had the
pre-requisite stuffed deer head over the fireplace and a mounted trophy big
mouth bass in this homey studio. My
father especially spent many hours in this space pouring plaster and
trimming. Outdoors there was a small
lake and a wood, as this cabin, which was next to our house was in the wetlands
of the Pine Barrens in southern New Jersey.
Across the lake, off a swampy part of the lake, there lived an elderly,
African American landscape painter. I
spent many hours watching her paint and attending her openings in nearby
Philadelphia. My uncle who was a musician, playing drums for a time with Sun Ra,
came often from Manhattan, staying in a small house near the painter. He would bring down his creative friends to
party, under the moonlight, on the lake. My parents, the painter named Mrs. Kennedy
and my Uncle Carl were my earliest influences. I can’t underestimate the power
of the lake and surrounding woods. The
magical sounds, year round, emanating from the lake were very powerful
influences, as was the ever changing tides and thriving wildlife, including
deer, otters, eels, snakes, bull frogs, turtles, fish, tadpoles and ducks. Following Mrs. Kennedy’s lead, I spent many
years painting renditions of the lake, or at least shall I say, attempting to
paint the lake and trees. I also had an
excellent, multi-talented art teacher in high school named Mrs. Bilderbach who
taught many different media and techniques.
It was a very special gift to have these people, and that particularly
vibrant natural environment, in my life as an early artist. There were so many creative people around in
those woods. There was a poet named Mrs.
DuBois who led a poetry reading group in Mantua that I joined, and of course I
spent many hours involved with dancing.
Mrs. DuBois’ poetry group stands out in my mind. In her home, she had very Victorian tastes
(we had high tea every Sunday) yet she was African American and especially fond
of the 20th century Black poets. In a splendid environment of
artistic production in a home studio, an unrivaled natural environment in the
Pine Barrens and wetland, inspired by musicians, poets and dancers, I embarked
on life as a painter. Now after many
decades of studio practice, I look back on the foundations of my creativity and
am considering reviving my early interests in silversmithing under the tutelage
of my high school teacher and am planning to create some nature-inspired
cloisonne enamel works. Until I get to
the facilities for such an endeavor, I am continuing to work on mixed media
ATCS, which are continuously surprising. Today's ATC is a reflection on creativity and childhood.
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