creativity – Page 2 – Tell Me Your Story

The Dabbler

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Last Tuesday, shortly after my three hour pottery class had ended, I found out that it was “World Art Day”. Apparently, every April 15, the fine arts are recognized and awareness of creativity worldwide is promoted. In 2012 The IAA/AIAP and UNESCO started this day of celebration, to coincide with Leonardo da Vinci’s birthday. Finding out that I had unknowingly marked this special day made me happy.

From an early age, I wanted to be an artist: my passion was to do anything creative painting, drawing, sewing… The dream never came to fruition. Dabbling in the arts is what I have done throughout my life. Here is my story:

There was not a great deal of talent when it came to figure drawing, but I didn’t notice or care.

My favorite pastime when I was little, was sewing. I learned to use a needle and thread at a young age. Many hours were spent creating plush animals.

At the age of 12, I made my first earrings by drilling holes in two Canadian dimes with a push drill. Not really know how to insert the drill bit properly, at one point the drill slipped and the bit went through the flesh of my middle finger. I persevered and finished the holes the same evening. They earrings were basic, with some metal ear wires.

I remade these earrings, probably in my early 20’s, they now belong to my youngest daughter.

In college I had no idea what my focus of study should be. Stupidly I chose English as my major, because I loved to read and write, art was my minor because creating had always been a part of who I was.

The studio art classes were my favorite. My sophomore year, I took silk screening. I spent hours in the art studio working on my projects. The process of figuring out what the image was going to be, preparing the screen and using the inks in layers, to create a print, was so much fun!

This was a project for class, I think we needed to choose something from current events, so I chose the AIDS Crises, as there were still so many questions around this disease.

This picture of my print is poor. The words around the figure say this:
Top: Is the blood Supply Really Safe?
Left: Can You Touch Someone Who Has AIDS?
Right: AIDS and “straights”
Bottom: Will you get AIDS from kissing?

At the very bottom:
“‘ THERE ARE NO MORAL OR IMMORAL DISEASES….
ILLNESS IS NOT A PUNISHMENT FOR SIN”
-HA. Katchadourian

I studied in London my junior year of college. The first semester I took a photography class, this was before digital cameras. The pictures were shot in black and white, as part of the class was learned to develop the film.

Here are a few of my photographs:

I became a volunteer with the Jesuit Volunteer corps, late in the summer, after graduating from college. My job was working with young children in a federally funded research project. Apparently, I continued not try my hand at some simplistic renderings …here are some things I found from that year:

I worked for two years as an assistant teacher, then went back to school and received my Master’s Of Education. My course of study specialized in teaching through the arts. The idea of this program was to incorporate art into every aspect of learning. Unfortunately, I found this was hard to do in public education and in most school settings.

I had one great year, teaching Kindergarten at a day care, where I created my whole curriculum and was able to use what I learned in school. The pay was poor, the hours were long, but I enjoyed the work. At the end of the year, I moved to another state.

The year before my kindergarten position, I spent substitute teaching. For a little while, one evening a week was spent at a quilting class. Once again I found myself working with Fiber Art.

Time went by. I focused on teaching, was married and separated with a child on the way. Just before my daughter turned one, I found myself spending hours in my garden while she was with her father. Gardening was therapeutic and I had no desire to go back to teaching, thus landscape design caught my interest. The fall after my only child (at the time) turned one and my divorce was final, I started taking classes that would fulfill my need for creativity and perhaps lead to a future career.

Various projects worked on throughout the class.

I loved the classes, and did well on my projects. Then I learned the hard truth of working as a landscape designer: “You need to be able to sell yourself” and that wasn’t my strong point.

Just after 9/11, the year I took my landscape classes, I met my husband. We were married a little over a year after we met. Life went on and there was little time to think or work on my own creative endeavors. Lack of artistic undertakings didn’t phase me because, despite some hard times, I loved my life and my family.

In 2018 life took us on a roller coaster ride By mid 2019 I found myself needing a creative outlet, and I started working with beads and jewelry once again. Many necklaces were made between 2019 and 2022.

During COVID, along with the beginning of beadwork, I started crocheting a king size blanket; it was finished it late in 2020.

In the fall of 2022, I discovered a jewelry center that offered classes, My first class was a four week class teaching us how to saw, rivet and patina silver nickel. Ee could create a large pendant or key chain. With that class I was hooked!

I have continued to take metal classes and work on jewelry in my own time. For now, wearable art is my creative outlet of choice.

Many different artistic pursuits have been tried over the years. I have never stuck with one long enough to perfect the art form. This is why I call myself a dabbler. Could I call myself an artist if a focus was chosen and continually practiced? Perhaps. Maybe if my newest pursuit continues, in 20 years (at the age of 76), I will allow myself the title.

My Year of Creativity (March 2025)

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At least once every day, since January 20, I have uttered the words “What the F—-“, as I listen to the news. Before this year, I tended to be the type of person with my head part way in the sand, when it came to local and world events; that changed as the new Trump era swept in.

In December 2024, I decided that my New Year’s resolution would be to complete one creative project a month. The year ahead looked like it might have many hard changes. At this point, my prediction is coming true, for many of us. The reason for my new year’s intention was this: having something to focus my imagination on, would clear the noise that might be rattling around my head; it has helped somewhat.

As the executive orders were announced, like so many Americans, I became angry. The very first actions I heard were those that directly impacted the LGBTQ+ individuals; it is a clear attack on human rights. One of my children lived as a transgender individual for a five years, before detransitioning. I felt our president was wiping out a population of people with a swipe of his pen; this wasn’t okay. The executive orders kept coming. This was an intentional strategy to “flood the media”. Typically a mild mannered person, my temper was flaring! To help extinguish the flame within me, I worked with real fire to make my first creative project of the year.

Nine days after the beginning of the presidential proclamations, my husband and I went on our planned vacation to Arizona, the time in Sedona took me away from the news. I felt calmer…maybe it was all the healing energy that was within Sonoran Desert? When we arrived in Tucson, for the next leg of our stay, I received a text from a friend with the headline “Rep. Ogles Proposes Amending the 22nd Amendment to Allow Trump to Serve a Third Term”….all the peaceful feelings went away. The next two days, I was in class and discovered the our teacher and at least several of the women (from the first class) were feeling very much like I was. As I focused on my creative workshops, attended the gem and mineral show and enjoyed the surroundings of Tucson with my spouse, the anger dissipated once again. When we left Arizona, I felt ready to face the next step.

A friend invited me to join a group of people who also were not happy with what was happening in our government: this was a safe space to exchange news headlines and share information. Some of the things conveyed, made me look at things through the eyes of others. In the middle February, I attended a protest and no longer felt completely complacent.

In late February, I focused my on the imaginative project of the month; it connected me with a happy memory and good intention. Although I had some respite from the outside world, my torch must have felt some of my energy (if that is possible); it misfired and singed some of my hair. By the end of the month, I was afraid of what was happening in the United States. As a fan of historic fiction and dystopian novels, the thought of of what took place in the past, layered onto what life could become, instilled fear. Doomscrolling added to my anxiety.

Then, at the beginning of March, I understood just how isolated Americans had become from the rest of the world. My fear increased. Every evening, as I watched tv with my husband, time was taken away from the news. For a little while, concern for things happening in the “New America”, were replaced by laughter that came from the shows we were watching. My energy was also centered on learning how to wire wrap a beaded necklace. The matte chakra beads, that had called to me the very first day at the Tucson Gem and mineral show, were what I decided to use for my March project.

The second full week of March (as the markets continued to drop and my worry about the economy started) my husband and I began instruction on how to hand build pottery. During those first three hours of class, my thoughts centered on the way the clay felt in my hands and the piece I was building. My pots might not end up being the most beautiful of objects, but the therapeutic benefits of the process are highly recommended!

The second week of class, I took too long to make my coils. I took them home, along with extra clay, to finish my project. Of the three pieces I made, this is least favored by me; once they are all fired and glazed my opinion might change.

My fear continued to ramp up while listening to the news, yet calm during the later part of the day when my focus was elsewhere. Then, on March 16, the local chapter of INDIVISIBLE had in-person meeting and I attended. Surrounded by other people who are not happy with the things that are happening in this country, made me feel better; something switched inside of me. That same week, my chakra necklace was completed. Now it is the end of March. The path of where we are headed, as a nation, is not clear. I’m still angry and fearful: freedoms seem to be waning and history might be erased, but now I no longer feel alone.

Other creative projects in March

My Year Of Creativity

January https://tell-me-your-story.org/2025/02/01/my-year-of-creativity/

February https://tell-me-your-story.org/2025/03/07/my-year-of-creativity-2/

My Year Of Creativity (February 2025)

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Well over a year ago, knowing my enjoyment of beading, my husband said to me: “You should go to the Tucson Gem And Mineral Show”. The summer of 2024 came and my spouse asked: “have you looked into the show in Arizona?”. My response was “No, but I will”. After a little research into the largest gem show in the world, I told my other half that it looked overwhelming and it probably wasn’t for me. He was surprised and then said “Aren’t there any jewelry workshops you can take?” I did some more investigating and found that he was right….

At the end of January, my husband and I traveled to Arizona. We spent a few days in Sedona, hiking and touring the high desert. The colors of the ancient red rocks, once under a sea, were breathtaking! Walking through this desert was somewhat like walking into a painting.

When our time in Sedona was over, we drove to Tucson. I spent a day and a half in two workshops, but neither of the things I made could become my creative piece for the month.

The first day was a water casting class. Water casting is a process where metal is melted and cast into a bowl of water, the water essentially freezes the metal to create an organic form. We made “cups”. This process was learned, but so much more was involved: hammering the metal; making a bail (the piece that attaches a pendent to a chain); then soldering everything (including a bezel cup) to the transformed silver shape; lastly, the gemstones were secured.

February 2, 2025: Water Casting

This piece couldn’t be my creative project for the month, as it wasn’t solely my work. I needed to use a bail that the instructor had on hand. My connector was too small; this is something to work on: finding the sweet spot where the chain fits through the loop, yet the bail isn’t too large. The class ran overtime by at least an hour. The last things to place were the gemstones. My bezel work is slow, so I had help to complete the pendent.

The second day, was learning to solder fine chain; this was a shorter class, with the same instructor. I had been looking for a class like this. We learned how to attach a jump ring to a premade chain, by soldering it together without melting everything. Again, this workshop provided much more than just learning the initial process: a hammered circle was made; it was attached to the chain where I had soldered the jump rings, then the circle was fused shut. Finally a bezel cup was joined to the circle and a gemstone was secured as very last step.

February 3, 2025: Soldering Fine Chain

Our workshop went overtime by about an hour or more. Once again, help was needed securing the stone. Since I had some help with this necklace, it also couldn’t be my creative project for the month.

Although the Tucson Gem and Mineral Show was as overwhelming as it looked, I would absolutely go again, if only to participate in some wonderful classes! Attending only one location was my goal. However, my husband and I decided to go to one of the “Big 3” together; it was the 22nd Street Mineral & Fossil Show and well worth the time.

My spouse and I spent a few more days in Tucson, exploring the area and the desert that surrounds it. The Sonoran Desert has a very different landscape from the high desert in Sedona; the colors are mute in comparison, with rugged mountains, and plenty of cacti. The arid landscape is beautiful in its own way.

After over a week away, our time in Arizona came to an end. Once settled back into routine, I wanted to practice my soldering skills and make something special for my daughter’s birthday; it needed to mean something to both of us….

Along with the dinosaur-like bird from my January story ( https://tell-me-your-story.org/2025/02/01/my-year-of-creativity/ ), I had two more metal cutouts that sat on my workbench for months. These pieces of metal were from jewelry made last summer (the first being the heron pendant in my last post).

Each time my youngest came home this past fall, she said: “you should make something with those”, referring to the tree and the bird. As I mulled over what to make for her birthday, I realized that the tree was somewhat a symbol of the many adventures we had together.

One of many road trips taken with my youngest child in the summer of 2022. This was on the Georgian Bay in Ontario, Canada. Do you know which tree I used for the wearable art?

For my daughter’s present, a necklace and pendent (both applied with patina) were created. The bail is too big, but eventually it will be fixed.

“If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again”

-Saying attributed to William Edward Hickson

2nd month complete

(The story took longer than anticipated, but the present was finished on February 21st)

My Year Of Creativity (January 2025)

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A few years ago, I decided to learn how to work with fine metal to create wearable art. My first teacher told us: “look to nature for inspiration”. Loving to take pictures of the world around me, I took this to heart.

I took a few jewelry classes and found that hammering and sawing are my favorite ways to transform a blank sheet of metal into a story. The procedure of finding the right picture, manipulating it to make my design, and then actually create something with those images, brings me joy (probably after some frustration).

I’m learning, it’s a process….

Over the summer of 2024, I took some tools to my summer home. Our cottage is on a lake, yet surrounded by trees. My torches, that would allow me to solder any metal, stayed at home. I made a few creations, using my photographs. The following is one of those pictures.

“Experience is the name we give to our mistakes.”

-Oscar Wilde

The cut out dinosaur-like bird sat on my work bench for months. I had an idea of what I needed to do to fix it, but didn’t have the nerve; it would require soldering some wire to the silver to fix the beak. I was afraid, because the tendency to melt my metal with the fiery torch is great. In December, I decided that my New Years resolution for 2025 would be to complete at least one creative project each month.

I took an intensive soldering course in January. I made nothing, but learned a lot. The class be me a little more confidence. A week later I got up my nerve and finished the pendent.