Last week, Lisa joined me in Peterborough for a couple of days as I was there adjudicating at a music festival. She made the effort to make the trip as I was celebrating my birthday while there. Normally, we don’t exchange gifts for birthdays, anniversaries or Christmas, but she felt compelled to surprise me by purchasing frames for 2 small pieces of artwork by Chris Perez that we had purchased back in 2013 (see pic below).
Even though I’m not big on gifts, I was elated and loved receiving this surprise! We had purchased the two pieces at a fundraising art sale at Creatures Creating gallery space but had them tucked away on the bookshelf since we had no way to display them on the wall, until now!
They had this awesome premise for the sale where every piece for sale was $10 featuring the work of all the members of their collective. The walls were filled with amazing visuals that night, but these 2 unassuming pieces stood out for us. I absolutely adore the patterns and the swooping, curvy effect. And while both pieces compliment each other, they are also quite unique within themselves. The subtly is what makes them so visually poignant to me.
Fast forward to this week, Lisa and I put them up on the wall in our place and now it has even more impact on me. In the past, I’ve used my blog to talk about how I would fill the walls of our place with modern art IF we had the money. But alas, we don’t and we scrimp and save to buy an inexpensive piece here and there that moves us.
I can’t think of a specific artistic discipline that I don’t respect and appreciate, but for some reason, visual art has always particularly intrigued me. I find that sort of weird being a musician. Perhaps I should be way more into other forms of performing arts, but for some reason, I’m truly captivated by what I see on a canvas.
I’m also intrigued by their artistic process and what makes them tick. I’ve gotten into watching shows like Art21 on PBS and The Exhibitionists and Interrupt this Program on CBC that go in-depth into this.
Even though how we deliver and present our work is so much different than each other, I must see and feel a similarity in how we go about doing our work. I often think in terms of line and colour when composing. We must all be using the same part of the brain within our respective creative processes.
Anyway, we’ve got passes to go to the AGO next month – looking forward to that. And I’m also eager to discover new artists and movements out there. So if you know of any good online art blogs and zines, please share in the comments – many thanks!
