David & Art

Here is a photo of one of David’s glass bricks for sale at the Sandra Ainsley Gallery in Toronto. I love this piece because of the cuneiform alphabet etched into the glass. When light shines through the back you really feel like you’re looking into a window on the past.
On the way back from Mum’s birthday party last night, David and I got into an intense conversation about art. He told me he went through a long period of wondering whether or not he should be adding more objects to a world that already seemed to have too many. Then his friend Sally (also a glass artist) said she’d gone through a similar period of doubt herself. But she finally decided that doing art was her way of giving back what she was experiencing about life.
David also mentioned he finds it difficult to part with what he’s made. I know what he means. The pieces we create act as markers along the way. We like to have them around to fondle, to remind us that our ideas really can become tangible. I told David that I look on the pieces of art I make as children. One part of you wants them to stay and home and never leave you; the other part is anxious for them to spread their wings and explore all the possibilities. Fortunately there’s always a new child wanting to be born, so when we part with what we’ve already made, there’s more room in the creative nest for our ideas to grow.