Today Harry & I leave from Alabama Art Colony to go back to the
real world. Harry is driving back to Georgia & Annette & I are
driving back to Ohio.
It has been a delightfully exhausting five days of gleaning from other artists, filming Harry, painting and trying to paint, and buzzing around like a bee gathering prime pollen. I will take all this pollen back to my studio and maybe some honeyed paintings will develop. If nothing else, once again Harry and I have discovered a second hive of artiststars here in this quietly hidden countryside around Lake Martin, Alabama.
As we pack our paints and prepare to bid adieu this morning, I think back over the past five days hoping everyone has received what they came for. I know that as a student in art I used to think that my profs held possession of a master book that contained all the instruction I needed to become a great painter. I had to figure out how to charm them to get them to divulge that information, I had to beg & barter to get them to give me the maps & directions to where I was supposed to go. I admit I was over fifty before I realized only One holds the maps & instructions to my purpose & destination as an artist and that One is no other man, woman, or artist in this world.
In fact I think I hold my own maps buried within myself and that One just helps me remove the muck & misunderstandings that cover over my map. No other person holds possession of my instruction. I do. I do.
I hope that this week will be the last week I ever think in terms of artists working at different levels. I hope I never use the concept of levels to think of other artists or human beings again. I'd rather think in terms of stars.
First of all I am not talking about Hollywood Stars, I am talking about the ones in the sky.
If I think of everyone around me in terms of what level artist are they in relation to me, I can only become a judge and cease to be a star. If I ever find myself saying that person's artwork is crap, I am talking levels. If I think in terms of everyone is a star, I don't have to concern myself with comparing or judging. And there is enough room for everyone to be who they are supposed to be.
Levels imply that everyone progresses up thru the same narrow ranks. "Levels" seems two dimensional while "Stars" seems 3 or 4 dimensional. There is more than enough room for everyone to shine in Star. In Levels, everyone struggles to beat out each other for a higher level. Every star in the universe has its unique place. If one star tries to emulate the shine of another, it fails to transmit the unique message it was meant to express to a world beyond itself, or to another star or stars.
How can one star judge another in relation to its own level? If every artist is a star, can't we only hint at what we see of other stars? Can we see them fully? Does one star hold the maps to the destiny of other stars? Stars don't judge each other. They shine on each other, reflect each other's light perhaps, but each has its own journey, lifespan, intensity, size, and each is necessary to its intended recipient in the world below.
I may not be blessed by or even be interested in the light of some stars, but heavens forbid I should judge them of no value to the rest of the universe. I even consider that there may be stars who fall or get off track. I have a new healthy fear of thinking I know where they SHOULD be. Most of my falls have given me more information about my personal maps than any of my best shinings.
There is a time for star gazers I suppose. I will allow them to describe the light they perceive from my place in the sky using the language of the Elements and Principles, I will allow them the right to state what they personally like & don't like. I will allow star gazers and fellow artists alike to say they find my painting boring or of no value to them, however no one has the right to state that another star is of no value to anyone at all. You never know if there is a world somewhere out out of your own line of vision that requires the light from that particular star. You never know at what stage is a particular star. They may be hatching. They may be incubating. They may be dying in preparation to explode into supernova light.
So I hope you are still reading so that you can know that I bid farewell to my new artists friends at Alabama Art Colony hoping our orbits cross paths soon. May you always press on to uncover your own maps, and be gentle with yourself & rest quietly when it is unclear. Shine on!
With much admiration & fondness,
Suzy Ally
s@suzanneally.com
http://suzanneally.com
PS. Due to some tech diffs, I will post photos of Colony & videos of Harry's painting demo when I return. Harry will be working on the painting in Georgia and when it is finished it will be shipped to the Alabama Art Colony permanent collection. xo -s