When I was asked for the first time to create a crazy quilt from my own imagination, the first thing I did was ponder about it. I love the word ponder. I came across this word in my late twenties while reading and it captured my attention. To ponder means to carefully reflect on, to consider or judge the worth of. There is something soothing about this word in the way it sounds and in its meaning. This beautiful word has influenced my life ever since I encountered it.
As I explored what to create for this crazy quilt project, I unconsciously tapped into the experiences I had accumulated up until that point in my life. Those experiences were sourced from memories of a time I lived in Florida which brought much freedom and beauty to me as a young adult. The final result of the quilt amazed me, and it was the start of me becoming an artist, but it also represented the joy those experiences evoked in me.
The definition of the word experience means; practical contact with an observation of facts or events; an event or occurrence that leaves an impression. When I create from my experiences, I am creating from what I have observed throughout a given day or even what has captivated me from an observation of days gone by. These experiences create memories that are filed away in my mind and stored in my computer through pictures.
I believe “experiences and pondering” go hand in hand and without reflecting on them both I cannot create art. Connecting to an experience puts me in a place of pondering, and pondering helps me to formulate what I want to create. I need to experience my surroundings, to look for the beauty outside my door, to walk among it, and to explore its intricacies, but I also need to explore the feeling of how I appreciate what I see. Pondering allows me to go deeply into how I can recreate the essence of what I have seen and felt. By doing so, I get to create from a place that touches my heart.
The art above “Bandstand at Forest Park” is an art piece that I have been longing to create since I went to Forest Park in St Louis, MO when I first moved to this area. I was fascinated by the ornateness of the structure with a Renaissance influence in its design, built on a small island on a lake, and has been persevered through several renovations since its origin in 1925.
This Bandstand attracts many visitors like myself, and ever since I saw it, I have ben pondering on how to to create an art piece reflecting its serene beauty. With the help of a of a photographer friend, Janice Scissors, who provide the perfect picture to aid in my creation, I was able to finally create it.