The Pits and Pieces

 I was at an art show ( FORMS, FACES & SPACES ) hosted by STUDIOS BY DESIGN .  The moderator (Robert Steven of Portrait Gallery of Canada), spoke with a panel of four visual artists. Below I intersperse some of the questions, the answers, and my interpretations and best recollection. I’ve written before about why create art? It fascinates me – people with the desire to create, be it music, poetry, short stories, books, (even blogs!), photography that tells a story, paintings, sculptures, and then offer them to the world saying, ”Look at this . . .” * What does art do for you, for others? Does art create hope or is it the other way around . . . hope creates art, love creates art, curiosity creates art. One of the panelists said, “Art is my language.” Words come less easily to her, but through art, she can speak. Art not as an expression but as a language! I loved that. Another, a young photographer, part Indigenous, part Black, said for years he denied both his cultures, di

  We’ve heard about the benefits to one’s physical and mental health of socializing, especially as one ages; that we are social creatures, and interactions, however minor, can be vital to our well-being. But not all socializing is equal, and how do introverts find that beneficial type of socializing whilst avoiding the draining kind that sends us scurrying back to our lairs for days of solitude and recuperation? It was an eventful week, filled with social events, which is unusual for me. At most I can handle a day or two, spaced out with intervals, and then I need to retreat to re-energize myself. It’s not that I don’t enjoy getting together with friends and family. I do. But an abundance of mixing and mingling can be exhausting, and not just physically. I pondered my socializing over the past week, and which parts of it truly fed me in the ways the experts advocate. I came to some realizations, obvious and not earth-shattering, but I’m trying to be more intentional in how I spen

  May has always been an eventful and special kind of month with many markers: ·        Mother’s Day ·        Three birthdays in the family (including my own); ·        Anniversary of arriving in Canada (a day forever etched in my brain: May 7 th, ) ·        A month of potential glorious walking weather, not too hot, not too cold ·        First opportunities to sit out on a patio or balcony. ·        Trilliums carpeting the forest floor. ·        Windows open during the night, awaking to birds chirping in the morning. May is the month for memories and small moments, for topping up your joy tank. I began the month with an early morning walk, before the days of rain began, pondering the restlessness I was feeling within. What was at the core of that? I had a partial answer: I wanted to travel again, to wander and explore, to feel that thrill of excitement laced with anxiety upon arrival in a new place – how do I navigate this? Who am I here in this foreign environment?