Beginnings

My Individual Theory of Aesthetics and Design

What makes me who I am as an artist? What has impacted and influenced my decisions as an artist? Are they social? Are they environmental? Are they personal? I realize there are many things that factor into who I am today and that it is ever changing because I am never the same person on a day to day basis; I change and my environment changes. Though there are two common elements that I find to be true on everyday and that is my insatiable desire to create art and the never ending search for knowledge.

Events in life make a large impact and when you are confronted with your mortality on a daily basis you begin to reflect and analyze your life. I have been told that I am very sick; I am not in denial but I know that it is merely a label that my doctors have affixed to me and that all labels can be removed. It has been a wake-up call and because of that my life has changed tremendously; I embrace every moment of my life with joy and happiness. My goal is to make an impact in people’s lives; be an inspiration, let my actions speak for themselves. If only people could see life through my eyes now; everything is vivid, I can feel the pulse of life – the interconnectedness of it all. Now I bring this awareness to my work whether it is in my writing or in my compositions. Breathe in, enjoy; life is beautiful. Find the beauty in every day and admire it with all the wonder of a child and most importantly be thankful. I am thankful everyday I can get out of bed because I am upright and breathing.

Leonard Everette Fisher pretty well states the sentiment of why I design in his interview with CBC Magazine:

"...there is in my temperament an irrepressible love of form, shape, line, and their arrangements as seen rhythmically, with or without color, under an arbitrary light. Everything I look at or imagine is translated in these terms and stored in my memory bank. These are the elements to which I as an artist respond. These are the cells that structure an artistic soul. These elements are the ultimate humanizing message and the unmeasurable passage to one's artistic nirvana. While form rhythm, color, and light—words too—serve my artistic passion."

And yet it is more than just that. I design because it gives me a reason to get out of bed everyday. I design because it fills me with bliss. I design because it is the light in my life that does not remind me of the bleakness of other aspects in my life.

When I am designing it is effortless; I feel tapped into the source as it were. I am very aware of that feeling because when I am struggling with a design that is not the case; I am not tapped in. Design is sheer pleasure and joy for me. I know that there is more to this reality that we call life and I know that my creativity is a gift; I am not arrogant to think otherwise.

As Eckhart Tolle states artistic creation, sports, dance, teaching, counseling – mastery in any field of endeavor implies that the thinking mind is either no longer involved at all or at least is taking second place. A power and intelligence greater than you and yet one with you in essence takes over. There is no decision-making process anymore; spontaneous right action happens, and “you” are not doing it. Mastery of life is the opposite of control. You become aligned with the greater consciousness. It acts, speaks, does the works. (Tolle, 23)

The bottom line as long as I am designing I am content. My students have watched me numerous times deal with annoying faculty members who clearly think that they are the priority. I rant and rave like any normal person but the minute I sit down to the task at hand it all vanishes in an instant; design has a way of making the rest of life stand still. I get absorbed into the project and nothing else matters. I have had plenty of times when I have had a student say to me that they would love to be in my head for a day; to see how I see the world, to see how I approach my projects. I laugh because it just is.

It has been asked of me what my driving force for design is? Is it personal or perhaps financial? One thing is for sure and that is I never let money be a deciding factor in my life. Yes, I need it to pay my bills but I do not want it to be driving force behind any of my endeavors. As long as I can keep the roof over my head I am content so I guess you can say that the driving force is personal. It is an unfortunate thing that so much emphasis is placed on money but I find that it is the simple things in life that matter most to me, my art being one of them. I find that materialism just doesn’t matter to me any more; the driving force is about being an inspiration: to my family, my friends and especially to my students and I do that through my art and teaching.

Design is about simplicity; using the white spaces, finding right colors, the textures and the values, tantalizing the eye as it moves around the canvas. It is an exploration of ideas; merging and molding elements together to create a composition. If I had to pick an area of design that I am drawn to that would be illustration; it has always held a fascination for me since my childhood; looking at all of my childhood books that were illustrated by Arthur Rackham.

The visual for my individual theory of aesthetics and design is a simple representation of my brain and what motivates me in my design: laughter, creativity, happiness and knowledge. Four simple things:
· Laughter because it heals and makes life a better place
· Creativity because it is a way to express ideas
· Happiness because it is everyone’s goal
· Knowledge because there is always something new to learn around each corner

Each of these I apply to all that I do especially relating to my students. According to the National Curriculum in Action by promoting creativity, teachers can give all pupils the opportunity to discover and pursue their particular interests and talents. We are all, or can be, creative to some degree. Creative pupils lead richer lives and, in the longer term, make a valuable contribution to society.

Where does one begin when discussing internal design influences? It is limitless and ever evolving as one goes through life. Where does my creativity come from? Life! Life gives me my creativity because I am surrounded by it. All of nature has art whether it be the simple spiral of a seashell to the array that flower petals create. I believe all are creative you just have to find it; go with in, it is there. I have been blessed by parents that believed in the arts and that their children should also have an appreciation for it; music, opera, art, architecture, ballet and the theatre. Also it helps to have a passion for reading and having a library of art books at your disposal of all the greats: Da Vinci, Rembrandt, Monet, Degas, and Picasso just to name a few.

When looking at design I am a sponge; always taking in as much as I can. It is important to keep your skills of observation, to develop a critical eye to determine what works and what doesn’t and why. It is about seeing the structure, identifying the design elements and also acknowledging that the whole is the sum of its parts; everything works together to create a design. Typography is just as important as the images likewise how they interrelate with each other.

Life is an adventure; testing and molding me to be who I am at this exact moment. Will my individual theory of aesthetics and design change? Absolutely, I look forward to where it will take me next. I do not plan on becoming stagnant or set in my ways; I embrace the change in everyday and with it how it impacts my art, my life.

“Happiness is not something ready made; it comes from your own actions.” ~ Dalai Lama



Works Cited:

“Leonard Everette Fisher.” CBC Magazine The Childrens’s Book Council 11 March 2008 <

http://www.cbcbooks.org/cbcmagazine/meet/lefisher.html>.

National Curriculum in Action “Why is Creativity so Important.” 1 February 2008

Tolle, Eckhart. Stillness Speaks Novato, CA: New World Library 2003