The following text accompanies a small drawing on exhibit at an elementary school in central Arkansas. It is hopefully written in such language that even an eight-year-old can comprehend.
Art has the power to entertain and to educate at the same time. Whether it is a painting, a play, a poem, or a song, that artwork can teach us with a story that will make us laugh or cry or both. It is only through Art which was crafted so very long ago that we can learn about the early history of mankind. In fact, if it were not for painting and sculpture, we would have no idea what George Washington really looked like!
I always try to create a masterpiece - something that looks inviting from far away and interesting close up, something that somebody can look at again and again and still be able to discover something new and unnoticed beforehand. I never begin my art by simply staring at a blank page. Whenever I feel I have something important to say, I write it down on paper. Sometimes I add a little sketch. My topic always suggests a working title. Then I decide what colors, textures, objects and format will be needed and in what sequence they must be applied.
When I design my artworks, I put them into groups according to their themes. In separating them by series, I have a set of rules to follow but still have room to play. It also makes it easier for the person viewing various pieces from the series to understand what I am “saying” with my art.
The small drawing on display here was created in 1994 and is named Conversations in Grey LXXVII: A Simple Misunderstanding.
It is the seventy-seventh work from
"Conversations in Grey",
a popular series which I began in 1983. The other works in this group are both large and small and of various media, but all of them “talk” about experiences common to most people and how we treat each other in our everyday life. No matter how different we are on the outside, on the inside we are pretty much the same.
Instead of drawing the human form, I use images, words, and colors that are symbolic of the human experience. Because there are two sides to every story, I divide the page visually into two unequal yet parallel panels with a band to separate them. Like a printmaker, I must mask off areas so I can work on one area while keeping the rest of the page protected. When I finish one panel, I cover it and work on the other. Then I integrate the two panels so that both sides can work together as one.
I drew the left panel with my left hand and the right panel with my right hand. Like a printmaker, I created some of my own stencils for this drawing. By using layers of chalk pastels with highly-pigmented color pencils and graphite pencils, I got an intensity of color and texture into the paper.
This image is the same size as the paper I use when writing a letter to a friend. It seems so natural for me to use writing in my artwork because of my love of words, whether spoken, sung or silent. At first glance, all those no-no’s in my drawing may seem silly, but this artwork is actually about a very serious subject. Its dialogue is important. My only hope is that it can entice the viewer to engage in "the Conversation".
Revised 01.23.09 Copyright 2007-2009 B. Sloan. All Rights Reserved