I went to Pan American Library Branch today. It’s off I-35 just north of SW Military Dr. When I got there it was still closed and a crew was trimming the trees. The building has a midcentury look and was built in the late 60’s. Oddly, it is named after the freeway that it sits next to: Pan American Expressway. I’m hoping I can do more with it when I do a bigger painting of it. Even though the building has a cool midcentury feel to it there’s still not much to it. It’s made of brown brick. I’ll see what I can do.
I’ve been thinking a lot about right and left brain qualities. I think I have a lot of right brain strengths but feel compelled to be more left brain. I’m sure I’m not the only one. I was sharing with someone yesterday that I’m saddened by the fact that when my grandmother was in school kids studied subjects in the arts like philosophy and Latin. By the time my generation was in school we were encouraged to pursue math and science, subjects society felt would lead to economic success.
I’ve often wondered if the belief that the arts lead to poverty and struggle were created by policy makers in order to defund the arts. Either way, I grew up hearing that making a living as an artist was nearly impossible. Whether you wanted to be a painter, musician, performer, or craftsman, you were usually told that you had to be one of the few elite or you would spend your life struggling. I switched my major in the end to Communication Arts believing this terrifying story. I still regret it.
But now things are different. Yes, my goal is to make a living as an artist, but I’m beginning to see that how I generate an income is less important than my art itself. Hopefully, it leads to sales, but do those sales really matter if I’m just treating my easel as a conveyor belt? If I’m acting like my paintings are just things to get through and on to their new owners? Right now this feels like a hard thing to balance, but I’m getting clarity on my priorities. I won’t be much of an artist if my work is just a means to an end. It has to be more than that.
Which is why I’m thinking a lot about right brain and left brain qualities. When kids studied the arts and humanities in high school were they developing depth of character? Were they finding things to feel passionate about, things that gave their lives meaning? Were they educated to be more than money makers? More than consumers and ‘productive members of society’ (emphasis on productive)? Was there a time when kids were educated to be free thinkers? People who could listen and come to their own conclusions?
Is it true that senators and policy makers in the 60’s believed that baby boomers became agitators and revolutionaries because they were overeducated? That they decided to defund education to dumb us down in order to restore peace? It seems probable. Even if the rumor isn’t true our educational system has never been as good as it was. Is it because women were able to branch out and get better paying jobs? Did we lose our most capable teachers to the fact that they suddenly had more opportunities?
What if public education isn’t just about making a good living? What if education is also about finding meaning and purpose, about finding things to be passionate about? How do we find more connection to our right brain qualities - creativity, emotions, and intuition? Right now I’m finding it through drawing, through Betty Edward’s great book, Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain. I will keep you posted on how it goes.