Stitches In My Shirt

Bird spotting was one of the things I did when my friends were busy doing other things. Riding my bike out to the country with my sketchbook in my backpack, I would try to sketch birds I found interesting to show mom what I'd seen. Bird spotting was the first merit badge I earned as a Boy Scout. My second merit badge was for public speaking - telling my grade school class about the birds I saw.

Had there been a merit badge for fighting I would have earned two in one day. 

I could sit and sketch anything. I just liked sketching things. Sometimes I had to defend myself from the neighborhood bullies, especially when I drew the girl counselors at the local play ground. Some older boys used to try to take the sketches of the girls away and they quickly discovered not to mess with my sketchbook. No matter how many times I was knocked down, I always got up, ready for more. Several times the girls I drew had to rescue me… and then I had to explain torn shirts to mom. Those stitches in my shirts were badges of honor. 

As more kids moved into the neighborhood I made fewer trips into the country for bird spotting. Baseball was possible now with more kids, so a baseball mitt replaced my sketchbook. Come winter, though, I was back to drawing. My parents bought "How to Draw Horses," and "How to Draw Dogs," books for me. Mom wouldn't buy "How to Draw the Nude." Wouldn’t even let me look at it at the art store…

The horses in the art book looked so much better than the horses on the farms I visited. The dogs were the same, pure pedigree in the art book, mine were just mutts.  

The Art of Conversation & The Banana

Fifty-thousand years ago, after the hunt, the community would gather around a large fire and, while some cooked and prepared the meal, a few would tell those who hadn't participated in the hunt about the action. Children and the older folks watched as the storytellers related the adventure of the hunt through drawing scenes of bison, wild horses, and other animals on the walls of the cave. Whether these storytellers were revered or not, they were important to the community. Among many other things, children learned which animals were favored for eating and which were to be avoided. As cultures developed artists were a regular part of civilization. Their stature rose from Roman slaves to professionals who were paid for their ability. 

What sparked these many thoughts was a banana duct-taped to a wall and the reaction it sparked in artists. Many were upset that a banana taped to a wall had a price tag of $125,000 on it. Whether it actually sold or not I really do not know, or whether it even hung in a real gallery. I really wasn't interested in the piece, just in the conversation it sparked. Every so often a piece like the banana with duct tape comes along. For me it is a plus for the art community. These pieces get people talking about art for a short time.  Back in those caves, art was a reward, it delighted and educated people. It recorded daily life for us to see where we came from. Those wonderful cave wall drawings have long since been replaced by big screen TVs, reducing conversations back to grunts and groans. We developed language through art. That banana returned art to the conversation, even if only to criticize what art has become.