Saturday, January 22, 2011

Manly Art?

I don't discuss art often here because anyone who knows me knows that I'm failry ignorant on the subject. Those that have read this blog for a while may recall my ramblings about a couple of members of the Group of Seven in December of 2009. Now before everyone starts reading this and saying, "that Alan is such an ass-hat" just hold off a minute. My son has given me permission to blog about his recent creations and knows that I won't cross the line. Well, not too much...

Sean is not an artistic person. I don't think that's a secret to anyone that knows him. Through grade school, the most artistic tendencies he displayed were stick men and colouring books and crayons (and he didn't even stay within the lines).This obviously comes from me as I haven't an artistic bone in my body. I can appreciate art, but making it is another matter.

The boy preferred to spend his time taking things apart to see how they worked...small appliances, a television, a microwave...nothing was immune to his dissection. Thankfully all of these items were past their prime because he didn't have a clue how to put them back together.

You can imagine my surprise a few weeks ago when he brought home a sculpted....er, large purple object (shown above) from his 9th grade art class at school. He has named it 'The Gilded Demon' because he figured it "looked sort of royal". I am encouraging him to box it up and FedEx it to William and Kate in the UK to help celebrate their nuptials this April. I think he wants to keep it, though, on account of the long hours fashioning it into just the right shape with his blistered fingers. The GD is a wire frame with panty hose stretched over it and painted. I didn't ask where the hosiery in question came from...sometimes a guy's got to have his secrets.

Just when we thought the 'artistic well' was tapped dry Sean brought home this wooden, umm...object...home from school. It was created in the wood working shop. It is made of wood glued together and cut and sanded to the shape shown above. "Nice Arrow," I said. "It's not an arrow," he replied with annoyance in his voice. He looked at me like I had sprouted another head. I was nervous now, trying to avoid bringing up the symbolic shape of the object. "It's a car," he said and pointed out the drill holes in the sides of the shaft for a future axle. "Very nice," I said, smiling and nodding. Drilled into the square end is a large hole, apparently for a future CO2 canister. Just guessing here, but if Sean has a French project soon he'll probably create a scale model of the Eiffel Tower. And in science he'll probably create a replica of the V2 rocket...

We've probably got nobody to blame but ourselves for the unique shape of the boy's artistic creations. Perhaps it was all the trips to Toronto we took him on as a small child. What's the first landmark you can see towering over the city for miles before arriving there? Of course...it's the CN Tower, piercing the brown-ish air of the Toronto skyline. Don't get me wrong, we're all for his creative endeavours...especially if he can off of them in the future. Even as I am typing this I can hear him in the living room listening to bagpipe music on YouTube. He'll be 15 next week and, if I may use a cliche, definitely walks to the beat of his own drummer. I'm OK with whatever he does down the road. I'll be behind it 100% as long as it's a) legal b) he can live off of it, and c) it gets him out of our basement and into his own place.

16 comments:

Wendy Tyler Ryan said...

Never underestimate the fragility of a child's ego (no matter what the age). Just tell him it's the most fabulous, creative thing you've ever seen.

SueH said...

I should box those items up and hang onto them - then when he's rich and famous you can sell off the 'original' pieces and retire!

I agree with your sentiments from your last sentence, Alan.

I always told our kids they could be scientists or street-sweepers as long as they were content and could pay their way.

Now one's a Librarian and just bought her own house; the other's a struggling musician who just got laid-off from his 'day-job' - hopefully he'll be able to get some other work to pay the bills while he plays gigs and dreams of success! Aside from the lack of current employment he's as happy as a pig in **** !

Paula RC said...

I think they are wonderful just remember Jackson Pollock paintings Untitled whatever and see how much they are worth now and who knows what your son will achieve.

Aaron Polson said...

Obviously a car...that or a Welsh Love Spoon. ;)

But "The Gilded Demon" is just priceless.

Fox Lee said...

I was going to guess a shovel. Art is subjective, it seems.

Laurita said...

The gilded demon would be a great name for a chort story. Perhaps Sean's creative talents lie there. :) I'd like to see that car as a finished product.

Cathy Olliffe-Webster said...

He does seem to have a theme.
Har!!!!

Unknown said...

sounds like a great kid. Any kid who listens to bagpipe music is a great kid.

Alan W. Davidson said...

Wendy- Very true.

Sue- Hope the music business works out for your son. It's a rough business I hear. I'm thinking we'll put them away and bring them out when he gets married.

Jarmara- Ha. I like that. I shall refer to him as Jackson from now on (then again, he'll probably think that I'm refering to Michael Jackson...)

Aaron- Had to look that up...Yep, I can see the similarity there. And that name DOES sound like a horror story...

Nat- I hear ya. I wouldn't know art if it jumped up and bit me on...

Laurita- My thought exactly about the title. I'll let you know when the car is done. Hidden talent? I doubt it, unless video games and reciting little known facts about almost anything it considered useful ;)

Cathy- Glad that you noticed.

Jeremy- He is. Now if we can just get him educated...

Akasha Savage. said...

I loved the Gilded Demon! Embrace his creativity!

My daughter wants to becoming an actor so I'm guessing she'll be 'resting' quite a bit in the future, but I'm behind her all the way. We should all chase our dreams....

K.C. Shaw said...

The Gilded Demon is particularly awesome. :)

My brother is a great computer programmer type but not traditionally artistic. In high school he painted a stilted, mostly black spacescape with a perfectly round planet right in the middle. He was so proud of that hideous thing! He hung it in his bedroom and our mother told him it was wonderful.

Danielle Birch said...

Unique creativeness is to be encouraged :) I have similar "artefacts" from my school days. My mother even displayed one of them for a brief time.

Alan W. Davidson said...

Akasha- Chasing ones dreams is a good thing (though often sacrafices have to be made).

KC- Ha, that's what mothers do, I suppose. It may have been hideous, but perhaps profound as well? Or not...

Danielle- I like your use of the word "artifacts". My mum displayed a ceramic candy dish and even an ashtray (back when it was PC to make that kind of thing in school).

kathryn said...

Oh, Sean. What are we going to do with you? Honestly, I thought the second project was a baking spatula glued to a base...probably because I broke mine and need a replacement. Nothing removes all the cake batter from a bowl better...
(you know what I'm talking about, right?)

I hope his pieces are being displayed with the utmost pride. You don't want to look back when he's famous and have to explain how it got broken in the back of the coat closet...

Entre Nous said...

Hmmm, sort of looks like his art room may be plastered with Georgia O'Keefe posters... :}}}

Katey said...

Okay, Entre Nous' response just about made me laugh as hard as the blog entry itself.

Yes, Sean. Follow your artistic dreams. No matter to what weird ass places they take you :D