Falling in LOVE with ART
(The Journeyman, Lee-Anne Peters, Earthenware, 52cm, 2023 - a Melbourne couple fell in LOVE with this sculpture recently and came back a second time because they had to take him home)
...
It doesn't matter who we are, what we do, or how old we are sometime, somewhere, someday we may find a piece of ART that we 'fall in LOVE with.'
Relating personally to the artwork, sculpture, or painting is high, and there is something about the unique and individual object that speaks to us in ways that can be hard to explain.
I've seen this fairly often...
(Winter is Over, Lee-Anne Peters, Acrylic on Plywood, 81x61cm, 2022 - a Sorell lady fell in LOVE with this painting and it's write up in Feb 2024, she was moved to tears and it is now hanging on her wall)
...
I haven't had a lot of opportunities to see this, so it may have only happened half a dozen times when I hosted an exhibition or had an artist residency. Now that my husband and I have opened a Gallery & Art Hub in Campbell Town, Tasmania (Harmony on High Street), I have already witnessed this phenomenon quite a few times.
It may not happen everyday, but at least at the moment (we've only been open 2 weeks) I've witnessed it every few days.
An artwork just speaks to the individual. It could be a piece that the artist has had available and on display for a couple of years, and then one day, at the right moment, it speaks deeply to someone.
It is unpredictable and completely personal, yet witnessing it is utterly inspiring.
As artists we often don't know why we are inspired to create certain things - especially if we are creating 'off the cuff' or based on the pure inspiration of the moment. The majority of people will walk straight past our artwork, not even noticing it, and perhaps one day, one person will stop and be deeply touched.
As far as I can recall, this has personally happened to me once recently. In early 2024 a series of life events lead me to a moment when I looked at and touched a 'hot air balloon' cape (pictured below). I don't know why because I never really thought much about hot air balloons before but walking past it brought me literally to tears.
My rational mind second guessed it and I walked over to another similar one with flowers - that seemed more 'like me' - but I didn't feel this deep connection like I had 'to the max' with the hot air balloon scarf. Of course I had to purchase it because the deep emotional pull was too strong for me to avoid. It went on to be an important part of my transformation at the time.
(Beyond the Veil, Lee-Anne Peters, porcelain curtain, 2023 - pictured with Lee-Anne wearing the 'hot air balloon' cape that 'found her' the same day as this photo was taken)
....
Falling in LOVE with an artwork or something that is usually unique, handmade, personally created and infused with an energy, light and essence we cannot logically explain can be pivotal and life changing.
It doesn't seem to be something we go out and search for consciously, but is something that maybe 'finds us' and can hit us at any time and in any place.
We will know it when it strikes because we may have an emotional response, we may not be able to get that object out of our mind, and there may be a deep part in us that just must bring this beauty into our life.
Have you had this happen to you? If so, please share in the comments if you're inspired to.
If it hasn't happened to you yet, I am sure it will at some crucial time and moment in your life.
As an artist, at least from my opinion, let's keep creating from our heart and with the inspiration of the material we are using, what inspires us at the time, and create works of the highest standard we know.
We never really know what or when something we have made could deeply touch a person. With that in mind, as an artist, we not only express ourselves using our art and medium, we can potentially generate a monumental moment and shift in someone's life from our artwork. Most of these rare moments we will just never witness or know, and that has been my inspiration in writing this blog.