"The Procession," 32"x78", Oil on Linen.
Collection of the artist.
I recently spoke on a panel along
with a group of highly accomplished arts-professionals. For my small, and not so highly
accomplished part, I was asked to share with college students a many-hats-perspective
of making a living in the arts. I
spoke of teaching high school and college classes, maintaining a private art
studio, running a portrait painting business, selling original art, little lecture
gigs at local art leagues, etc… Sometimes all of these things are happening at
once, sometimes none of them are happening at all! The point I shared was that an arts-career (for me) is
nebulous, not linear!
What occurred to me after the
panel discussion was how unimportant a singularly defined art career is for me
now. I did not long for the
amazing careers many of the panelists had. I am exhausted by the extreme efforts I had made for
prestige, to be “known” over the years as an illustrator, or portrait painter,
or artist. I think of my college
degrees earned, the countless exhibits entered, and the studio we built. Lots of moving targets with not real
fixed position…no real “why.”
All things are no longer
measured in direct relationship to my art.
Purpose has changed. My purpose now?
To provide for my family.
That is it. I aspire to all things good about being a Godly
husband and father (in that order).
Yes, I frequently fail, but I am working on it. The target is in a fixed position, and
I have not grown weary!
To simply say how diminished the
family-unit is within our broken society is a gross understatement. One does not need to be a psychologist to
see the walking-wounded, especially in the classroom: societal destruction
caused by broken families…mother wounds, and especially father wounds.
I also see amazing
family-units, in all shapes and sizes!
The Procession
is a symbol of our family-unit. It
is a profession of my role as servant leader to my family. The message echoes the Christian
pillars I aspire to model: to reject passivity, to earn an eternal reward, to accept
responsibility, and to lead courageously as a man. All of the sliding, turning, pulling, rolling, carrying,
dragging, drifting, sniffing parts proceed toward a common light…in unison.
Today (anyway), I can discern
my joy from happiness, my purpose from status. I know my "why." It is the love of family I wish to share through my art…despite my career!
