Pencil Shavings

Kathleen's Awesome Adventure

Today I went to the Zoo.  Which is, in fact, awesome, but the really awesome thing happened while I was at the zoo.

The girls are at Zoo Camp this week and usually while they are at camp I go into the zoo for an hour or two to take pictures and draw and paint before the loud, crazy people show up (loud crazy people is probably a post for a different time).

Ostensibly I was there to sketch the giraffes.  I have a weakness for their long necks and knobby knees. However, today the baby was in a side area being looked at by the keepers (6 month check up?) and looked at hungrily by the lions who were probably thinking that lunch was going to be a lot more interesting than they imagined.

I took pictures of them all for future references, but there wasn't a great spot to settle in for some drawing.  So, instead I wandered over to the African Rain forest area and settled into a bench by the Mountain Gorilla enclosure.

The bachelor troupe was in the enclosure (a group of three young males) and they were lounging around and basically being gorillas.  I was pretty close to the glass, about 3 or feet away.  I started sketching the fellow closest to me.  He noticed me watching him and came over to the side of the glass.

I've seen this guy before.  He's mischievous, and curious.  I know it's him by his really flat, pushed up nose.  While I was drawing he casually judged the distance, then hurled himself at the glass, making a huge banging sound.  Meant to startle me and give him a big chuckle. 

But like I said, I've seen him lots before, and kind of expected it.  So I just kept drawing.  Then he came over, and sat directly in front of me and looked me right in the eye.

It was awesome(ly frightening).  I kept drawing all the while thinking that I was very glad that we weren't in the rain forest of Africa, and there was a nice thick sheet of glass between us.

The drawing went really well considering that my model was 3 feet away and staring at me.

When I finished I looked at him, and he kept looking at me, and my paper.  Finally I figured out what he wanted. I flipped the sheet over and showed him his portrait.  He looked at it, then looked at me.  I looked at it, and looked at him.  Then we looked at each other for a moment and he just wandered off.

It was amazing.

Mountain Gorillas are under a lot of pressure in their native environment. 

And it's our fault. 

You see our cell phones contain a rare mineral called coltan that is mined almost exclusively in the mountains of Rwanda and Uganda where the gorillas live.  The gorillas aren't coming out on the good end of this mining, encounters with miners, and with habitat loss.

Please, if you are thinking of getting a new cell phone make an effort to recycle your old one.  Recycling is easy, and it can save the lives of these amazing animals.  If you are upgrading your phone, please ask your cell phone provider if they participate in the recycling program before you sign the contract.

To find a recycling centre near you in Canada please visit RecycleMyCell.ca

The Delicate Turn of a Phrase

I don't know why I'm suddenly feeling drawn into the debate of e-book vs. physical book.  Maybe it's because, up until December 25th, I read very few books from an electronic device.  On of the books I had read up until that point was Oliver Twist, a book I had chosen for a project in 3D art class.

After opening the gifts on Christmas Morning I got the wonderful gift of an iPad and proceeded to download (I hate to admit it) well over a hundred dollars worth of books.  Then I read them all. 

Did I miss "the delicate rustling of the page"?  No. Not once.  Did I miss the smell of paper?  No.  Did I miss the feel of a book in my hands?  No.  I did miss running my hands over the cover of a book and feeling the raised bits of print and design.  I'm pretty certain I can live with that longing.

I have books, real live paper books.  I have them stacked all over every horizontal surface of my home.  My kids have books filling three bookcases on different floors of our house. I have six book cases in the basement stuffed full, with more books piled on top.

I love reading.

And maybe that's the difference, I love reading.  Books are ways to read, but it's not the physical books that I love, it's the words.  I love the words, the ideas, the delicate turn of a phrase that sticks with me until I can return and finish the story, or chapter.  I love the people that populate the stories, I love the landscapes.  I love how I can lose myself in that world of print and surface an hour, or two, or three later and feel changed.  I love the bittersweet feeling of finishing a great novel, and missing the characters and the world of that novel, as if I had lived there, and then had to move, against my will.

I still have a number of books unread on my iPad, and on my bedside table.  I have biographies, novels, fantasy, short stories, all waiting for me to immerse myself in. 

I have been reading from the screen for a long time, websites, blogs, tweets, statuses, so perhaps I was ready to accept e-books.  But I think the reality is that I just love reading.  I'll take the words where ever they live, and I will love them.

 

 

But Is It Art?

On April 16th, while I was happily teaching a grade 3/4 class about creating personal symbols, Roger Ebert was inflaming the gaming world by proclaiming that "Video games can never be art".

His article is elegant in it's defense of his personal feelings, and we run up against the age old question:  Is it Art?

Here is the rub.  Gamers (of which I am not) view their games as art, as storytelling, as an immersive environment that fills their senses.  Mr. Ebert, who comes across a lot like a grumpy grandpa who knows exactly what he is talking about, despite having never tried it (sorry Roger - I have to call that one the way I see it) comes at it from an equally valid point of view, that of knowing what you like, and appreciating it.

Ever since man rubbed charcoal on a cave wall there have been people who want to tell other people what is art and what is not.  There are roughly 7 billion forms of self expression on the planet, each of them represented by an individual who has their own way of viewing the world, of expressing themselves, and of appreciating art.  They are all right.

The gamers are right.  If they view their games as art, then they are art.  They are as much art as The Meat Dress, as David, or as Rothko.   Just because we don't understand or appreciate the message, structure, sentiment, or even form of something does not mean it's not art to someone else. 

Art, like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder.  Trying to tell someone who feels that The Meat Dress is not art all the reasons why it is, is simply an exercise in futility.  If they don't see it as art, then it is not art to them.

For gamers who see their games as evolving art, it is art.  For Mr. Ebert, it is not.  There is no fight, it's simply a matter of how people see and feel things differently.  I see a world of possibilities for art in the dust blowing across my sidewalk today... my husband sees another mess to clean up.  It's all about personal vision.