Personal Art History: June 8-15, 2023
Find a piece of art you made in the past. It could be something you made just last week, but the longer ago the better - childhood art would be best! Show us a picture of that art, and then make some kind of art to go with it - a short story about how it came to be, a painting or poem reflecting on your old art, or whatever you like.
The Submissions:
by Espy la Copa
Bra'h I loved superheroes before they were cool. Or maybe I was just like every other kid who loved Captain Planet and loosely ripped off the characters from the show. I designed these characters, the magical creatures they could turn into, the 3 weapons each had, and the necklaces of power they wore. I was really proud of my work until one day I found my sister had broken into my diary to show off these drawings to her best friend. They were snickering and giving me sly smiles that pretty much killed all creativity and joy in my little 7ish-year-old heart. I could have sworn that I ripped these up and threw them away, but Firea, Watchra, and their leader, Winda, survived somehow and resurfaced in 2023 as I was looking through old diaries. I recommend looking closely to see the adorable spelling errors (ex: tifune), though I can't boast of being much better at spelling at age 40.
Bonus (NOT scary) baby drawing from my college-era dream journal. I ran out of time to work this into a horror poster.
by Heart of Darkness
One of my most defiant and independent art projects of preschool meets my current self. Not a lot has changed.
by Captain Quillard
A confession, and further proof that I narrowly avoided growing up to be a psychopath:
In middle school art class, we were assigned to bring in “something from nature” that we would then use as subject matter for a painting where we experimented with some abstract art concepts. The other kids showed up with sticks and rocks and leaves and flowers cut from their parents’ gardens. I, on the other hand, went out into our back yard and captured a bee in a recycled margarine tub.
Knowing that I couldn’t bring a live bee into art class (much less expect it to sit still to be painted), and knowing that if I killed it with a fly swatter it wouldn’t still be intact to paint, I had a different plan: I put the margarine container (with the bee inside) in the freezer, and waited for the insect to meet its untimely demise somewhere between the Van de Kamp’s frozen fish sticks and the blue raspberry Fla-Vor-Ice. Every day for the next two weeks I came to school with a Parkay tub containing a bee corpse, until this painting was finished.
On the grade sheet attached to the back of the painting, my teacher wrote, “I enjoy watching your imagination solve a given problem.” She could’ve just as easily written, “You scare the living hell out of me. If you never climb a clock tower with a rifle, I’ll consider it a success.”
…
To bee, or not to bee:
That is the question.
Whether ‘tis colder than unkind to suffocate
The wings and marrow and to wage misfortune,
Or to take margarine and ghee from tub fills,
And by enfrozing, end him.
To die: a bee no more;
And by a freeze today intend
To art-make and arouse unnatural shocks.
That Frigidaire hew, ‘tis a cold cremation,
A route not to be squished.
To find the bee
You peek askance ice cream:
Ay, there’s the tub!
by Anonymous Frau Redux
Paint + Pottery = holiday art plate
My daughter and I painted this piece during an outing in 2001. She was 6-7 years old.
Used the plate for Christmas Eve almost every year since 2001. Now that the kids are grown and flown- it’ll be a daytime treat plate to enjoy during the holidays.
(Hope we don’t get coal for stealing from Santa’s cookie plate.)
-Anon Frau R
Next Week’s Assignment:
Make a postcard using whatever materials you like - magazine cuttings, your own drawings or photos, part of a coloring book, a recipe card, etc. Mail the postcard to someone.