Photo by Aaron Burden : unsplash.com/@aaronburden
Hi Everyone!
It’s the winter holiday season once again! That means food, family, friends, fun, and maybe a little bit of snow.
I’d love to say I had everything wrapped up and ready to go. However, I think that I'm actually a little bit behind this year. Having said that, I have already watched one or two holiday movies, so on that front I’m making good progress.
This week I thought I would talk a little bit about me and the path that lead to my art and working with silver. I’m going to begin with my childhood up until around the time I was 10 years old or so. Consider this part 1, as I intend to write several parts that will, hopefully, give people a little insight into my art.
With that in mind, let’s begin….
Questions Answered
Where did your artistic journey begin? (Part 1)
I expect that there are people out there who probably think that I was always “good” at art, or it was something that was center stage in my life, even when I was small. In my mind, nothing could be further from the truth. Oh sure, I feel there are qualities in my personality that are a part of who I have always been and will continue to be. Those qualities, being interested in the world around me, what makes it go, choosing to watch things, all have a part in my art and who I am. There are lots of other influences in my life: when I was born, where I grew up as a child, my parents, grandparents, and the schools I went to, etc. It’s all pretty important.
My childhood was an extremely fortunate one. My family didn’t have a lot of money, but we were middle class, as far as I can tell. I grew up on Lake Champlain, Mount Mansfield, and Camel's Hump mountain staring back at me across a bay we lived on each day. That, in and of itself, is an amazing thing that almost no one on the planet is fortunate enough to encounter, even on a vacation. If they get a vacation.
I was a child of 1970s Vermont. The television shows Sesame Street and The Electric Company were in my life regularly, even if there were only four television stations available. I would wander paths in the woods on neighbors’ land (at least by the time I was around 7 or 8.) In the summertime, we would go out on the lake in an old used tri-hull motor boat my dad found for us. My mother would cut costs by buying powdered milk and other similar means of trimming expenses. She would put the money aside so we could take trips across the country, Family Vacation style, not once, but twice in a station wagon. By all accounts, I grew up extremely privileged compared to most of the rest of the world. I am very grateful for it all now, even though I was mostly unaware of how fortunate I was at the time.
My paternal grandfather was a doctor. A general practitioner. He had been a frontline medic in the US military in WWII. I remember riding in some sort of unheated jeep (at least, it felt that way to me as a child) with him on occasion with my family to go places once or twice. Grandpa H. had a hobby. He took an interest in mineralogy and belonged to the Burlington Gem and Mineral Club.
His interest in “rocks”, as it turns out, would have a great deal of influence on me. Both then and now. I still remember the corner display table in his living room. Literally built to fit in the corner of the room, it sat behind a couch with a coffee table opposite an electric organ. (Playing the organ was another hobby of his. It was one of those old electric organs that had a vibrato mode where the speaker inside literally spun around to create the vibrato effect.)
Anyway, the sparkly crystals were what caught my eye. Being on a table behind the couch made it perfect as a child to kneel and lean over the back to get a closer look. We weren’t supposed to touch anything without asking. I recall my grandfather being more than happy to show us everything, at least if we were good.
Another really big influence in my life: my parents reading books to us. I know my mother read to us some, but what I really recall is sitting with my father as he read Dr. Seuss stories or the Sunday comics. (Some people may not remember that the Sunday newspaper used to have an entire section, in color, of comic strips, everything from Family Circus and Peanuts to Hagar the Horrible and Beetle Bailey. In fact, the Sunday comics were how I learned to read. When I was deemed old enough, probably 5 or 6, I was told I had to read the comics on my own. I had to try to decipher the words based on the pictures. It was challenging, but indeed helped me to learn how to read on my own.) What I remember most were the voices my father would create for different characters.
This is where it gets interesting. You see, one of the books I remember my father reading to me was The Hobbit (and later The Lord of the Rings, though I don’t recall if we finished reading that together or if it was too scary for me, and I finished reading it years later on my own in grade school.) He would use different voices for different characters. I recall Gandalf the best, sort of a gruff voice best suited for a wizard. Thus, I was introduced to the world of Runes, maps, magic, trolls, goblins, wizards, dwarves, magically forged rings, swords, and daggers.
That was probably around 1977 or 1978. I was too young to see Star Wars when it came out, unlike my older brother who was five years my senior. Thus, I was entranced by the natural world, mountains in the distance across a lake, with woods to wander around in. Occasionally, I would get to have a friend over and I would lead them on woodland adventures on the paths the neighbors kept on their land. We would look for rocks to skip on the lake, climb trees, and play in the yard.
That’s how life was until I was about 8 or 9. As I became older, 10 or 11, I would begin to share more adventures with friends, but I’ll talk about that more next time in Part 2.
News of late
Are you struggling to find that special gift for someone?
This week’s News:
Saturday, December 9, 2023, at Generator VT in Burlington, there will be a Holiday Maker Market Mixer!
Find a locally made gift, have a drink, and meet folks in your community!
Need more information? Go HERE!
In the Works
- Finished up digital versions of my art for test runs with a local engraving shop
- Casting charcoal pieces
- Preparing to relaunch my website
Until next time,
Justin