Girlish chatter filled the vaulted ceiling of a choir room...
It started as a fleeting moment in the last minutes before class began; two girls, with repertoire folders as large as their torsos wedged in crisscrossed laps, spoke together at the back of the room.
One of the two opened her schoolbook, and I still remember the stinging smell of permanent marker on thin leaflet as I marveled. What I saw—and what I considered—were masterful, effortless drawings, scrawled across page after page.
"This is what I've done so far."
"You drew these?"
A question I'd come to find exasperating to be asked as an artist.
She'd hum with deserved pride, and something new was planted in my chest.
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I have memories of cities constructed from overlooked potential, all found as plastic in the recycling bin.
Somewhere, there is long-lost proof of my tantalizing afternoons with stop motion animation.
I remember notebooks of stories and a supply of manila paper that repeatedly ran dry, in favor of emptying the art supplies drawer—which I remember was conveniently located in a bottom-most, forgotten corner of our kitchen—all for my insatiable, young-artist hands to ransack.
I had always been creative; my mounds of artwork could attest to that. But it was only ever a byproduct of what I considered the nature of childhood. Sitting in the back of the choir classroom, listening to a newfound friend's endeavor, I realized it could be more.
I still remember that afternoon after school, retrieving another unwilling sheet of my father's printer paper on my way to my bedroom.
My choice utensil: a dented, Dixon Ticonderoga without an eraser, was released onto the expanse of white.
And on that afternoon, from pre-pubescent resolve, my credo was decided: "I'm going to take art seriously."
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Quite the buildup for such a simple declaration, I'm sure you're thinking. But it has been that long-standing promise that has taken me through over a decade of creating art. Entirely self-taught, entirely me.
I feel lucky to be able to pinpoint the exact moment this "journey" all began, and it felt fitting to share that story as one of my first blog posts. We'll come to the current day and its work in short order, but for now, consider this a preface.
Thank you for reading.
Sincerely,
M.E.