Blue and Purple Madness. . .

"Purples/Blues" is the Mixed Media Monday theme this week, and I'm a day late!  I've been looking forward to this post ever since a little bird told me that my friend Rosie would be guest host, and now I've arrived late to the party!  Shame on me! 

You really have to click on this to enlarge it!  I started by collaging the blue and purple center signature of a new art journal/sketchbook I'm working in, because these two pages have the most vibrant blue and purple acrylic backgrounds of all in the book.  I took care to choose collage images with blues and/or purples in them, and along the way, I found Emily Dickenson's poem "Much Madness Is Divinest Sense", and thought it a perfect description of the reaction of the masses to the more surreal, phantasmagorical and dream-like concoctions in much of today's mixed-media, and the reality behind it.

Images in this piece were taken from the following sources:  A mini pile of paper from One Good Bumblebee, Memories of a Lifetime Birds and Butterflies images, Artful Illusions, magazine image(s), a pile of paper from Kelly Kilmer, rubber stamps from Sanrio (Hello Kitty) and A Muse (Owl Buddies), and Gemstones from Hero Arts (tiny purple rhinestones).   Emily Dickinson's "Much Madness Is Divinest Sense" was taken from the sixth edition of the Compact Bedford Introduction to Literature, Reading, Thinking, and Writing, edited by M. Meyer. 

I give you these references so that you can get an idea of what I draw from, and how I work.  Among all the other bits and pieces that I collect, I have a library of new, and in-good-condition used, reader's copies of extremely diverse books.  With the exception of one or two, most of my old college textbooks are long gone.  But I have a nice collection of others that have, over the years, replaced them.  The cannon in English Literature (sorry, I just can't bring myself to capitalize that "c"...) seems to change with whims and tides, for better and for worse, so I keep adding to and updating, and in general, having fun with the seriousness--no, the preeminence--I gave to the words of the dean of the college of liberal arts and sciences on my first day of orientation at A.S.U.   

We were all freshmen, gathered in the Music Theater (designed by Frank Lloyd Wright), waiting to hear the deans of the various colleges give their respective 2 cents worth to promote their areas of study.  I was enrolled in the college of Fine Arts.  But I will never, ever, forget the words spoken by the then dean of the college of liberal arts and sciences.  He began humbly and truthfully, warning us, all the way back in 1971, that the world was embarking on a pitiful one-way journey into the realm of specialization, which would eventually over-take and make dinosaurs of the study of liberal arts in general, and the humanities, specifically.  He told us that we were facing a world where general knowledge would be seen as a threat to the masses, and eventually our social and economic livelihoods would depend on our ability to focus on narrow areas of expertise.  He said that for survival, we would need to adapt, but if we didn't at least quietly respect, study, and pass the humanities on to future generations, we would certainly lose our hearts and souls.  And now, true to his words, very few institutions of higher learning even employ professors of philosophy, the classics are at best, viewed an option for outside study, and fine art students are encouraged to "define" themselves, as opposed to exercising a liberal freedom of study and description. 

The next words he spoke are words I have never forgotten.  They are words I have chosen to live by, and are as follows (I remember them verbatim):  "Any worthwhile institution of higher learning should have but one purpose:  To instill in it's students a burning desire for, and fruitful methods and pathways leading to, the life-long pursuit of knowledge, not only in academic sciences, but in all of the humanities.  This study may begin in a school, but all schooling has failed if it ends there."

Right then and there, I heard my calling, and I realized that what I needed to take away from my college years was not so much knowledge in itself, but every means and mechanism I could pack in my suitcase, that would keep me learning for life!  So I embarked on a quest to learn how to learn, to learn best, to learn most, and to learn longest.  When I heard that speech, something in me ignited, much in the same way, I imagine, that saints are on fire when they hear the words of God.  It was eerie, and electric, and I am not at all exaggerating.   So now I read, write, draw, paint, collage, and express myself in every way I know how, hoping never to run out of ways to learn, and learning every day how little I know, and how much more there is to learn.  And I think this is the best life, ever!

Have a great day, Everyone!

Comments

[Willy]

Wow... great piece, Barbara!

[Hermine]

Gorgeous spread.

[carolann]

Wow this work is absolutely stunning hun the vibrant colours are fab well done xxxxxxx

[Diane]

Barbara, this is a wonderful spread - love all the different elements to it. Diane

[RubyMay]

this is breathtaking...I so love this.
I read your words and take away something to ponder...thanks my friend x

[CreativSpirit]

Beautiful artwork, gorgeous colours and images. Thanks for all the references.

Rob

[Rosie]

Woman, you'd make a great Life Coach and when I get over there, we shall start a Life & the Arts School together!!
I loved your post and I am so grateful that you came into my life and endorsed the way I create and am. In this world of snobbery and bobbery (artistically speaking), it is wonderful not only to find a kindred spirit, but a voice of reason.
I love this crazy spread from the textures, to the colours, to the madcap images. The poem is marvellous - I have often been threatened with a leash!!!
And you get a free late pass... ;-]

[Heather Robinson]

Wow, wow, wow. I'm not sure that I'm able to take in everything in this piece all at once. I'm going to revisit it in all its splendour. I love "thinking" pieces like this. Bravo!

[Janny]

Gorgeous piece of work!