Hindsight Laservision
I'm getting older. I'm not old yet, but I'm to the point where I can say things like "we been friends for a decade," or "I first tried oil painting twenty years ago." Somehow, though, I seem to have missed the time where things gradually fade from view; when I reminisce, times of huge importance to me are so, so distant. The distance has revealed how profound certain moments have been.
How can we ever know what moments will be defining to who we are?
I've seen the final resting place of Leonardo da Vinci. I have gazed upon the same pond filled with lilies that Claude Monet gazed upon. I have heard my voice ring in cathedrals and abbeys built to let sounds ring and ring and ring until you can only imagine you still hear the music. I have painted and weaved and acted and sang and sewed and sculpted and strummed and photographed and I am finding that the well of my creativity is bottomless.
When people ask me how long I've been doing art, I always answer with "for a lifetime." But it's not just happenstance; I recognize now the amount of help I've had along the way. My circumstances are not special. I am just a kid from Kentucky. I'm not from a wealthy family. I went to public school. As the years march on I am only now seeing the effect of the influence of my teachers who guided me to the place I am now. These experiences I've described were field trips and choir trips led by teachers who gave their students the immeasurable gifts of knowledge and exposure to new ideas. I'm so thankful I landed on earth at the right time to learn from them.
Sometimes I wonder...if I had known how life-changing my time in public school had been, would I have changed it? Would I try to capitalize on the learning and really make the most of it? I think my answer would be "no." Sometimes knowing that something is magical and important makes the magic go away. I'm thankful I was able to flit around artistic spaces without a care, just so I could unknowingly soak up all the magic this world has to offer.
❤️Kate