life iz JUST art!

No matter where I go, art seems to make itself known. Most people can only think of art as in paintings, sculpture or theatre. These are the most obvious examples. In life iz JUST Art, each week I will share my experiences as it relates to my journey and the creative quest to find it. Come on board with me for the ride! I am always looking for the connections!

How one goes about their daily life is what presents the notion of art into their milieu. It’s what you choose to eat and where you dine. Try traveling a different route to work each day. You would be amazed at how different your day unravels. All and any choice we make from day to day becomes part of this creative experience.

Late last night, I decided to put my Comcast movies on the demand feature to the test. I have wanted to watch Julie and Julia and kept missing the opportunity. As usual, Meryl Streep’s performance as the late Julia Child did not disappoint! Her transition into this role was seamless! I fell in love with the way Streep translated Child’s passion for French cooking. Child was a foodie in the 1960’s before the culinary world started to coin the phrase! She loved butter and never felt you could have too much of it. This equates to the way I feel about having art in my life.

As the plot developed, I found myself daring the character of Julie (Amy Adams), to get through all 524 of those French cooking recipes from Julia Child’s book. I wanted her to win! Julie vowed to do this in 365 days (I won’t give away the ending, in case you have not seen the movie yet). This was her chance to have joie de vivre or what I see as life iz JUST art. In the movie, she refers to herself as a “renegade foodie.”

During business hours she is a young woman that parks herself five days a week, into a morose government job, decked out wearing headsets sans computer in a cubicle. “I am exhausted from writing that description!” She was drowning. Julia decides to take on the challenge to save her life in the evenings after ho-hum. This used to be me, minus the government part! If you are reading my blog, this is a movie that shouldn’t be missed!

I have spent most of my adult life working jobs or having relationships that were not really authentic for me. Why? Because sometimes it was just the right thing to do or I was busy trying to please somebody else so that they could be happy. Somewhere in the midst of all this dysfunction, I was no longer seeing the “art” in my life. The connection was lost. I have been numb.

I am awake now! Somehow, it took all of what I have not wanted to do, to arrive at this awareness. Today, I took the bus to downtown Minneapolis. Normally, I drive out of convenience. However, it is this notion of convenience that can make us lazy to having experiences that are different and revealing.

It took all of ten minutes once on the bus to reach my destination. I witnessed so many stories. For example, the mother laden with her heavy bundle of groceries, who lifted her toddler onto the bus, out of the cold (it was almost below zero), while she stood in the moving bus to find change for the fare. The small child stumbled to maintain balance and grabbed her mother’s coat tail as the bus pulled away from the curb. Her tiny marshmellow face looked up at her mother for guidance. It was this touching moment that revealed the love and trust between parent (the protector) and child. This is raw emotion that relates itself as art. I was in the audience with a front row seat to this as it played out.

There was also the meager looking elderly man with his carry-on cart, full of plastic wrapped clothing. He appeared to be homeless. His unshaven face was tight and reddened from the frosty weather. The man hunched over his load and seemed anxious to guard it. In a few stops, he departed and that was it! This was a scene that unfolds a story of living in a day, a moment in time.

I would love hearing about your experiences. What iz JUST art for you?

Judith
life-izJUSTart.blogspot.com