Art Unboxed How Do You Spell Art?

In today’s art unboxed, I’d like to ask a simple question, how do you spell art? Silly thought right, or is it? Perhaps it would be better stated this way, when you hear the word art, what specifically comes to mind?

When I think of art, because I think about it a lot, a number of things come to mind. However, eventually a few images are mainstays. One is a painting called “Big Moment” by Paul Defletsen. It’s a picture of a Grandfather teaching his grandson how to drive a horse cart.

It’s not my all time favorite painting, but it is one of my favorites. It was the painting in my Grandparent’s home, and the first real painting I ever remember seeing. To this day, that painting has impacted my life because of three things, and it’s how I spell art.

A is that it was an attractive painting, and still is. There were bright whites, pops of red, horses, water, trees, and two people. I relooked at a photo of their painting today, and it’s still an attractive one.

R for me would be that it was relatable. When I saw the painting as a boy, I saw my Grandfather. He could not only do anything in my eyes, the figure looked just similar enough to remind me of him. Because of this perhaps, I never forgot that painting.

I’ll be quick to explain when I think of that painting I think of both my Grandparents for this reason. It was most likely not my Grandfather who selected it. My Grandmother was the one who I think about most when I think of art. She not only picked the painting, she chose the other artwork in the home.

Grandma had inherited her love of art, I believe, from her Mother, who could draw anything she looked at. It was Grandma who introduced me to watching painters on television. So when I think of that painting I see them both.

Finally art is translatable. I can communicate, not only that painting but art itself. I saw a sculptor creating a sculpture of The Lord Jesus Christ as a young man. I never forgot that experience, and I’ve shared it a number of times.

Last month I shared with one of my nephews the story of a Caravaggio painting of David and Goliath. Translatable doesn’t necessary mean I can pass along my love of it to everyone, but I can communicate it to others. This is true of more than paintings and sculpture.

I can name newspaper comics, comic book characters, and cartoons that I have a great affection for. All of them to me spell art. When you learn to spell as a child, even if you never become a writer, you have a desire to use what you’ve learned.

Teach a child to write the letter A, and you’ll find it written beyond their schoolbooks. Even in this age of texting and keyboards this is true. I believe if art impacts you in some form, you’ll want to share it in some way. You’ll find yourself spelling art in some area of your life.