Betty Edward’s book “Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain” showed me how limited I keep myself. I don’t have lots of trouble talking or writing in public but she said,” All well and good but how about singing? How about drawing?” By extension, how about dancing or cooking? What is good enough to let show? What, out of decency or shame, ought to remain hidden?
I guess there is an alternation between letting a few of my drawings or photos be seen and getting a little praise or demand or satisfaction out of the showing. That might lead to a few more being created and shown. I have always heard that Emily Dickinson wrote some great poems but kept them closed in a drawer all her life. In her actual case, I am not sure of the motivation but I can imagine that people might make something for other purposes than praise or money. Developing a skill or a collection might go better without distracting comments or reactions of others.
There is no way that I can fully grasp the reaction of others. Even the others themselves change over time. Seeing a play this evening, I might have a very different opinion than I form after listening to someone’s comments about it tomorrow. I am charmed by the “life of the object”, the adventure that the physical creation has after its birth. A book or an afghan has an existence, a story, independent of its creator. Somebody might have a long memory of reading or using the object without its creator having an idea of that person even knowing about the creation.
So, I am making a plea that we let ourselves be shown, be known. Our songs, our brownies, our carvings are extensions of ourselves and our lives. We make each decision about the design. Those decisions are old-fashioned, or up-to-date, or exemplary or weird only in a context and each of us furnishes our own individual context. Our creations are signs and portents of who we are and they enrich us and others but even more so if we let them be known.
