|
Feature Articles -
Volume 21
|
By Lynda Pogue
…circle of hope by Lynda Pogue. Look closely at this textured piece and you’ll see ice cream castles in the air.
|
| …circle of hope by Lynda Pogue. Look closely at this textured piece and you’ll see ice cream castles in the air. |
How, if you’re deeply entrenched in a piece of art, can you see more than what’s right in front of you? How do you step back when you’re in the middle of something and not only see the Big Picture but also the minute details too?
You can train yourself to pay attention and absorb the possible influences that surround you…you can learn to de-center, which is the ability to suspend one’s way of thinking while encompassing another. It’s akin to being in the middle of a passionate argument… absolutely vehement about your position… then, like a blast of flashing white light you clearly see the other person’s point of view. It’s not an illusion… you really are seeing both sides now. The clarity and intensity that this moment brings is extremely fulfilling. It can bring new dimensions and possibilities to your personal and professional life.
This article will explore the richness that will come to you by considering your work from different perspectives. To do this I’ll draw on the expressions from and musings about a woman that the whole world intimately refers to simply as Joni. All the italics are the words of Joni Mitchell.
Rows and flows of angel hair
And ice cream castles in the air
And feather canyons everywhere
I've looked at clouds that way
But now they only block the sun
They rain and snow on everyone
So many things I would have done
But clouds got in my way
I've looked at clouds from both sides now
From up and down, and still somehow
It's cloud illusions I recall
I really don't know clouds at all
These lyrics are likely to be the most well-known words from Joni’s most famous song: Both Sides Now. She told Russ Mitchell (CBS, 2007) that, at first, she thought this song was a failure because it was such a big meditation. She had only seen it from one direction as a folk artist and not from any other point of view. Joni has moved far far beyond this singularity of perception. She had unwittingly incited a myriad of reactions from millions of people… some responded to her words as if they were pure poetry and millions more were visualizing flying above the Rows and flows of angel hair clouds. Her songs were painting the canvas in the minds of her listeners. Annie Lennox has said that the poetic genius of Joni’s lyrical imagery tangled with her brain, and she was challenged to try to follow suit.
When being interviewed by Tavis Smiley (PBS, 2007) Joni stressed that she found being put on a pedestal has made her become more demanding of herself. That fame has made her go deeper with greater honesty. Because she feels that her work makes people feel… it isn’t vague, fluffy or insipid. Truer words were never spoken.
Her lyrics conjure up images that take you for an emotional and evocative ride because she’s both accessible yet experimental. You’re never quite sure what to expect but you want to be with her on her journey. It’s that world of edginess in which Joni dwells. She’s a renaissance woman who revels in the world of all the arts: an accomplished musician, songwriter, poet, photographer and painter. Over the years she has evolved from silky and sweet to husky and fiercely forceful… there’s now a growl in her lower register. Listening to her talk, you know exactly where she stands on any issue. Hearing her sing causes one to stop and ponder. Viewing her art takes you into her personal inner space… she says that in this part of her world she is absolutely vulnerable.
Last January she reminded Charlie Rose (PBS) that she’s often been quoted as saying I paint my joy and I sing my sorrow… but now she feels that she’s grown into a different style of expression where she now paints and sings a spectrum of feelings. Her antenna is up. And it’s her concept of spectrum/variety/range that sets a standard for other artists and entrepreneurs. One’s work can take on a one-dimensional aspect if it’s always the same the same the same… however, by paying attention to the genius of someone like Joni Mitchell one can be inspired to take an expansive and integrative approach to raise the bar and create a masterwork.
She’s been labeled as being the most influential female recording artist of the late 20th century. Having lived in both the east and west coasts of the States for most of her life she still maintains a residence in western Canada where she was born. Young Roberta Joan (Joni) was affected by the music she heard in her home. Her mother introduced her to a few simple classics such as Claire de Lune and her father loved Miles Davis’ jazz and it’s the amalgamation of the two that have, for decades, had musicologists scratching their collective heads wondering just how she does it when she creates a new song. Her phraseology is totally unique. As she said to Charlie… early music influences you.
In turn, hundreds of other musicians have been influenced by Joni including such diverse performers as Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Judy Collins, Miles Davis, Charlie Mingus, Peter Gabriel, Prince, Nora Jones, Leonard Cohen, Shakira, Seal and even Sinatra.
Who or what’s influencing you? Is there something about your perspective, your attitude, or your work that’s staring you in the face but you’re not yet seeing it? Is your antenna up? Are you inviting or seeking out new stimuli? And, perhaps more importantly, do you consider yourself a learner?
Waiting for You by Lynda Pogue
|
Together by Lynda Pogue
|
| Together …and… Waiting For You by Lynda Pogue. I wrongly considered florals as being fluffy art and had discounted the enthusiastic responses viewers have to nature’s blossoms on canvas. Recently, I decided to go back to the garden and explore contrasting expressions to see how darkness and then lightness affected the glorious pinks of these petals… literally probing both sides. |
Well maybe it is just the time of year
Or maybe it's the time of man
I don't know who I am
But you know life is for learning
We are stardust
We are golden
And we've got to get ourselves
Back to the garden
When Tavis was interviewing Joni she said… You know, this is not a renaissance culture. It's a culture of specialists... Maybe because it's easy for me, taking three subjects is nothing. They do interrelate, being a poet, a painter and a musician. I painted this music on. You know, I layered it on stroke by stroke. Sometimes my music is a little too complicated…but painters have a tendency to be able to follow it. They go through the layers and then they can assemble it.
Over the years, she has put herself into exile a few times and each time has emerged with more focus and drive. In her quietude the music, the words and the images just welled up again.
But I know my needs
My sweet tumbleweed
I need more quiet times
By a river flowing
I’m Over Here by Lynda Pogue. When creating this divine woman I envisioned her calling to her lover who adores her posterior as much as the side we cannot see… both sides.
|
| I’m Over Here by Lynda Pogue. When creating this divine woman I envisioned her calling to her lover who adores her posterior as much as the side we cannot see… both sides. |
It’s as if her own personal well was drying up and when she stopped drawing from it she replenished herself. Many artists (any entrepreneurs) need to jump off the treadmill for a period of time and re-group. It’s that distancing from one’s work that may give a much richer perspective. Get out of your own way once in a while.
I'm going to take you to
My special place
I put things back together there
It all falls right in place
Like many artists, Joni thought of herself as a painter derailed by circumstance. She knew that to express herself honestly in her early paintings she consciously didn’t allow herself to be influenced by such powerful and popular abstract expressionists as Pollock or Barnett Newman. She wanted to paint as she sang: in a folk-artist-y way. (Her heroes were Van Gogh, Gauguin, Matisse, and Rembrandt.)
Do you paint what you sing? That is, do you paint your own words/beliefs? Are you aware of the characteristics you’ve absorbed from your personal heroes/heroines? Have you cultivated a mentor? Do you take the time to consider who and what inspires you? If you haven’t paid attention to the music, the sounds, the colors, the emotions, the people, the influences around you, it might be wise to find active techniques to sharpen your senses because you don’t know what you’ve got till it’s gone.
If you’re interested in reveling in the talent of Joni just go to any one of the 3 million sites that pop up when you enter Joni Mitchell on your computer. The lyrics for this article were quoted from: Big Yellow Taxi, Both Sides Now, Lesson in Survival, My Secret Place, and Woodstock.
Lynda Pogue is a Canadian artist, writer and speaker who lives near Toronto, Ontario. She is associated with Agora Gallery in New York and Covent Garden Fine Art Gallery in Canada and she invites you to visit her website at lyndapogue.com. |
|
|
About
Feature Articles
Artist Profiles
|
