Only slightly out of my price range...
I appreciate art, but it's an area that I'm only peripherally familiar with and invested in. Beyond the art history class I took in college, I haven't been educated in the visual arts, so I don't have any fancy words to describe brush strokes or the ability to recognize artists beyond the universally known Picasso, Monet, Klimt, Dali and Chagall, etc.
Don't get me wrong, the first thing I do when visiting a new city is to go to the local museum because to me, one way of getting to know a place is to see what's been created there artistically. I always enjoy it, and usually find that the pieces that speak to me aren't the most valuable or most controversial, but instead, the ones other people pass by quickly. Unknown artists, a weird photograph or a strangely shaped sculpture.
So, this was a task where I thought, if I come across something that inspires me and that isn't a million dollars, I'd like to get it. To own a piece of art. Could be cool. Then I put it out of my mind.
Artist Matthew Heller
Until my friend Cyndi Finkle blogged about Matthew Heller, an artist friend of hers. On her blog she had a link to his web site and I clicked. Matthew's works are all interesting and beautiful in different ways, but it was when I clicked on Poems that I got that feeling.
Words are beautiful, and to me, words are a form of art. With the risk of sounding pompous, there are times that I write something that feels like art. So it wasn't too strange that the piece of art that inspired me had words. Beautifully put together words.
I clicked through the poems and after looking at a few of them, "Your Heart is the Sun" came up and I just connected with it. It evokes love and passion, and, funnily enough, someone once told me that my heart is like the sun. Big and warm and open. And with the risk of sounding pompous yet again, my open heart is something I actually enjoy about myself, even though the online chakra test I recently took said that my heart chakra is too open and over active. Whatever.
Over active heart or not, I love feeling things intensely, joy as well as heart ache because it makes me feel alive. This year has brought both, although more highest of highs than lowest of lows. Many of the challenges and tasks I've taken on for Forty By Forty has made my heart so full that at times I've thought it's about to burst out of my chest. And when things have been difficult or "achy," I've just found myself writing a lot. Or pouring my feelings into my guitar playing.
But enough about me. It turned out that although some of the poems were available as prints, "mine" wasn't. I emailed Matthew and told him if he ever decided to make a print of it, I'd be interested. He said to check in with him in a few months.
So, I moved onto other things and forgot about it, but now that I'm getting close to the finish line, I've decided to map the rest of my journey out to make sure I hit my target. So I revisited the list and there it was. Find a piece of art that inspires me and buy it. I checked in with Matthew again before making it "inactive" and he responded right away saying he'd have a print made.
Matthew and I with my print rolled up
About ten days later, I got an email saying the print was ready and headed over to Matthew's studio to pick it up. On the wall was a piece of art that gave me goose bumps; the words to the song "When Johnny Comes Home" in a Western type font, written in thirteen lines to symbolize the thirteen stripes in our flag. (Wow. I just said "our" flag for the first time, acknowledging my somewhat recent naturalization. Am I becoming one of those patriotic Americans?)
We talked for a bit and I discovered that Matthew is not just interesting and passionate about art, his and others', but he's an artist who wants his art to find a good home...and that makes him cool. In an effort to convince him my home would be a good home for his art, I told him that "Your Heart is the Sun" would become part of the Forty By Forty project. It went over well. In other words, he let me have it.
Next, we discussed framing and Matthew suggested something subtle so it becomes about the piece and not the frame. I agreed completely and headed to Chinatown to one of his favorite framers and dropped it off. I must say, having just picked it up, I wanted it to come home with me right away. Didn't want to leave it. Although, on account of my height, I'm used to not having things available to me immediately... all clothing items have to be dropped off and shortened before wearing. So it was alright.
A week later, I walked into the framing place and there it was. So beautiful and perfectly framed. And too big to fit in my car so it took some wrangling to get it home. I had decided to wait and see where it would fit in when I got it home, so I spent some time moving it here and there. It's an intimate piece so I thought perhaps in the bedroom, but it wasn't right so it ended up in my living room where I'll probably end up enjoying it more.
So, here it is. In my apartment. I feel sophisticated and accomplished. As of today, I am an art collector. Thanks to Cyndi for helping me find Matthew, and thanks to Matthew for making a beautiful piece of art that inspires me. I love it.