Gorgeous essay on learning, trying, honoring. I did go to the suggested website of women botanical artists. I'm not sure if Mary Delany is there, but do check out Molly Peacock's terrific book _The Paper Garden: Mary Delany begins her life's work at 72_. Thank you, @Nikki Tate for joining us here on this collaborative site on the arts. xo ~ Mary
Library card: yes, a nice reminder of that little seed in so many of our lives.
In the recent Netflix documentary, Bill Russell: Legend, we learn that after his family moved from Louisiana to Oakland during WWII, Russell’s mother got him a library card, which he considered one of his most valuable possessions. He would check out prints of famous paintings and hang them on the wall of his room until he had to return them. Then he would attempt to draw the painting from memory.
Later, as a basketball player, he discovered that he could visualize the entire court in his mind, very useful for designing and executing plays. 2-time NCAA champion, Olympic champion in 1956 (U.S. 89, Soviets 55), 11-time NBA champion, twice as player-coach. Did his success start with a library card? (Along with a 7-foot-plus wingspan.)
Thank you for the recommendation! I've added that to my watch list. Bonus - this is something both my husband and I will enjoy - our movie tastes tend not to overlap, but great sports biographies are a genre we happily watch together.
I love the idea of Bill Russell borrowing famous paintings and then committing them to memory - the visual equivalent to memorizing poetry. Thank you for sharing!
That stuck in my head because I had never heard of a library doing that. Certainly my hometown’s Carnegie didn’t. What a great idea, right?
I don’t know if you’ve seen any of ESPN’s “30 for 30” docs from a few years back, but this one I watched twice. As its blurb says, “sometimes, perception isn’t reality”:
Love this: "Did I ever fully let go of that youthful dream of being a lifelong learner?" I don't know if this is true, but my sense is that there are world cultures where this view is encouraged. Prague feels like a place that encourages imagination, art, and curiosity (though perhaps it is being corporatized fast enough to be losing this quality). I wonder if a thread for you through those major life disruptions that you hint at is a suppression of this insatiable youthful self. I've thought a lot about that recently -- hoping to find new relationships where creativity is valued, where conversations can go on for hours, where curiosity and wonder are not seen as childish, but as child-like in the best possible sense. We only get this one wild and precious life, as Mary Oliver reminds us. I'm still trying, in solidarity with you, to avoid liquidating too much of that life in the exchange of labor for money. Thanks for this reminder that I'm not alone.
"hoping to find new relationships where creativity is valued, where conversations can go on for hours, where curiosity and wonder are not seen as childish, but as child-like in the best possible sense..." Oh yes, yes, and more yes - wonderful to connect with others on the same page :)
As for Prague - one of the destinations that's high on my list - for all the reasons you mention.
Thank you for reading and your thoughtful comments!
Wow, Nikki. Wow. You’re a damn fine writer. Damn fine. My only niggle is that you folded Dad’s origin story into the main story about being a Renaissance Woman and lifelong learner. I take issue with you on one point. I think Renaissance Woman was a perfectly fine career option - then and now! I say that because both your story on this topic and your Dad deserved their own fully elaborated posts. Not that there was anything wrong with that. I am a selfish reader who likes her stories in bite sizes. Especially when they are curated in a Michelin star rated blog post. As some teachers used to say to me on college papers (occasionally) that I turned in and would get in reply this weak and meaningless comment (but in this case, it is most sincerely meant): Keep up the good work!!
Hi Margot! Thank you for your comment - and, for your niggle. You are, of course, correct - this probably should have been two posts. That said, learning to draw is very much part of my ongoing education and whenever I think about visual art, I invariably think of Dad and his creative journey. Those are a couple of threads I find hard to tease apart...
Then newsletter was hatched as a place to collect 'more fully elaborated' writing about art, Dad, and my ongoing challenges as a mature student/wannabe Renaissance Woman... Alas, no single post is ever going to get it right... and that knowledge (the fact I'm doomed to fail) is what keeps me going/trying/writing/sharing.
Thanks again for coming along on the (somewhat zig-zaggy) journey!
Gorgeous essay on learning, trying, honoring. I did go to the suggested website of women botanical artists. I'm not sure if Mary Delany is there, but do check out Molly Peacock's terrific book _The Paper Garden: Mary Delany begins her life's work at 72_. Thank you, @Nikki Tate for joining us here on this collaborative site on the arts. xo ~ Mary
Library card: yes, a nice reminder of that little seed in so many of our lives.
In the recent Netflix documentary, Bill Russell: Legend, we learn that after his family moved from Louisiana to Oakland during WWII, Russell’s mother got him a library card, which he considered one of his most valuable possessions. He would check out prints of famous paintings and hang them on the wall of his room until he had to return them. Then he would attempt to draw the painting from memory.
Later, as a basketball player, he discovered that he could visualize the entire court in his mind, very useful for designing and executing plays. 2-time NCAA champion, Olympic champion in 1956 (U.S. 89, Soviets 55), 11-time NBA champion, twice as player-coach. Did his success start with a library card? (Along with a 7-foot-plus wingspan.)
https://www.netflix.com/title/81644531
Thank you for the recommendation! I've added that to my watch list. Bonus - this is something both my husband and I will enjoy - our movie tastes tend not to overlap, but great sports biographies are a genre we happily watch together.
I love the idea of Bill Russell borrowing famous paintings and then committing them to memory - the visual equivalent to memorizing poetry. Thank you for sharing!
That stuck in my head because I had never heard of a library doing that. Certainly my hometown’s Carnegie didn’t. What a great idea, right?
I don’t know if you’ve seen any of ESPN’s “30 for 30” docs from a few years back, but this one I watched twice. As its blurb says, “sometimes, perception isn’t reality”:
https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/328346-i-hate-christian-laettner
I haven't seen this - it's now in the queue - thank you!
Love this: "Did I ever fully let go of that youthful dream of being a lifelong learner?" I don't know if this is true, but my sense is that there are world cultures where this view is encouraged. Prague feels like a place that encourages imagination, art, and curiosity (though perhaps it is being corporatized fast enough to be losing this quality). I wonder if a thread for you through those major life disruptions that you hint at is a suppression of this insatiable youthful self. I've thought a lot about that recently -- hoping to find new relationships where creativity is valued, where conversations can go on for hours, where curiosity and wonder are not seen as childish, but as child-like in the best possible sense. We only get this one wild and precious life, as Mary Oliver reminds us. I'm still trying, in solidarity with you, to avoid liquidating too much of that life in the exchange of labor for money. Thanks for this reminder that I'm not alone.
"hoping to find new relationships where creativity is valued, where conversations can go on for hours, where curiosity and wonder are not seen as childish, but as child-like in the best possible sense..." Oh yes, yes, and more yes - wonderful to connect with others on the same page :)
As for Prague - one of the destinations that's high on my list - for all the reasons you mention.
Thank you for reading and your thoughtful comments!
Wow, Nikki. Wow. You’re a damn fine writer. Damn fine. My only niggle is that you folded Dad’s origin story into the main story about being a Renaissance Woman and lifelong learner. I take issue with you on one point. I think Renaissance Woman was a perfectly fine career option - then and now! I say that because both your story on this topic and your Dad deserved their own fully elaborated posts. Not that there was anything wrong with that. I am a selfish reader who likes her stories in bite sizes. Especially when they are curated in a Michelin star rated blog post. As some teachers used to say to me on college papers (occasionally) that I turned in and would get in reply this weak and meaningless comment (but in this case, it is most sincerely meant): Keep up the good work!!
Hi Margot! Thank you for your comment - and, for your niggle. You are, of course, correct - this probably should have been two posts. That said, learning to draw is very much part of my ongoing education and whenever I think about visual art, I invariably think of Dad and his creative journey. Those are a couple of threads I find hard to tease apart...
Then newsletter was hatched as a place to collect 'more fully elaborated' writing about art, Dad, and my ongoing challenges as a mature student/wannabe Renaissance Woman... Alas, no single post is ever going to get it right... and that knowledge (the fact I'm doomed to fail) is what keeps me going/trying/writing/sharing.
Thanks again for coming along on the (somewhat zig-zaggy) journey!
Thank you for reading :)
Wonderful!