Unexpected Art

I love bright splashes of art that take me by surprise. A pop up gallery here. A child’s drawing there. Almost anything that stops me from going about my daily business and makes me pause and say…wow.

Or to say nothing at all if I’m truly honest.

I’m so lucky to have created a job that fills my life with art, with experience, with seeing something new.

It’s something I’ve worked for and it’s something I cherish. But the price, as light as it is in both senses, is being ready to have something to say.

These days I’m paid for facts. I’m paid for opinions. I’m paid for throwing off inhibitions and talking to everyone I meet, no matter their age, occupation or fascination with building boats from beer cans, art from petrol, and f estivals built from colourful papier mache.

And facts, for sure, make everyone’s experience richer.

They give context. They give credit. They give cast-iron methods of recreating what I’ve seen.

I love them, inhale them, soak in them and fill up my imaginary champagne bathtube with them, splash, froth, lather and show them a good time.

But although they’re important, they’re not always necessary.

Art in Winnipeg

Tonight, I arrived in Winnipeg, a city I’ve longed to visit for years. (The name fascinates me from a wordsmith point of view.  I think of Winnie Mandela and a Pirate Leg every time someone mentions the place.)

I dined in the French Quarter, feeling far from France, and strolled home in the sighing light of summer when our celestial fire seems to lose the energy to blaze at full might.

I paced a modern matchstick bridge, white engineering tendrils converging in the sky. And my eyes flitted to a sea of flittering blue, emboldened by the soundtrack of children running and laughing.

Children ran. Blue flags flitted. Adult hands fluttered through them all.

I found the sign that explained the exhibit. I walked towards the people, ready to talk, to ask, to listen.

And then I stopped.

I put my notebook away.

Because as important as it is to look up facts, to interview, to quote, to attribute, to listen.

Sometimes, it’s just right to watch and enjoy.

So, with some apologies to these artists whom I leave anonymous, I’d like to issue a small but genuine couple of words.

Thank you.

Perhaps you deserve more. In money, in words, in recognition. Perhaps you have all you need.

But you have, to one person at least, achieved that higher level of expression.

You’ve managed to make me stop. To think. To watch. To listen.

You reached me.

Disclosure

I’m here in Canada as part of the #mustlovefestivals project with sponsorship from Expedia and Explore Canada. As ever, as always, I write what I like. Otherwise what’s the point?