"... and go back to work. Our studio, in which we both lived and worked, is undivided. Our son grew up in an environment where machinery, canvases and stacks of metal were right in front of his bedroom.... He always rejected categories of art and loved going back and forth between painting, drawing, sculpture and jewelry — going wherever his mind went... Whichever work he was making was meaningful. They were all ways of learning. The work and the act of making it possessed him at a deep emotional level that people often said they could feel or see."
Said Daniel Brush's wife, Olivia Brush, quoted in "Daniel Brush, Boundary-Defying Artist, Is Dead at 75/He worked in jewelry, sculpture and other genres, creating one-of-a-kind pieces and, for the most part, spurning the mainstream art world" (NYT).
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It's a more interesting world because of people like Mr. Brush.
""There was no beginning or ending to the day. If in the middle of the night something he was thinking about bothered him, he would get up..."
Sound like a lot of self employed people. Fits farmers well. Worked when the work demanded it. Farrowing, harvest, feeding, repairs...Do it when it needs done. I'm sure the shops that used to form Main Street, worked the same way. We had two grocery stores, 3? gas station, 2 bars, two cafes/restaurants, A full service meat market. Cured his own bacon, smoked his own hams and summersausge, 2 car dealerships, 3 implement dealers, two farm supply/feed and grain businesses...I could keep going. These were all single proprietor operations. Not unusual to see lights on a 3 in the morning, or 8 at night.
It was a different world than today. No opinion on if its better or worse. Its easy to sit here and smile at the thought of "those days" but then, at 18, I knew I would never have it sooo good! All the world available, and not a single responsibility. (I did not consider showing up at my job as a burden or responsibility. Any more than I considered, breathing, a chore.)
But then I sit here talking to world, whole volumes of knowledge at my finger tips. Find a line from a Shakespearean play, or watch a video of how to remove the ice maker from my 2015 Samsung Refrigerator. All the world is still available to me.
With our kids, we always encouraged them to pursue their 'likes' and tried to guide them towards careers that would support their 'likes'. It seemed to have worked. One is self taught in math. Got his engineering degree, and is designing the early generations of electric heavy duty construction equipment.
It was fun to spend 5 days with them around Christmas. One night we sat around with the grandkids, and their dad led them in how to convert F to C temps. It went on for 45 minutes. I'm betting it was the only house in town that was being entertained that way.
This sounds like bliss to me. No reason to care about time with the opportunity to follow the muse whenever it strikes. I hope to have a life like this after I retire.
Our studio, in which we both lived and worked, is undivided. Our son grew up in an environment where machinery, canvases and stacks of metal were right in front of his bedroom... He worked in jewelry, sculpture and other genres...
"My father worked in profanity the way other artists might work in oils or clay. It was his true medium. A master.."
In today's world, he'd be a blogger.
"They were all ways of learning. "
"The amount of time and money you've wasted making that. You could of bought three of them"
Yes I could. And I would have learned nothing.
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