Our Creative Nests

"Great indeed is the sublimity of the Creative,
 to which all beings owe their beginning
and which permeates all heaven. "
~Lao Tzu~

Given the right conditions our creative selves can explode, burning energy like a matchstick jungle. The more oppressive the atmosphere, the more powerful the art.

It was during a holiday in Camaguey, Cuba that I had that omniscient sense of knowing art was an unstoppable expression of the human spirit.  Martha Jimenez's sculptures grace a tiny parkette in Camaguey which has been protected as a World Heritage Site because of her art.

In the small space of Martha Jimenez's studio, the expression of the universal creative spirit was screaming .Within a small area, no greater than 800 square feet, I entered Jimenez's home and studio. No matter how oppressed, abused, marginalized or exploited, the creative spirit cannot be extinguished completely. It exists only in fullness, and bursts the boundaries of any physical space.

In the front room, pieces of sculpture were humbly displayed, but beyond that, past a drawn curtain that separated public space from private, like many of the store-front/homes, I had the privilege of entering Jimenez's courtyard. Drenched in the heavy July sweat of the tropics , the courtyard was wild, the centre piece,a pint-sized sculpted fountain of a woman. Local myth held that any man who rinsed with the water that flowed between this woman's legs would be lucky in love. All of the men left with wet hands that afternoon.

I left with four original oil paintings. Strung up with clothespins on a wooden drying rack, they were gems tucked away in a city hidden behind the teeth of the forced communist smile.

Ironically, not too far, far away in our global history, Jimenez was honoured by the Chinese government in Shanghai. Her work, two clay pots with rough outer exteriors mimicking Cuba's royal palm ironically comes from a series called, "What I Carry Inside". What Jimenez carries inside represents what we all, as creative beings, carry within us. The seeds to create, inspire and connect from a place within ourselves of universal knowledge.

Enter Chinese artist Ai Weiwei. A closet architect-wanna-be, I was captivated by a recent article in the Globe and Mail about the lasting effect of Wei's collaboration with Herzog and de Meuron. Their masterpiece is the Bird's Nest Stadium which was built in Beijing for the 2008 winter Olympics.

To be quite honest, it was the photo of countless sunflower seeds above the headline, " Ai Weiwei: Planting Originality, reaping Beijing's Fury", that caught my attention. The sunflower exhibit includes countless individual porcelain sunflowers made and painted by Chinese artists. The sheer brilliance of engaging hundreds of artists in a traditional craft ( porcelain ) which would receive global recognition is inspiring to say the least. Wei managed to water the seed of the creative human spirit, deep in the underbelly of a nation of famous for silencing it's artists.

Part of the exhibit, as displayed at the Tate Museum was the ability of patrons to walk over the sunflower seeds, breaking the seeds as they walked. Rather symbolic, no? Just ten days after the exhibit opened at the Tate Museum, Asthma UK kicked up a fuss about the kicked up dust caused by the interactive exhibit. The exhibit was changed so it could be viewed, but not interacted with, effectively disconnecting spectators from the art.

This must have been Director of Research at Asthma UK's 30 seconds of fame; "Leanne Metcalf, Director of Research at Asthma UK, said the Tate had made the right decision. "This new installation at Tate Modern has understandably attracted a great deal of interest and Asthma UK is relieved to hear that concern over the potentially damaging effects that the exhibit can cause to those interacting with it, especially people affected by asthma, is taking priority," she said. " I have to wonder, when the political wagging of the dog settles on this one, in what form the made-in-China political bone will be tossed to the UK.

I hope that the irony of breathing in silica dust was not lost on anyone. Ironic that a Chinese artist should inadvertantly create and exhibit art which reflects the reality of life in China? The very dollar-store-infatuation that the world has with goods made-in-China is rather poetic. The silica dust was gagging spectators. Kind of like gagging artistic expression, political freedom, and the human spirit...hmmm....?



So, despite his unkown whereabouts, Wei is still making headlines, as powerful and influential (if not moreso) than before. Unlike his demolished studio in Shanghai, the Bird’s Nest Stadium is a mark on the political landscape of China, and a globally recognized symbol for Beijing. I have been told that the symbolism of a bird’s nest in China is in it’s careful construction, one piece at a time,  creating a protective, insular environment. Standing as two independent structures, and weighing in at 42,000 tonnes of steel, The Bird's Nest stadium has one inner ring for seating, surrounded by another protective ring, it is indeed a symbol for the insular social and political make up of modern China.

Despite various degrees of man-made oppression, the creative spirit of “artist” remains alive and well within each individual. Wei found pleny of artists willing to help create his exhibit. It must have been like watching lava flow from an erupting volcano, watching the creative process ripple across the rural landscape.

The creative spirit is something that is hard to express in language. It goes beyond the physical. The closest I have come to understanding it is reading Rudolph Otto’s, Idea of the Holy. It is best described in a paragraph from Amazon’s description; "Otto, following the tradition of mystics, gave careful consideration to an oft-neglected aspect of theology: the non-rational aspects of God. In doing so, he coined the word "numinous" to depict that which transcends or eludes comprehension in rational terms. It suggests that which is holy, awesome, and 'wholly other.' He also applies the expression "mysterium tremendum overpoweringness of an ineffable transcendent Reality. "

Artists like Wei and Jimenez work dilligently at their art. I write. You may paint or sing, or create in other ways.  Why?  I believe we make art to communicate in a universal language. We are here sharing this experience together. We are all connected.

It is the very dust of life that we stir in our living that is the creative energy flow between us. This is where we draw our inspiration. It  keeps us connected and thriving. It is beyond the skin and blood and bones of our bodies, wrapped up in the wonder and mystery of life.