I’m starting out a post about a gifted visual artist, by talking about The Voice. Bear with me.
The Voice is an addictive show. One that makes you believe in magic. I didn’t want to like it, but I could not help myself.
It’s that moment when someone walks onstage, someone who looks normal and who has had little training. Those are the best ones. You don’t see it coming when they open their pipes and what comes out is effortlessly perfect pitch.
Goosebumps.
Sometimes I try to imagine what it must be like to have a gift like that. It’s hard to even be jealous of it, even when you are cursed with a throat full of frogs. You can’t help but be warmed by the miracle of a true gift. It’s like sun breaking through the clouds to warm everyone in the vicinity. Natural born talent that can’t be bought, or even learned. You can hone a craft. You can learn skills. But talent precedes.
Which leads me back to the work of Alison Hyman that I saw on exhibit this weekend.
As the daughter of two artists, I know certain things can be learned. How to draw from life, and how to coax a more fluid line from an ink pen dragged across thick paper, for example. The eye can be trained to more accurately perceive light and shadow.
But none of that matters, or even explains how someone can capture a person’s entire personality in three brush strokes and a squiggle.
This is magic. It’s a little like being able to fly, if you ask me. I can’t help but wonder how it feels to have these sense defying powers. I’ll probably never know and it doesn’t actually matter. Merely imagining it makes me want to try. Not for the product, but for the possibility within the process. The creative spark. The spark itself is delightful.
I guess that is inspiration.
Alison Hyman’s work makes me want to buy some canvas and acrylics. And sing in the shower.
Good thing I’m not foolish enough to try and fly.
Disclosure: The artist is a friend who I met through mutual friends. I discovered her work in my kitchen while preparing Hanukah food for an article in the OC Register. Yes she can cook too. Her Scottish pudding is decadent. Alison Hyman’s work is on display at the Merage JCC in Irvine CA through May 31.
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