Why the Dodo?
The Dodo, charcoal on Paper, approx. 22”x30”
Have you ever felt that you were born in the wrong era, or had a personality mismatch with your time?
As I stated when I began this aspirational blog, in secret, last May, I want to explain why I chose the Dodo as my avatar image. The Dodo was a unique, flightless bird that had a naive fearlessness that was perfectly attuned to the environment in which it lived. This made it utterly vulnerable to the wider world. It had no defenses, or even awareness of the potential threats it eventually faced. I envy it’s lack of anxiety, as I envy many creatures that live in their present moment, unburdened by imagined futures. It turns out that Lewis Carroll, author of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, caricatured himself as a Dodo in the book, it is believed because of his stutter. Some call it a disability; a stutter prevents smooth communication, is often worsened by social stress, and can cause a sense of social ineptness. This fact confirmed my identification with Lewis Carroll and the Dodo! As an “overly sensitive child” who grew into a visual artist, I feel I channel the world’s input without discrimination, as helplessly vulnerable as the Dodo. The solution to this, for me, is to take it all in and then translate it into visual images or objects. I have to do this to process reality. I have tried to outrun the need, by diverting my curiosity in other ways, the study of science, history, literature, and finding a practical way of making a living. I have decided, however, that I am simply not cut out for making my art a “career”. My shyness, insecurity, atypical perceptions, and total lack of business acumen led to my decision to have a practical career, then retire and be myself, bravely 100% myself. Visual art requires some sort of viewer to complete the loop. Hence my decision to make a site for my work and a blog for my thoughts. A record, and a way to share that might elicit feedback, because I do not lack ambition to make good art, and feedback helps steer that. It also makes me feel real. I heard an artist on a podcast say “if you aren’t on the internet, you do not exist!” He was speaking from a marketing/career perspective, but my reaction was “I do not exist? Am I a Dodo?”
My site is woefully incomplete. I may never get all this work out of storage to measure its dimensions, sign it, record it properly. I am also just scared. If I wait till I am ready, it will never happen! I am embracing the vulnerability, the ongoing process of self-actualization that is forever incomplete. Please wish this Dodo a successful first flight!
