Art Journal: Inspiration
Where does an artist find inspiration? For painting? For life? This
has been an important concern for me all my life. Because I have never had
the full support of my family to be an artist, I have had to look deep within
myself to keep going all these years. And I look "outside myself"
for inspiration. Well, after all, "observation" is a huge part
of my job.
This past weekend I was at the Lake Tahoe Marathon (California/Nevada).
Together with my friend and partner, Ana Nelson, we had done an original
painting of the race course: a view of the beautiful Emerald Bay below.
One of the participants, David J. Elliott, that we had the pleasure
to meet, is also the star of the TV show "JAG". Besides being
an interesting and genuinely friendly person to talk to, David runs about
70-80 miles a week. I find that inspirational. He has an extremely busy
schedule and works long hours on the set of JAG. Yet, he finds time to keep
up his healthy fitness routine. Another thing I learned about David-he is
from Toronto, Ontario.
And meeting him reminded me of another Canadian inspiration: Cecil Tremayne
Buller of Montreal. I first saw Cecil's work in Calgary at the Glenbow Museum
in an exhibit entitled "Images of the Land: Canadian Block Prints 1919-1945".
Cecil's work was among a collection of some of the finest block printer's
in the world, but her work called to me in a voice so strong that I had
to investigate further. Eventually, my search would lead me to her son,
Dr. Sean Murphy. I had planned to visit Dr. Murphy and he had consented
to allow me to view private journals of his mother's, but at the last minute,
I was unable to make the trip to Montreal and now I have realized that even
my phone conversation with her son was a very special and wonderful opportunity
to understand this artist and her life.
Cecil was born in Montreal on September 15, 1886. Her father was a prominent
physician in Montreal ~ just as her son would become so many years later.
In 1910, Cecil attended the Art Students League in NYC, later in Woodstock
and then traveled to Paris with Edwin Holgate to study art. In 1916 she
studied in London with Noel Rooke and in 1917 she married American artist
John A. Murphy. Eventually they moved to Greenwich Village in NYC, but they
continued to travel and exhibit abroad, as well as in N.A. Their son, Sean,
was born in England in 1924.
This is one of my favourite works by Cecil, exhibited in Montreal in
1920, entitled "French Canadian Oven":
This is a linocut print made on Japanese paper. Executed in 1919, it
is 22.2x30.2.
In 1929 she executed several illustrations for the book "Song of
Solomon". Among them is the one below, entitled "Kneeling"
("I am my beloved's and my beloved is mine.")
This is also one of my favourites and has long served as an inspiration
to me. This wood engraving has a certain power and strength that I admire
greatly. I carried a copy in my notebook for many years. Once, during a
train stopover at a small town just on the border of Scotland and England,
I saw a sign in the town centre advertising a "woodcut class"
at the local college. It happened that the class met that very night, so
I went to the college, and inspired by Cecil's striking use of the woodcut,
I took the class and executed my first (and only) woodcut. But where did
Cecil lead me? Not just to do a woodcut piece of art. But to new acquaintances
and friends in Berwick-On-Tweed and London, who would also influence my
work and help make me feel at home in this world as a fellow artist.
By the way, this is Cecil in 1929........................
This print, done in 1923, is entitled "Dancers". It is also
a wood engraving on wove paper.
I love her lines, her forms, the movement of the figures. And I love
the simplicity.
I draw strength as a person and an artist from Cecil Buller and her
work. I feel a bond with her as a fellow traveler and artist...
When Ana and I did the piece at the top of this page (Russian River
Marathon-Ukiah, California) I thought of Cecil many times as we worked on
the lines, forms, figures and movement of the landscape and clouds. The
work she did before me served like a foundation and gave me strength to
add character and style to the serigraph. While Ana handcut the entire piece
from rubylith (plastic film), I printed the eight colour serigraph.
Maybe you will find this strange, but meeting David Elliott this last
weekend was a related experience. When I run, it can be lonely. When
I paint, it can also be a very isolated experience. But having met David
and having studied Cecil's work (and talked with her son about their life)
I feel less singular and more certain of my own identity. I am never alone
when I run or paint. I have inspiration from these two Canadians, among
others. And I have the sum of my working years to help me.
These are my journal notes for October, 1998. I hope they will help
you understand art and the artist. I hope, too, that you will find inspiration
in the people I have mentioned....a person who never used her gender to
gain special circumstance or used the biases of a generation as an excuse
to stop her from doing what she loved - what she "had" to do;
and another person, also an "artist", who manages to work long,
long hours at his craft, but still makes time to do what he loves doing
outside work. Both of these people have something else in common, despite
their "careers", they found time to develop meaningful relationships,
marry and have children-something that many artists never manage.
You can see David at his craft on CBS, Tuesday evenings.
The work of Cecil Buller and John Murphy has recently ended as an exhibit
at the Musee des beaux-arts de Montreal......but you can e-mail
me for more information or photos of her work.
