Lets talk about art

Shay pointed me towards an article the other day, that he correctly thought I might have something to say about!

This article appeared in the Globe and Mail this week. While there's nothing particularly shocking about the article, the nastiness that was written in the comment section was...well....nasty! As Shay says, "I was shocked at the reader responses {which if you are a fan of reading any comments in the online edition it just seems the people who post are bitter folk from Brampton and the prairies} the anger and vitriol that people spat at new young parents, that original art for children will spoil them, it's a waste of money/time, that the child will never appreciate it, a woman said she hopes that she retires before these spoiled children enter the work force, that parents are putting their children at the center of their universe etc. Why were these people so incensed?"

I don't regularly read news on line, but I imagine that there's all sorts of fun and excitement that happens in the comment section on many on line articles.

Here's my 2 cents on the whole thing: I am quite proud of the fact that Griffin's room contains ONLY original art - I set out with the intention to do exactly that. There's the letters painted by Shay himself, some watercolour greeting cards from a local artist that I mounted and framed, a batik of Griffin's name by Sarah Hale, who is the mom of a good friend of mine, and a beautiful hand painted mirror similar to this one from a company called Sticks. Not to mention the half a dozen hand made quilts that are all over his room.

All of these things have meaning to us, and we hope to Griffin some day too. We bought the mirror in California on our honeymoon, less than a week after we found out we were pregnant...we searched all over the little ocean side town we were staying in for that perfect memento of our honeymoon. The greeting cards I bought at a local gallery show that Kendra and I went to, on a long weekend the summer after Griffin was born. The batik comes from a place that is very dear to me, and in fact to a lot of my friends - a place where the doors are always open, where you know you can always go to get away, drink tea, curl up with a thousand or so books, make a big meal with friends, and sleep in a bed that may or may not hold up through the night! I'm thrilled to have the custom painted letters from Shay, who has been a friend of both of ours for a number of years.

Both Steve and I work in the arts, and make our livings in the arts, and thus it's important to us to SUPPORT the arts and other artists, particularly local artists, and especially friends who are artists. I have no idea how buying original art for my kid will spoil him, or cause him to be selfish, or cause me to spend less time with him. He may never know who Diego is....OH WELL!! I'm pretty sure that Disney has enough money in their pockets, and I'm pretty sure that there are a ton of artists out there that never do...hell, there's two of us living in my house RIGHT NOW! I'd rather spend the little extra money we do have around here on occasion, on something that means something to me, and someday to my children. I hope that Griffin learns the importance of art in our world, the value of something that's handmade, and that he recognises the immense and varying talent that so many of the people we know posses. And...I hope he wants to be a doctor when he grows up!