I just saw the incredible film, The King's Speech. It is an extraordinary movie, beautifully written and filmed, with stunning performances by Colin Firth and Geoffrey Rush. It is the story of King George VI and his work and friendship with the iconoclastic Australian speech therapist, Lionel Logue. It is a story about healing, about a therapeutic relationship, about the effects of trauma, and about the power of finding one's voice.
2010 has been an extraordinary year for Frank and for me in terms of our finding and developing our artistic voices. For this has been the first year that we have had the courage to submit our work to art shows for jurying by professionals, and for public view and scrutiny.
I will not downplay how significant this has been to us both, nor how, well, terrifying it can be. It is one thing to show one's work to friends and family. It is quite another to take that next step in the context of a professional art environment. And yet it is quite marvelous to have one's work responded to positively, to be able to share that intangible thing that is your art - the combination of your vision, your skill, your heart, your creativity and your courage. However one's work is responded to, the showing of it in public is a hugely important developmental step.
It has been really thrilling to have our work accepted into three juried art shows this year:
Our thanks to the staffs at Sebastopol Center for the Arts and Healdsburg Center for the Arts for providing environments that support artists at all levels in their professional development.
This year also has been the first year that we have been able to support causes which are important to us by donating our art for silent auctions. We are so pleased to have been able to support Sonoma County's Face to Face and their Art for Life auction, the San Francisco arts organization, The Imagine Bus, and their Love is in the Air event, and to support Sonoma County foster youth through the Pennies for the Prom event.
The image at the top of this blog entry is one of Frank's, a marvelous image that was accepted into a show with the theme of Reflections. This is one of those images that reminds us that photography is all about seeing and then capturing exquisite moments that will never be created again.
The image to come is one of mine, entitled, Map of Desire. It received a Merit Award at Sebastopol Center for the Art's Mapworks: The Map as Art exhibition. A piece that I love, it reflects my stretching and developing in my own work, and it was a thrill that it was received so well.
So, 2010 has been a year in which we have taken big steps, stretched ourselves as photographers, individually and together, and the journey has been exhilarating. We are excited to move into 2011 as we continue developing our artistic voices.
