Look Beyond One Right Way

A review of a new book about the US artist, Alexander Calder, described how he employed physics in the service of art. Reading this, I was reminded that my sister, who has an art major degree. looked at a drawing of the coronavirus and saw a similarity with the look of the Times Square ball that drops on New Year's.

     Science, it seems, also could be employed in the service of art. Picture how the motion of constantly copying genes could be expressed the way Calder incorporated motion in his art.

     Every field can be expressed in art. If employees were encouraged to design and decorate their cubicles, the idea of dressing to express on casual Fridays might lead to occasional happy hour tours of minimal and exuberant art in employee spaces. Consider the variety of ways food can be arranged on a plate; how politicians around the world express their policies in the green, pink, yellow and red-white-and-blue graphics on their campaign posters; and how the pattern of interstate roads moves the eye across a country like the lines on a Mondrian painting.

     "(I)t is only in being creative that the individual discovers the self," said British psychoanalyst, Donald Winnicott. Viewed this way, laughing at and ignoring an individual's creative spirit stifles growth and development. Hitler may not have been a great artist, but wouldn't humanity have been better off if he expressed himself in art rather than in creating the "final solution"?

     Family life could be much fuller and much more satisfying, if each member were encouraged to create. It is easy to laugh at a relative's out-of-the-box ideas and creations, but during the coronavirus lockdown, we have seen the joy of family members taking videos, dancing, singing, playing musical instruments, taking photos out of windows, painting, cooking, reciting original poems, sewing colorful protective masks, and tailoring outfits for pets. Some people have the confidence to never doubt themselves, but being laughed at is enough to discourage the creativity of most.

       Finally, observation helps nurture creative expression the way my sister connected seeing  a drawing of COVID-19 with the Times Square ball. When Calder awoke on the deck of a ship one day, he saw a red sunrise on one side and a silvery moon on the other. In the solar system, he realized two very different phenomena are related, just as the moving parts and shapes on his mobiles would   be connected later.

     Encouraging observation and nurturing creative expression beyond one already established right way of doing something can benefit self, family and maybe even humanity.

Who Would You Like to Meet?

At a luncheon in Chicago, I was seated next to Jesse Owens in 1956. We didn't reminisce about his track and field victories at Hitler's 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin. We discussed why attitudes toward race were different in suburban Chicago and other areas of the city.

     The Atlantic magazine ends each issue on its last page by asking readers to respond to a question. In June, 2018, the question was: "Which two historical figures would you most like to introduce to each other?" It is a question young and old anywhere in the world can and should pose to each other.

     Reader responses reminded us to recognize the enduring influence of people from diverse backgrounds, such as Julia Child, Albert Einstein, Louis Braille, and Mother Teresa.

     Why readers wanted to hear the conversations of the people they introduced revealed interesting topics. One wondered what Alexander Hamilton would tell Lin-Manuel Miranda he got right and wrong in his prize-winning musical.

     Another wanted Barack Obama to show Abraham Lincoln "the fruits of his enormous accomplishment."

     What would Leonardo da Vinci and Nikola Tesla chat about over coffee, a woman wondered. And then, someone thought William Shakespeare and Mae West would realize they both live on through their quotable remarks.