Susan Shie: More rowdy joy

Thread chasing scissors

10-minute morning draw

I got so much from Susan Shie’s online  drawing class, which ended this week.  Here is one of her final emails to me. It was a response to my question about using text with image, but it applies to all of us all the time! 

 Susan said, "I believe that whatever an artist feels naturally, that she wants to do with her work, is what matters. Not style or correctness, but desire to communicate in whatever way she feels like doing it. I think what I want my students all to aim at is feeling free to express yourselves openly, without hesitation, in whatever way you feel the strongest hunger to make art. This comes back to my opinion that we did this the very best at about age 5 or 6, when we had developed enough motor skills to make images that people understand, and yet, were not yet aware that good and bad, right and wrong exist in art making. So it comes down to wanting you to regain your innocence and joy in making art! We adults are pretty boring in general, caught up in our first concern for propriety. We need more rowdy joy and connection to our free spirits, who are definitely still in there, patiently waiting to be set free again. I hope this class helps make that happen. And taking this class in the same way we take yoga class, helps people stay in that state of openness, I hope. I cannot go long without my yoga class, because I don't like just doing it on my own, and I need the discipline and sharing I find in that class, which is a support group with a focused leader. Both yoga and drawing are ways to help us keep our soul-self close to the surface in our lives."

The next class is April 14- May 11. Learn about it here.