By Michael Downing
On Finally Becoming an Artist
I have never considered myself an artist. It wasn’t until about ten years ago when Jackie finally convinced me that for not being an artist, I sure do create a lot of art.
My art is practical, though. It involves taking the individual components of a house and surrounding landscape and making it all functional, clean and valuable.
We lived in a house out near Kempton for 14 years and essentially lived there for free because of the value that I added to the property. When we sold the house, we made all of our money back including all the payments we made and expenditures related to improvements. It was pretty much flawless. That is my art.
But I never thought of myself as an artist. I always thought, “Artists can draw, right?” I can’t draw. I can barely hold a pencil in my right hand because it hurts so much due to carpal tunnel. Can’t draw, can’t sketch, so not an artist.
But I know artists…
Our friend Kevin McCloskey creates amazing drawings. He has a collection of children’s books that he has researched, written, drawn and inked. They include We Dig Worms; Caterpillars: What Will I Be When I Get to Be Me?; The Real Poop on Pigeons; Ants Don’t Wear Pants.
We have a Kevin McCloskey ostrich print hanging on the wall in our home. Kevin can draw therefore Kevin is an artist.
Our friend Even Summer is a world-renowned printmaker. He has taught printmaking at KU for a long time and is now retired but still making prints in his studio in Kutztown. He occasionally teaches printmaking in China and other countries around the world.
Evan can sketch and make prints therefore Evan is an artist.
Jackie’s creates art everywhere I look: She puts together a plate of food so that it looks photogenic. Her beauty is photogenic. For years, she has created textile art, including aprons, owls, and embroidery. I think she has three sewing machines, one of them is called a Serger, which has multiple spindles. Jackie can draw and sew and paint and match colors like a goddess therefore Jackie is an artist.
My friend Doug creates sketches which he then transforms into beautiful jewelry. Doug can draw therefore he is an artist.
You get the picture. But I’m not w4ong, right? The key requisite to being an artist involves the ability to draw. Everybody knows that.
But then one day, Jackie says to me: “You are an artist, too, Boo. You just work in different mediums. You’re a craftsman, writer, a teacher, a musician, and a landscaper. You converted a van into a camper. You were in two bands. You can learn and can make anything.”
That made me change the way I saw myself.
It made me understand that I am fluent in carpentry, plumbing, electrical, custom van work, and even automobile maintenance/auto body. And I have a pretty cool knack for music.
I can do just about anything with metal, wood, electrical and landscaping projects. Make it look neat and tidy while all the while being one hundred percent functional and built to last.
That is my art. Turns out you don’t need to be Picasso or Van Gogh to be an artist. Instead we are surrounded by artists. Those people who have a craft and bring beauty and functionality to the world. They are all artists.
Promaster Art Project
Back in spring of 2021, I spent about 45 days converting a Dodge Promaster into a livable, functional, custom work of art: Queen bed, shelves, countertops, sink, AC and DC power…carpentry, electrical, plumbing, automobile maintenance, metal work, and a steady stream of problem solving capabilities. I had to identify what I needed for the project and then locate the items in the marketplace—size, number, variables, cost—every step of the way. It was a wonderful and complicated challenge.
Also: I’m pretty sure that’s how artists work.
I had to move through a steep learning curve: we’re talking about cutting sizeable holes in the roof of a brand-new van and installing Maxx Air fans and other fairly significant modifications on a brand new vehicle. It was a whole damn thing.
You can see the van here.
Then, from 2008-2022, Jackie and I transformed the aforementioned property in Kempton, Pa. into a work of art, both inside and out. My tasks involved such improvements as new flooring, plumbing updgrades, carpentry, electrical, and landscape planning (we transformed that yard into a fairieland).
We improved the main floor bathroom, laundry room, kitchen and mud room. Upstairs, we re-did three closets and painted every interior surface. Too much to mention but lots of work in 14 years there.
So what’s the point of this diatribe?
Simply understanding that I behave like an artist helps me to understand my professional and academic self, particularly as ot relates to my writing, and this is the thing I’m most chuffed about. I now look at writing as my art, not a requirement for employment or promotion, so it’s finally opened up. I can bring in tons of creativity that writing for the academic or business worlds can’t afford me.
So call these blog posts my creative space or my memoirs, whatever, it’s my place to express myself And I’m running with it.
My message to students: Find what you’re good at and make it into your art. Be creative, have fun. Express yourself in any number of mediums, from music to crafts to carpentry to sewing to landscape gardening. Don’t think you need to be Pablo Picasso.
Do it and love it, amen.
Slide
Once upon a time there was a hole in this door. It was for a cat door. So I talked to a friend who is also an artist, a carpenter, and restorer of old homes, and he helped me put a patch in the door.
He called it a Dutchman. We worked together to match the wood grain as best we could and affixed the patch. Then I brought it back to my workshop and sanded and painted the piece. It’s beautiful and you would never know there was a hole.
This is my art.
My Writing Wanderland 