“My ‘thing’ is a very colourful reflection of my soul experience here. From a personal art perspective, my thing is channeling my experience from inside me to canvas, or whatever medium of art speaks to me at that time,” Sadie Jane explains when I ask her about her personal artist’s “thing”. If you’ve been following along with my monthly profile pieces, you’ll note that every artist describes that inner-something; that special place we creative beings have within us that motivates, inspires, fuels, drives and forces us to be artists. It’s our “thing”. It’s the aspect of our personality that leads us to make projects like macaroni “cameras” – Sadie’s first art piece.
We sometimes don’t connect the dots to this “thing” separating us as artists. It’s a struggle to identify with this feeling. What is it? What am I? Who taught me to be this way? Sadie reflects on her early experience of this knowing. “As a child, an artist is what I wanted to be… I’ve been called ‘artist’ throughout my whole life, but I struggled to have the confidence to claim that myself. ‘I’m not an artist, I just create, I just colour, I just slap paint around’. However, I soon learned that there is nothing wrong in identifying as an artist, especially when that is indeed my nature. My very core.” Can you relate to this uncertainty? Having been a self-proclaimed artist for just a few short years, Sadie’s words ring familiar!
Many PCAFA members share that living in this majestic part of the world – next to the sea – is both an inspiration and escape for their creative things to flourish. Though Sadie grew up primarily in ocean-side geographies, she feels that “nothing compares the energy and inspiration that I’ve experienced here in the bay.” She also adds, “inspiration is everywhere if you allow yourself to be present and open to it.” I felt particularly compelled by these comments, as if you’ve seen Sadie’s work, you can truly feel the spiritual and whimsical emotion within it. Her playful, quirky and truly magical energy bounces out of her body, onto the canvas and then into our primary motor cortex’s like a glorified game of hopscotch.
We’re lucky to have such a diverse collection of creatives within the PCAFA membership. We benefit each other, by simple virtue of sharing ourselves and our stories with each other. When I asked Sadie what she sees as the greatest benefit of belonging to this community she shares, “Hands down, it’s the interaction with the incredible artists who are also members. PCAFA creates connections that may not have happened without membership. Connecting as creative souls and sharing our experiences. Drawing inspiration from the talks and encounters we have. Breaking down walls of insecurities together. It’s a beautiful gift.” How lovely to experience the value of this community beyond simple opportunities. Our events and programming are top notch, but the people who share these experiences with us are the true treasures to be celebrated!
Sadie describes making art as taking a “soul vacation” and plans to turn her attention to returning her focus to creating art for her personal healing. “Also, life is aligning in such a way that I believe I will have more time to invest into the studio again, which means there will be far more action happening in regard to studio art classes and special events.” I’m looking forward to the dazzle that Sadie will be developing in the new year! You can check out her work and upcoming workshops here: http://www.seabornartstudio.com/
