Thinking back to when I
was about 5 years old, sitting with a friend on the front steps on a day much
like today. We were cracking what we called Polly seeds – sunflower seeds -- carefully removing each from the tiny shell and savoring the flavor, before
starting over again…
What brought me to this
picking up a packet of sprouted, shelled and seasoned sunflower seeds, good to
share this week, along with my ubiquitous “bars,” when on the run with my
visiting vegan friend. And thinking, “How convenient!”
Convenience is an
essential asset on a tight itinerary, but it is also becoming a transparent
element in our daily lives. I obtained the image for this post on Wikipedia with a few strokes and clicks (something I no longer take for granted after actually having to
use the research library in 2011!), I can send it to you or talk to you about it on
the bus or in a store, or just skip going out or even using the phone by
ordering lunch from the very keyboard I am typing on now.
Again, handy if you need
it, but it seems to engender a lack of patience to the point that people can’t
even wait to safely cross a street before reading something on a device. There
are trends toward the benefits of delayed gratification gaining momentum – tech
breaks, slow food, meditation, DIY, urban farming – perhaps this is even what folks are reading about in traffic. With
good reason, it feels good to just be in the moment with what is before you,
the nuts taste just a bit sweeter when you work a little for them, and the
sweetness makes the cracking just a bit more fun.
Sometimes we must go with
the flow. We have to work with computers to work with others in a timely
fashion, you can’t be the only one without a mobile phone on a collaborative
level. Online information and sharing widens our intellectual and emotional world
and allows us to understand it via myriad points of view - including a great deal of enlightening writing about art. But in this case, the words ring truer than the pictures. Visually, it is a
mirage.
Nowhere is time spent
more rewarded than in the appreciation of art. The simple act of looking at art
is a human pursuit unchanged at least since the days of cave painting. You
look, you see, you look closer, you see more, you step back, put it in context.
Try doing that with the zoom feature of your browser, you will realize that as
important a tool as digital technology is, you are just looking at pixels, not
paint or sculpture in all it’s transparency, solidity, layers, patina, subtle
motion in changing light… Even the nuances of a digital photograph, well printed,
escape the screen.
Fine art is a nut you
have to crack yourself – when you see something intriguing online, go to that museum, studio, gallery, public venue, theatre – and just take in the miracle of creativity and the fact that you are
participating in a timeless ritual. You can even have your phone set to
vibrate. But don’t be surprised if you forget it is there.
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| "Sunflower Seeds Kaldari" by Kaldari - Own work. Licensed under Public domain via Wikimedia Commons - http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sunflower_Seeds_Kaldari.jpg#mediaviewer/File:Sunflower_Seeds_Kaldari.jpg |
