What Birds and Artists Share
"Bluejay" gouache on paper, 30" x 22", 2024. (Photo credit: John Polak)
The other morning, I was out walking my dog Reuben just before sunrise, when I was suddenly aware of a cacophony of singing and chattering birds. There were so many different, insistently loud bird calls, I kind of had to laugh!! It reminded me of high school band, when we would all tune our instruments before the rehearsal began, each musician needing to be a little louder than her neighbor to hear her own tone. When I got back home, I did a quick search, and sure enough, it turns out that birds are actually warming up their voices in the morning, in order to be able to communicate their songs better to each other throughout the day.
Somehow, my mind made the connection between a bird’s song and an artist’s art, and this reminded me of a question that is always in the back of my mind, tucked in a drawer… which I take out and contemplate occasionally, like a favorite colorful, but faded old shirt. The question is, what is the purpose of art? Quite honestly, I don’t think about this question too often anymore, because it’s so BIG -- and also because most times, I’d rather create art than contemplate its creation. But having been an artist for more than half a century (if I count my childhood), I’ve thought about it a fair amount.
Recently I’ve been following the speaker, author and Harvard Professor Arthur Brooks, and feeling quite inspired by his research on happiness. Arthur Brooks also writes for The Atlantic magazine, and in an article Art Should Be a Habit, Not a Luxury he argues that making a conscious effort to appreciate the arts every day actually makes us happier, less stressed and more fulfilled.
“Art…forces us to stop looking through the soda straw of our workaday lives and see the world as it truly is. In experiencing art, we contemplate and absorb universal ideas, instead of fixating on the stultifying minutiae of me, me, me.”
As artists, I think our role is to communicate with unique voices, like the birds, about our universal human experience. We are creatures hard- wired to connect with others, to belong to community. Though we may feel singular, our experiences are often much more shared than they are particular.
Art that “speaks to you” does so because it has that frequency that resonates with your distictive being, with the things you know and have experienced, whether on a conscious or unconscious level.
I believe art is a key element, a glue that helps community members to feel connected, and to feel witnessed.
The exquisite poet Ada Limòn, 2024 poet Laureate, came to Smith College last week to speak, and I was lucky enough to sit in the audience. Witnessing her art as a group felt collectively moving! Her poetry touches so many people, and when she talked about the purpose of poetry, she said it was to make people open up and feel. In an interview I read, she says “I don’t have a lot of money and I don’t have a lot of skills, but I can do this one thing, and maybe it will give someone a feeling of not just being seen, but beheld.”
I love that idea: art can make someone feel seen, understood, and appreciated. I think this is what I’m trying to do in my own paintings, especially in my commissions, which are bespoke. In these custom works, my intention is to celebrate the client's life, their uniqueness and their passions. When I do these paintings, I become privy to the client's most cherished experiences—what a privilege and an honor! Through my artistic voice… I strive to make my client feel beheld.
This collaborative process, which honors the client's “one wild and precious life”, to quote poet Mary Oliver, is so fulfilling. Commission work is one of the most challenging types of painting I have done, and I consider it a great responsibility.
Back to the birdsong... did you know that studies have shown that listening to six minutes of birdsong reduces anxiety and depression in participants? So not only do artists and birds use their art (or song) to communicate, but both have a positive effect on our moods. Not surprising! 🐦⬛
So I hope you can get outside (or crack your window in the morning) and listen in to those birds... AND, appreciate some art today! That's all for now... thank you for reading, and for supporting my work!
With love,
Lise