Strange Bedfellows
When Titia Jetten introduced Sheila Norgate at a recent panel discussion in Ladysmith, Titia quoted Sheila from her website on the subject of risk. [Photo of Heart Tamer at Work by Sheila Norgate]
People often ask me questions like how did I become an artist, and when did I first know I was one, and how long did it take to paint that piece there, and do I work every day, and do I ever feel like quitting, and do I ever feel like never quitting.
These questions are fairly easy to answer.
The tougher ones live in the suburbs of reason. Ones like why does an artist answer the call, and who exactly is calling, and why would anyone give up things like fiscal certainty to make marks, and who exactly makes the marks.
All I can say is that it has something to do with risk, and how at some point for me, the risk of flying without a net finally became smaller than the risk of never having flown at all.
The theme of the panel discussion was “Creativity & Commerce: Strange Bedfellows” put on by the Ladysmith Waterfront Gallery. The location was Aggie Hall in Ladysmith as there was damage to the art gallery during the December 20th windstorm. I was drawn to the subject as it also affects writers and I expect I’ll muse more about that in my next blog.
Nixie Barton and Grant Leier were the other two visual artists who were part of the panel. In her introduction, Titia pointed out that Grant gets up at 5 a.m. and paints 72 to 80 hours a week.
I first met Sheila in Toronto some time in the nineties when she was selling her […]