Al-Madrid Bull Leaping Society

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Comment by Hijo on May 17, 2009 at 8:03pm

Had a wonderful discussion with an old friend last night. Same chap pictured at Le Cour St. Germain with me. Gist: Patricia "Bibi" Gaston, a landscape architect, has written a sort of memoir ostensibly delving into the death of her grandmother. But it is an extremely rare form she uses, making the entire work a sort of landscape of the plants and detritus families leave not only on the land they occupy but in the lives they touch, lead, and leave behind.

To whit: all art is related. It is all an expression of the same things - whether we're talking about painting, or sculpture, or writing, or music, or architecture or landscaping. It comes from the same place - a desire to express something we see, we think we see, we observe, or that comes from deep within us.

I may have (I hope) inspired said chap to try his own hand again at expression, likely in the form of writing, though he's experienced as a landscaper and a furniture restorer and an architect and currently works as an archivist.

Point being - artists come in all shapes, sizes, and materials or medium. The "mixologist" at your local bar may in fact be the next biggest thing to hit the art world in a generation. The cook making dinner for the family - male or female - may be the next "Iron Chef," or a Picasso or Bernard Berenson.

I know we don't, but if we do, we should stop discounting people as talentless or not "true artists" based on their current avocation or bill-paying occupation. And the same certainly is true of children. Look next time. Really look at a kid's drawing. What does it say? Where did the idea come from? What's in it, or left out of it, and why?

There are obstacles to writing, naturally. But how in the world could anyone who works at any art ever reach a point where they no longer have anything left to say? Perhaps it is hard to create, to choose words, to select colors or decide even what flower or plant will look best where in a garden.

Who ever said it would be easy? And who or what are you doing it for?

Comment by eHemingway.com on May 3, 2008 at 9:44am

Count me in Hijo.

Comment by Hijo on April 30, 2008 at 1:26pm

History of the Al-Madrid Bull Leaping Society:
The Bull Leaping Society got its name - and founding by two members - at a cafe in Madrid in 1996. At the time, as in the past, Spanish cafe patrons continued a centuries old traditon called a "tertulia" - a discussion group. Cafe Gijon held many of them, as did Cervezeria Aleman - a Hemingway haunt. My hope is that ths group becomes a Web-based, international tertulia that will also make ehemingway.ning.com a destination for those interested in such a group.

Comment by Hijo on April 28, 2008 at 11:17am

Welcome, one and all. Hopefully the group won't even be limited to "writers," but include artists working on other expressions of humanity, such as music, painting, sculpture, dance, photography, even cooking...