The Story Behind This Site
I suppose what spawned the concept for this website was that "one Sunday afternoon" I would have the time and inclination to get serious about my art, and attempt to spin a past time into a livelihood. Creating art has been more a compulsion than a past time, ebbing and flowing to cycles that I had never taken particular notice of, or cared to look at too closely.
I have always also been torn in my preferred method of self-expression, vacilating between writing and "arting" (as my highschool art teacher called it). Heeding my fourth grade teacher's directive, I have never stopped writing.
Art is tactile for me, and so whatever "feels" good, as in a piece of polymer clay in my hand or the effect a color is having on my solar plexus, is how I choose my tools for expression. Words are simply another method for self-expression, and so they also are part of my toolbox of supplies.
I would say that I am a mixed media artist, mostly because I enjoy working in all mediums and, depending upon which mood strikes, will gravitate toward one or the other, though more often than not, these days I incorporate many of them simultaneously into one work.
When I initially launched this site, my intention was to provide a venue for a disciplined focus on the creative process—to embark upon structured projects, a la "The Creative Artist" by Nita Leland or "Writing Down the Bones" by Nathalie Goldberg. My vision was to build a community of artists through my message board, sharing progress and encouragement.
Since then I've discovered a world of art people in both virtual and real neighborhoods, who have provided both a venue and wonderful support for my progression as an artist. The initial inspiration is still an eventual focus of this site, and will come to fruition as I have more time to dedicate to it.
So... I hope you will join me on my journey and return from time to time.
Where I'm Coming From
I was born in Montreal, Canada in 1964 to a set of parents who had emigrated, separately, from Hungary to Canada shortly after the revolution of 1956. My father, Karoly Csicsmann, who was widowed shortly before he met my mother, Gabriella Vajda, in 1959, had been a prisoner of war in Siberia during World War II. He was a young man at the time (born 1924), and spent what some would consider his prime there. My mother, in turn, inherited an instant family when she married my father. By the time I was born in 1964, my sister Irene would be 13 years my senior.
The better part of my life was spent on the suburbs of Montreal, locally known as The South Shore. I learned to speak Hungarian, French and English by the time I was 5 or so, and have always had an innate interest in art. Both my parents were artistically talented. My dad was a machine fitter, and very mechanically inclined, but he drew very well, and was an exceptional draftsman. I found out recently that as a young man, he worked as a metalsmith, turning out artsy miniatures in copper and brass. My mom owned her own dressmaking business in Hungary, and did everything from conception to finishing.
During highschool I discovered that my aptitude for mathematics was minute, and so decided to pursue the two things that didn't require it in the curriculum—art and literature. By the time I was graduating from highschool, I'd determined that I was going to be "an artist" in every discipline—particularly literature and fine art.
After graduating from highschool in 1981, I attended Dawson College the following autumn for one semester, studying fine art. I was somewhat disillusioned on teaching techniques I encountered in college. Some of the teachers were well-known artists and had egos to match, their teaching methods arcane at best. Others were largely dysfunctional, partaking of drugs alongside the students, sharing what would be termed as "Too Much Information" today, some even suicidal. Ahhhh... the tortured artist. My favorite class was printingmaking, probably because I discovered that I had an aptitude for it, but also because the teacher was methodological in her instruction, teaching the process to a finished piece. I was able to translate my sketches into a different, more dramatic medium.
Most of my teens and a good part of my twenties was spent in angst—I was on a tireless quest to discover "the purpose of my life." I wonder, sometimes, how much better my life would have been had I not had such a difficult time discovering who I was and had established a firm direction early on and pursued it with focus.
Much is wasted on the youth, they say, and perhaps this time of my life is exemplary of that. Leaving home and art school for a short stint in an ashram, by September I was re-enrolled in college, and had returned to my parents' home. I could only take core and elective classes, mostly non-art-related as the art program had a set yearly schedule and I would have to wait until January to resume the first year of my program.
This is when I met my first serious boyfriend. The following January, instead of resuming my art studies, I moved out with Roy and left my parents' home, and school, for the final time. I never was able to go back, and so never finished my degree. That didn't curb the desire in me to create art, though, and it has remained a constant companion.
Where I'm Going
As to making a living... the thing that I swore in highschool I'd never do is what I ended up doing for a living—working as a secretary, or office support person for 20+ years now. It's not a very artistic environment, but it has certainly helped develop my left brain, and has provided a reliable and sometimes generous source of income. Every now and again I'll revisit my youthful dreams, and while I've been told by some that when something you love to do as a past time develops into a business (or a means of making a living), the pleasure derived from it diminishes as it becomes a chore, I think I'd like to make my own assessment.
After a year of working as a temporary office worker and simultaneously in the massage industry, I returned to full time office work in April 2005. I am once again at a crossroad and point in time where I need to re-examine and re-invent myself. And to rejoice in the wonderful opportunity that I have been given by having been given this life to live.
As I approach the eve of a new year, I have many aspirations, some of a personal nature and some art-related. I have a series of six canvases that I plan to complete some time next year, with which I hope to approach galleries. I have two story ideas that I've been working on which have for the most part been awaiting my attention. Wish me a fruitful journey!
Adriane Giberson
Irvine, California
December 27, 2005All Rights Reserved © 2003-2006 Adriane Giberson