Creation from chaos

“Creation from chaos is natural. We’ve come to a place where we’ve realized that we have this actual physical need to create things. We’ve discovered that we hate people en masse, we’re sick of homogenized culture, and these realizations have left holes in our hearts. We create to fill those holes, to be able to sleep at night knowing we’ve done something, even a small something, to confront the manufactured culture that is currently being churned out.”

Renee Rigdon

Those who touch base on a regular basis with these mildly mischievous meanderings will be in no doubt as to my personal views with regard to the necessity – the urgency even – of the creative process to the health, happiness and fulfillment of our spirits and souls. Whether or not we might – as Renee Rigdon suggests – actually ‘hate people en masse” it is quite clear that our creativity – shared or solo – enables us to connect with one another on a considerably more intimate and joyful level – to come to know each other through that which matters most to us.

We are blessed in this corner of the world to have a burgeoning arts scene and an abundance of those for whom the practice of creation is woven deeply into their existences. In communities such as these the commercialisation of creation – whilst naturally still a factor in some cases – is of considerably less import that it is in the big cities. You might demur – suggesting perhaps that my spectacles have lenses of a rosy hue – but that is how it seems to me.

This past weekend we entertained The Girl’s mother – she having driven down from Nanaimo and hopped over on the Mill Bay ferry. It was also the weekend of the ArtSea Spring Studio Tour – a community arts council event for which artists local to the northern reaches of the Saanich peninsula open their studios and processes to visitors. We determined to venture forth to discover what might be on offer.

I have made previous mention of MacTavish Academy of Art – which splendid re-purposing of a redundant elementary school is but a short hop from us. They were hosting an eclectic assemblage of artists and crafts-people for whom opening their own premises was not an option and included in that number were friends of ours; a mother and daughter – Wendy and Sarah Simpson – who are both jewellery designers and fabricators. We spend a most happy half-hour with them chewing the fat and investigating the wares on show at the various booths before moving on.

Crossing the peninsula to the west side we visited Jerry Anderson’s wood carving studio, where up to a dozen carvers regularly assemble to create life-size wooden replicas of birds and wildfowl. Mr Anderson had been a boat builder by trade before retirement and he showed us a number of wonderful scale models that he had built – including that of a 45 foot ketch upon which he and his wife had at one time lived.

The Girl’s parents were themselves great sailors and it amused – though not surprised – us to discover that Mr Anderson was well acquainted with the builder of their last traditional wooden sailboat. Like them he and his wife had also been residents for a period on one of the Gulf Islands and we enjoyed a most pleasant conversation that covered birds, boats, island life, shoes, ships and sealing wax – and all manner of other things.

If this gently meandering post can actually be said to have a point I feel sure that it is this: there is something about corners of the world such as these that attract those for whom creativity is a key part of the process of discovering themselves and their relationships with others. For the most part these explorations are carried out with the utmost gentleness and lightness of touch… all of which makes community life is such parts most rewarding and enjoyable.

Much more than this one cannot not reasonably ask…