After graduating college, and finding myself back in the real world again, I have been struggling with mixed feelings. Though the celebrating is over, and it is supposed to be a happy time, I find myself at odds with the loss of my artistic community. The ambitions I have always had are learning how to live with the new ambitions I have developed after being free from school. Not having that close group of friends I had everyday, I have to cope on my own and hope to discover who I am artistically even more.
With my latest projects, I have found myself drawn to limbs. This might reflect my feelings of lost community.
Hands reaching out to grab something, whether it be the past, or the future.
Working again with music has made me happy again. The band Violet Isle’s sound has always been a difficult one for me to transfer over into a visual aesthetic. In considering how they create their music, and the common themes their complex lyrics hold, I decided going back to something organic was the best way to go.
The magazine Bohemia, from Texas, contacted me to create a spot for a piece of poetry in an upcoming issue. The poem is beautiful and I’m really happy I could create something visually for it:
Graying in My Life
By Michael Lee Johnson (Edmonton, Alberta)
Graying in
my life
growing old
like a stagnant
bucket of
rain water with moss
floating on the top-
Oh, it’s not such
a bad deal,
except when
loneliness
catches you
chilled in the
middle of a sentence
by yourself-
ticking away
like an old grandfather clock,
hands stretched straight in the air
striking midnight
like a final
prayer.
My goals are to keep the habit of drawing and pursue my dreams of being a creative soul for the rest of my life. If I manage to be successful at that, then I will always see myself as satisfied.
