Scribbles and Bits

I've had a little bit of stage fright about beginning this art blog for the Tyler Star News.  Then again, I often have a little bit of stage fright about art.

The funny thing is that I am an artist. I grew up in Tyler City, went to A.I. Boreman, Ellsworth Middle School, and graduated from Tyler County High School in 1987.  When I went off to college (first at Fairmont State, and then at WVU) I studied art.  If you asked my classmates from TCHS about me, they'd probably say I was the one who was always drawing pictures.

Here's a fact: I always felt pretty confident about my artistic abilities until I went off to art school.  I learned a lot in college, it's true, but I also came face to face, for the first time, with strong criticism, self-doubt, and fear (mostly, that I wouldn't be "good enough"). In other words, in many ways art school was pretty humbling.

It was so humbling that, after leaving it, I didn't draw or paint again for many years. I simply had no desire to even try. One of my goals, when I did get back into my art, has been to encourage others to draw and paint as well.  I am working to achieve this goal by volunteering at AIB, whenever I can, and working with the elementary school students.

Art -- and music -- instruction in the schools, especially at the elementary level, is so vitally important.  I, like so many others in the community, am so saddened to see that the music program is being scaled back.  There is already no formal art education at the elementary school level -- at least at AIB there isn't -- and with the reduction of the music program I only see that going in a negative direction.

The creative arts are as beneficial to the students as English and math; they are another form of communication, a form that can be as relaxing as recess and possibly even more productive. I'm in no way suggesting that the kids don't need recess, but a world without creative arts is a pretty cold world indeed.

But I'll get off of my soapbox for the moment.

Now that I am back in Tyler County again I have been working on a series of drawings and paintings of our beautiful hometown.   There is so much in this county to love and admire and when seeking out lovely subjects, I want to show that we need look no further than our own backyards...

Thank you for reading, and perhaps you will find something to enjoy here from time to time as well.

~Sharon