William Kluba - Where Does Art Come From?: How to Find Inspiration and Ideas

Copyright 2014 by William Kluba

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Cover design by Mary Belibasakis

Cover art by William Kluba

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available on file.

ISBN: 978-1-62153-402-0

Printed in the United States of America

For all those who have the courage to follow their hearts,

in the process finding out who they really are.

It is never easy,

but it is fun.

To my mother, who, one summer night when I was very young, sat us down under a

pine tree in our rural Wisconsin yard and said,

Now think of nothing.

I went as far as my mind would allow.

My mind was blown.

To my daughter, who makes me laugh again and again and inspires me.

To all the teachers, formal and informal, who open doors for us.

I bestow immense gratitude upon you.

Thank you to Faith for listening with a wise ear and generosity, Michael David for your beautiful heart, Brainard for all your advice and help, Tad for taking a risk on me, Cathryn for your support, Hunter for the great photographs, and Mother Nature for being the best teacher of all, and the inner spirit who motivates from within us.

William Kluba

ACKNOWLEDGE THE GIFTS YOU DONT KNOW YOU HAVE

H AVE YOU EVER EXPERIENCED THE SENSE THAT something you are learning comes very easily and naturally? You may have had no prior clue about this subject that suddenly becomes very important to you. So, what happened during those moments? You realized you have a deep affinity with something and you have no reasonable explanation as to why you have this connection. I have had many moments of inspiration through connecting to my inner muse.

I never planned on being an artist. In fact, it was the farthest thing from my mind. In many cases artistic sensibilities carry over in families. Youve heard of generations of musicians, actors, and artists that handed down creativity. That wasnt the case for me. When I enrolled in college, not one person in my immediate family had any artistic knowledge, or for that matter any visible artistic abilities. I didnt have the slightest thought that I had any artistic gift or inclination toward artistic pursuit.

So how did I become an artist? I can trace the path back to two single events that had huge influences on me at that time.

MY STORY

The first event took place in the second grade when our teacher had us make a card for the holidays. She gave everyone a toothbrush, some dark blue paper, and some white paint. We dipped the toothbrush into the white paint and made swishing white marks on that deep blue paper. She wanted us to create what appeared to be a snow-covered branchprobably a fir treebut what engaged me was the way the white paint made the blue paper come alive and the way the bristles made a much more interesting line than a pencil! I had unconsciously discovered contrast, tone, and line quality, yet I had no words to describe the effect. I didnt revisit this experience until I was deep into my college years, when I realized my art career began that day in the second grade.

The next event occurred when my father bought a paint-by-number set. Each night he would take some time and lay out his materials on the dining room table. I watched him fill in the tiny little spaces with patterns of colored oil paint and saw the image begin to emerge. What struck me wasnt the image per se, but the scent of the paint itself and the beauty of the color. At that moment, oil paint became an indelible part of my DNA, lying dormant until a few decades later when I started my first painting class.

We all have these momentary exposures, situations, events, and experiences that can trigger other positive experiences later in life. If we dont act upon them we risk losing them forever (or at least suppressing them until something else comes along and reactivates them).

When I began taking art classes in college I certainly was not the one with any obvious special talent. There were those in my classes who, in my estimation, were incredibly skilled, well beyond what I understood. I was the quiet one who had no idea where to begin. I had my desire and nothing else to propel me forward.

As a side note, I never took an art class in high school, because in junior high an art teacher disliked my way of drawing. I would look around the room at the other student drawings and thought mine were pretty good, yet he consistently gave me Cs.

Fortunately, I had a strong inner feeling that he was wrong and that I shouldnt listen to him. Following this thought, I continued to draw on my own. But I didnt take any art classes until college, not wanting to be misjudged.

My advice? Be courageous when your inner feelings are directing you. You never know what might be revealed to you.

In fact, I started college thinking that I would become a scientist or something associated with math, so I filled my first semester with all academic classes. I didnt have a major, but my girlfriend at the time said, Youre really good at art. This had not even occurred to me. I had created a little cartoon character that amused my friends and me, so I assumed that was what she was referring to. After she told me that, I realized it felt right. When my academic advisor asked what I was interested in, the previous evenings conversation came to mind and out popped art. He asked, Well, why arent you taking any art courses? So we revamped my schedule to include two classes.

I made little progress in that first year of art school, until one day in a life-drawing class I made a huge breakthrough. I actually understood how a shadow was drawn on a two-dimensional surface. It amazed me how that shadow made the robe on the model jump off the page to create this astonishing three-dimensional illusion.

In that moment, desire met technical and visual awareness for the very first time. Whats the connection here? Paying attention to your inner reactions, feelings, and insights can lift you into higher and higher realms of creativity. That same excitement I had experienced with oil paint when I was young repeated itself in this drawing experience. That same Aha! moment occurred again, except on an entirely different level, one that I was completely aware of. But the feeling was exactly the same. The combination of seeing a possibility and feeling its accompanying excitement became a benchmark for my entire artistic career.

CONNECTING

Now, at this moment, realize that there is something creative in you that you dont know exists. For the time being, all you need to do is admit there is something there. Believe me; its a big step. Moving forward, immersing yourself in the world of creativity, takes confidence. I cant prove it to you, and you cant either. You have to trusteven if there is a tape (or in this age an MPEG file) playing in your mind that says, I cant do this; Im not the least bit creative, or the old clich, I cant draw a straight line. Well, who wants to draw a straight line anyway? Thats what rulers are for.