Art Letters from Mione

Art Letters

October 24, 2024

It’s beginning to feel like breakthroughs are coming, and things are becoming more clear.

I’m noticing however, soon after I settle in and think, oh now I “get it,” I am met, yet again, with another lesson, another level.

When do they stop? Where’s the summit? When do we hang out and chill?

Then this popped up in my feed:

These four rules stood out the most. You will learn lessons. There are no mistakes, only lessons. A lesson is repeated until it’s learned. Learning lessons doesn’t end.

Since exploring how to make an ellipse in my previous artwork, I’ve been curious to work with them again. The union between two very different things - a rectangle and a circle.

I started questioning what a series of shapes could look like, each allowed to take their own form, while maintaining something in common - their area.

I started with a square, my buddy. So crisp with his right angles. 16” x 16”, it’s area 256 sq inches.
Next, a rectangle with an area of 256.
Then, a rounded rectangle with an area of 256.
Next, an ellipse with an area of 256.
And finally, a circle with an area of 256.

Starting with their area - I then worked backwards to calculate their dimensions, and draw their forms.

To help me visualize the progression and transformation from one shape to the next, I decided to superimpose the new shape on the previous shape. Each individual shape with the same 256 inch area, but now in a different form.

Even while moving on to the next shape, the next lesson, I wanted to keep the reminder of the previous shape. Something now part of me, integrated, an ally in embracing the next shape shift.

The rectangle (shown in light peach and peach) shares the same area as it’s predecessor, the square.

Some shifts seem very slight and small, like the transition from rectangle (peach) to rounded rectangle (purple).

And some shifts seem more dramatic and obvious, like ellipse to circle.

Each transition, whether subtle or grand, leads to the next. A life coach once shared, “the next step isn’t always the sexy step.”

While the processes of calculating, drawing, sawing and sanding had their moments - there were two steps that took me out of my zone.

When I was heading out to buy paints for this work, something told me to stop. Instead I found myself going through my existing supplies.

It took several iterations to select, mix and blend to create the colors I wanted.

The point this time perhaps - in order to get to the next step - was to use what I already had. The resources already within my studio / within myself.

I hit my next major roadblock when it came time to select the final piece in the series.

While I knew I wanted it to be a circle - it’s softened edges, its infinite loop, the perfect visual progression from square to circle - something told me this circle wasn’t my real destination.

I returned to rule #5. Learning lessons does not end; they keep going as we keep going. Perfect in their time.

Rather than feeling like a constant self-improvement project, rule #5 brings some comfort and humbling ease - that lessons and growth are part of the natural rhythm. That I don’t need to hurry up and get “there”, that I can accept myself where I am at this time, as I am. That the next lesson will appear in it’s time, and I will be equipped, with all my previous forms, to learn through it.

The presence of new challenges or lessons is not a symbol of failure, but of growth.

It became clear then, this work wouldn’t conclude with a circle. Instead I chose to accompany him with a new square atop. May the lessons continue. May we begin again.

THERE WILL BE LESSONS
104 x 27 Acrylic and Resin on Wood Panels (Hexaptych)
mioneplant.com

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Thank you for personally connecting with me through this work. Way to keep going, and way to keep growing.

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