The Fortress of Lost Time. Graphite on paper and magazine cutouts. December 28, 2010. Miti and Gianni Aiello.
Genova. Graphite on paper and magazine cutouts. December 27, 2010. Miti and Gianni Aiello.
These collages start with a drawing my father sketches out on thin notebook paper; I then proceed to create possible scenarios.
And this is the conversation at the end of the day with my mother, a retired judge — which i have entitled:
Talking about art with my (practical, realist) mother
[Me , retiring for the night, putting my art paraphernalia away] I’m happy about the collage. It was a good day.
Oh, did you have fun?
Mom, I don’t do art to have fun (recalling an earlier conversation about not turning your passion into an hobby).
But, didn’t you entertain yourself while you did it? Didn’t you stop worrying about other things while you were making it?
No mom, that’s not the point. I am creative. I have to create/work on something everyday.
But what’s the use? Something is useful only if someone appreciates it.
Mom, I appreciate it, then it’s enough. I do it to satisfy myself. The people who read my blog appreciate it. Art doesn’t have to be useful in the pragmatic sense.
Then it’s psychotherapy.
No, mom don’t diminish me, if you think it’s psychotherapy then that means there’s something wrong with me.
But if it benefits you it’s like psychotherapy. Ok, like fitness. Mental fitness…..It’s like writing books.
Mom, art is not about fitness.
But I don’t understand art.
Ok, how about this: I do it for something you don’t understand : for pleasure.
No, I don’t understand it.
It’s okay mom. The world is beautiful because of its variety. (Italian saying: ‘il mondo e’ bello perche’ e’ vario). [Exiting the room].
I love my practical mom! She keeps me and my father out of trouble 😉
sketchbloom.com 
I love this post. I’ve had the same conversation many times with my sister – a nurse practicioner, and her husband – a pharmacist. We have a great relationship, but the conversation never goes well.
I can always hear the words they think but will not say:
“You draw things that other people will make. Sometimes you make your own things, but only small things. Nothing of consequence. It’s not like you’re saving lives. It’s not like you are doing something meaningful.”
Of course I disagree. Places and objects are meaningful. They are useful, sometimes practical, hopefully beautiful. My calling is a few steps higher on Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, but it is a Calling. It’s not just what I do, it’s who I am.
They picked majors based on high salary and easy classes. They have jobs that they can’t wait to leave at 5:00. I have a career that I look forward to each day. I shouldn’t expect them to understand.
Occasionally I let it get to me – their polite and loving downward gaze. I feel better when I remind myself of the real truth: the Pharmacist sells drugs and candy at a convenience store and the Nurse props up pillows for people who will not remember her name. They try to educate patients and ease their pain, but in the long run, all of their patients still die. I create things of lasting beauty. I am building and rebuilding the city. I am slowly creating a world for generations of people. I am doing something meaningful.
It’s a Calling. It’s not just what I do, it’s who I am.
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Ryan, your comment brings up many issues.
First ,though, I want to say that here my mom does not sound as she really is: *the* most supportive mom ever, when it comes to me being happy and doing what I love for a career. I think art and blogging is more difficult to ‘justify’ than architecture and teaching — and my motivation for doing art and blogging it is what my mom was trying to understand…(what do you do it for?).
Moo
I send her my printed blog periodically and she always says she is impressed…I think she was trying to find out what were the non-financial reasons that move me to do art and keep a blog. She has been incredibly supportive of what I do and who I am, it is rather my father who has until recently opposed my decision to teach, wanting me to pursue a traditional office architecture career, even though he was an artist, among other things, when he was young (used to hang out at the Accademia di Belle Arti in Venice).
He is finally more accepting now, probably cause he sees me happy and that it is now a fulltime career.
As for your sister and brother in law, it seems that there is a non-understanding or perhaps non-appreciation of what architecture is (and can be) and what architects do. This is very common, we all know what doctors, pharmacists, nurses (and lawyers) do, because their professions interact daily with the public at large and from the media. What architects do is more obscure, especially urban designers, or ‘artistic’ architects like you and me (I remember college days!)…it takes a creative mind that appreciates the power of conceptualization, of vision.
Comparing professions I think is counterproductive. One just needs to understand that most people equate personal success with financial, material wealth, while me and you equate it with the freedom of doing what we love and just need to support ourselves. I always say I will take time over money.
If it is the profession of architecture that your sister and brother do not value or understand, even when it leads to wealth (I.e ‘you do not save lives’) that is a different story. Once again, ‘il mondo e’ bello perche’ e’ vario’.
You know who you are,Ryan and know that it is more encompassing than what you do. I hate to sound elitist, but some professions do not lead to the same enlightenment , or attract the same devotion as the arts and architecture. What I am trying to say is: I see friends in other professions ‘clocking out’ at five, or pursuing elaborate evening and weekend revelries to escape the dreariness and boredom of their (well-paid) jobs. We return to architecture and art again, again, and again. They are a way of life, there is only a fluid continuum between ‘daytime’ job and nightime dreams. We are like passionate monks.
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[…] or prompt him to start on some art project. Inevitably, we end up collaborating…here, here and here . For years, these times were the only way we could spend hours together without […]
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