By Leandra Ulmer

 

“To be sure, no human being has ever really seen everything that lies visibly in front of his eyes.”

Josef Pieper, Only the Lover Sings

Upon first reading these words about ten years ago, I was deeply struck by them. I also received them as a challenge. How much has been right in front of me all of my life that I have not seen? Of course, there is a figurative sense of “sight” as well as the literal sense, and the two mirror each other; but as someone who loves to draw, I wanted to take this idea and apply it to the creative process. Over time, I have come to view this process in three stages.

The first stage is seeing. I agree with Pieper that we do not usually see what is right in front of us. To draw anything, we must first learn to observe the world around us with openness and attention. In my experience, this kind of sight usually begins with admiration. When I admire something, I start to look at it more carefully, and the longer I look, the more I see. An artist who draws from life often spends long hours observing the same subject. This may sound boring, but little by little the subject turns over its secrets—the subtle textures, the reflected light, the solid form standing in perfect balance—in the end, what seemed at first a simple scene is actually too much visual information to take in.

That brings us to the second stage of the creative act: interpretation. The artist’s job doesn’t end with seeing. An artist interacts with the visual world in a way that requires making decisions about what to include or exclude and emphasize or minimize. When drawing or painting, it quickly becomes evident that you cannot include every visual detail you see, so the artist gets to curate, or interpret, the information until it becomes something that appears satisfying on the page. This action can be done more or less skillfully and is a stage when technical training becomes a great advantage. During this stage, an artist also develops a personal style, and imagination and memory play an important role.

Once a beautiful artwork is produced, the artist’s job remains unfinished. The third and final stage in the creative act is relation. An artwork has not fulfilled its purpose until it is seen by someone else—we create with the hopeful expectation of relating a message. Learning to see and learning to interpret information is certainly edifying for the artist, but the “good news” is not meant to stop at the person who learns it—it is meant to be shared!

In addition to being an artist, I am also a third-grade teacher, and I believe that this principle applies to teaching. What we learn is not meant to stop at us; it is meant to be taught. If water is stagnant for too long, all kinds of harmful bacteria start to grow in it, and it becomes a hazard to its environment. A river, on the other hand, always moves and flows toward lower ground, spreading nutrients to sustain life. We should all seek to be part of a life-sustaining cycle—to give in some way what we receive, so we can encourage life and growth in those around us.

In all cases: we cannot give without first drawing from the source of everlasting life; and we cannot draw, unless we first learn to see.

“Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.”

John 7:38

Leandra Ulmer is a local Catholic artist who grew up in Wilmington, Ohio and studied theology at Our Lady Seat of Wisdom and Sacred Art at The Sacred Art School in Florence, Italy. She is currently working as a third-grade teacher at St. Gertrude School in Madeira, Ohio and spends her summers travelling and painting.