Art recognises no boundaries…..

It’s true I think, that there are no borders, no boundaries when it comes to the arts. When you hear a beautiful piece of music on the radio or your stereo, you are not seeing the person playing it, you are hearing the sound. The vocals, the instruments are left to our imagination because it’s the sound that touches us, fills our soul. Seeing a beautiful painting or sculpture that fills us with a sense of wonder does not depend on the person who created it, we just know how we feel when we look at it. There is no issue with language or culture or religion, there is just beauty. Listening to music from other cultures taught me to hear sound differently, to enjoy cultures that I would probably never meet through their sound. It takes time for usto enable our mind to accept the different sounds or frequencies from the foreign instruments (or even the vocals), but it has been a very worthwhile journey for me. Music is amazing, art is amazing!

I was told the other day that it was not alright for me to hide in a cave. Echoes of Grandma Grizzly coming to remind me of her advice to live among people. He said that it may have been ok to hide in a cave in Canada, but not here, I have been ashamed of who I am for too long and it has made me sad, believing that I have not done enough. It is time to be part of the community, share myself, for instance, by sharing my art. It was suggested that I just sit on the corner down the road and draw. Soon someone would come to watch and then I could pass them a page and some crayons and we could draw or colour together. The language won’t matter, just the action of being with the people. I wanted to say that no, I cannot come out of my cave, that I am too frightened to let anyone see me, know me. I told him that I was afraid they made me into a monster (this family that raised me), that this was what I would see reflected in their eyes, it was better to be alone. But in his gentle, kind and very patient way, he reminded me that I have a beautiful soul, that my heritage is beautiful and I must be proud of who I am. This will also give my ancestors peace, to see me become whole.

So yesterday, we went on an adventure, one we planned all week, to see Condor and his beautiful family. They were having a food event happening over 4 days and we were curious. We really did not know what to expect but La Esperanza is a beautiful area and a place we enjoy visiting. We took the bus, transferring in Ibarra, the round trip for six people costing us less than $5.00 for the 2 hour ride. Pretty amazing!! The buses were packed with people going to and from the many places along the way (perhaps greyhound could have taken a lesson on how to fill the buses). It was raining a beautiful light rain off and on for our journey with the sun coming out shortly after arriving at their home. I had a really nice walk with Condors brother to a ravine not far from their home, which Patrick had just captured on his drone camera. This ravine seemed to be formed because of an earthquake, very deep with sheer walls forming an uneven pattern across the valley.

While waiting for the chef (Condor’s beautiful wife) to arrive and begin cooking our meal, I suddenly remembered my friends words to share the artwork. Although I was in the home of an amazing artist, I had brought them a copy of my colouring book on the last visit, but they did not have crayons or felt pens. So on this trip I brought a big container of crayons, pastels (which they had not seen before) and felt pens, plus a selection of colouring pages from my market/teaching days.

    I’m , not sure who this young boy is or where he came from, he just was curious about what we were doing and then decided to join us. Words from yesterday tapping me on the forehead, making me smile. He was very unsure of how to start, so despite our inability to understand each other, we found a way. The girls all spoke Spanish and English and our Spanish teacher came with us also. So we found a way to give him comfort and then had a wonderful shared experience. He did a great job.

    There were 3 young ladies with us who were from Germany, volunteering at the schools, teaching English. They will be for a year I believe, and are staying with the brother of the man we are living with at the moment. This was how we met. So I introduced the idea, set out the pages and tub of crayons and they jumped in. At first, they were intimidated, as many are to my surprise, afraid to make a mistake or do a bad job. But I believe there are no mistakes when colouring or drawing, just new concepts or ideas. I am always thrilled to see how someone else develops their ideas on my artwork – it is wonderful to see. Even Condor joined in, sharing his skills, with new ideas jumping into his mind which I will share at a later date. It is an idea I am very excited about which will definitely give me some time sharing in the community.

 Condor added little designs into the image, making it more interesting and unique. I turned around at one point to find Blanca (Condor’s wife) looking at me. She waved and spoke in Quichua, so I did not understand. She was pointing at me while saying this and so I worried I had offended her in some way. (This is very typical for me to assume the worst first) Condor understood though and in his very broken English told me that she wants to learn to paint. She lives with an amazing artist, but when she saw my work, she decided that she wanted to learn to paint. I felt a bit shocked when I realized what she was saying, it was difficult to comprehend. I felt this was a great compliment and even as I write it today, it is amazing to me.

It’s hard to explain how much pleasure I got from watching this table of people I barely knew enjoy this gift that has helped me to heal for many years. This has been a gift allowing me to grow and learn about myself at a very deep level. It has been something that saved my life really. My heart was very full of love and happiness, so much so that I had to step outside for a few minutes to enjoy the sun on my face. It was as though I was too big for the room suddenly, and understanding came as I listened to the voices (one so many years ago, one only yesterday) of those who could see something in me that I was unable to accept.

       The final result of our afternoon. I believe they did a beautiful job!!!

And I must not forget to show little Malki, who we brought to the family on the day we climbed Imbabura. He was curled up at the chair between me and the young boy beside me, sleeping comfortable. Obviously a very happy little guy, I was happy to see him…..

We had a beautiful meal of fresh trout, caught locally, fresh vegetables stir fried, a cob of corn and beans(not sure which kind, there are many here), with a slice of zucchini cake for desert, coffe or tea. Before and during the meal, we also enjoyed a lovely glass of fresh pineapple juice mixed with fresh basil, a lovely combination, very satisfying and refreshing! It cost us $40.00 for the six of us, so about $6.50/person. The juice alone would have cost us more than that at home, so we left with full bellies and much gratitude walking down the cobblestone road bringing us to the bus stop. We were all peaceful and happy as we prepared to take the long bus ride home. There was a gentle rain as we rode home as well, the corn and beans planted months ago happy to get the water to grow tall and produce the food needed for each community.

It was a truly wonderful day, one which will stay with me for a very long time.