Art is everywhere, if you choose to look.
Lately, as the weather becomes a slightly more pleasurable each day, I am taking the opportunity to get back out on the streets of Toronto to observe what really happens here.
Last Thursday, on the way to an appointment, I was fortunate to notice something I had never seen before.
Just about any day you’ll find Ross Ward hunched over on Yonge Street tending to his art. The ‘Birdman of Toronto’ has been a fixture on these streets in various locations for well over a decade, and during each day he crafts, and sells, palm-sized birds.
Once only a hobby — this is now more than whittling — Ward carves out shapes of common birds from reclaimed wood. There is always a piece in progress, and always a small flock for sale on his concrete workspace.
Perhaps in our day-to-day journeys, we don’t look close enough at all the people. We don’t often observe enough to see art just happening here and there on our landscape. I’ve wandered this street how many times and only last week did I notice the man. I saw him again on the weekend.
Appreciating the beauty of his work, I bought a bird as a gift for someone . . . or maybe a souvenir for myself to one day remember my time in this city.
Couldn’t we all use more memorable hand-made art?
Opinion
I love opinion, even those I don’t agree with.
A good opinion shows character; and I mean a ‘good’ opinion not by right or wrong (or whether I agree with it) but by how it is expressed.
If a point of view is presented succinctly, mindfully, with conviction and personal belief, I can respect it (even if I don’t like it).
It is the wishy-washy opinions — those peppered with anecdote, references to assorted documents and dogma, quoting the views of others or reading off the script — that I have problems with. They are disingenuous, often cluttered, or conveniently slip off-topic by introducing argument and unrelated angles, as if they are not entirely certain.
I would prefer someone express no opinion than one that is half-assed or not fully thought out.
Say what YOU mean, but mean what YOU say: that is opinion.
It says what you stand for.
I’m of the opinion that if you listen to the opinions of others you will learn something.
If you listen to others, your personal point of view will be expanded, maybe even altered, or you will become more certain of your stance than ever before.
05/17/2019 j.g.l.