Creating my own World • by Jenny Hernandez

I love the idea of “folk art” because it’s so forgiving and the emphasis is on the usefulness and handmade character of the art. I would consider myself a Folk Artisan. I love creating three-dimensional work and my medium of choice is usually paper clay and/or papier mâché, although I still dabble in polymer clay from time to time. Art has been part of my life since I was old enough to hold a crayon and has always been integral to stories for me.

Childhood Creating
When I was a little girl, I liked to write my own stories and illustrate them, or I would illustrate a classic story like Cinderella. I remember always wanting to try and create my own colors and attempted to do so by blending different colors out of the crayon box. I first started sculpting when I got into dollhouses. Beatrix Potter had a great influence on me, and I wanted my dollhouse to be populated with dolls and fake food just like the one in The Tale of Two Bad Mice. So I started making miniature food and people out of salt dough. When little, art was usually a solitary endeavor, but when I got into high school I started the experiencing the joy of creating alongside a friend. I had a great group of co-ed creative pals and one night, for fun, we decided to buy a 20 lb. bag of earthenware clay and we sculpted all night long in one of the kid’s dining rooms. We made some interesting sculptures and let’s just say her mom wasn’t totally pleased at the mess we made, but it’s one of the best memories I have of high school.

For me, there has never been a time that I haven’t been engaged in some sort of creative endeavor, although the medium has changed over the years.

Ideas at the Best Times
When I create work just for myself it definitely has the tendency to reflect my love of all things vintage and colorful. I have a room in my house that is filled with everything I love and no decorating rules. This is also where I create. On one wall the room is lined with bookshelves and filled with books both old and new, fiction and non-fiction, in a corner an old dollhouse stands begging to be restored, a colorful antique yo-yo quilt covers the edge of the sofa and old toys and graphics are everywhere. These days I am inspired by old illustration and when discovering the wonderful art of a children’s book illustrated 60 years ago, I want to drop everything and reinterpret those images in clay immediately. I sometimes will also get flashes of inspiration while driving. I am a doodler, and I will usually carry around a small notebook so that I can capture the drawing of the idea to be sculpted later. Because I attend a lot of long meetings for work, I find many of my best ideas for art come while in the meeting itself, and my meeting notes will be peppered with doodles and illustrations for my next project.

A Benefit to my Spirit
I think that I instinctively turned to art making as a child whenever I felt sad or lonely. I still do this as an adult, although it is definitely not as instinctive to make art when I am fretting over something, and much like a run, I make myself begin the process because I know how it benefits my spirit afterward. There is that knowledge of how much the creative process lifts my spirits and makes me forget about the everyday anxieties and disappointments that we are all faced with.

As an adult, joy is what fuels my art and I think that emotion is reflected in my finished pieces. My best work happens when I am most aware of the gift and pleasure of just being here on earth that particular day.

When I teach, there is almost a tangible joy that permeates the classroom as my students bring a lump of clay to whimsical life. Several students have remarked about how calm and happy they feel when sculpting, even claiming that the creative process has lowered their blood pressure! What a better place our world would be if everyone took a little time to create. Perhaps the CDC should investigate the health benefits of creating and make recommendations for art time in the same that recommendations for exercise time are made.

My Creative Saving Outlet
Reflecting back to that time when I was a child making dollhouse people or illustrating stories, I think that art was saving me from the dreaded abyss of loneliness, and therefore, preventing me from turning to an outside substance or unhealthy friendship to fill the void. Even if there was no one to play with, I could create a world in both story and visually, populated with characters and adventures. I can’t imagine not being able to escape in this way. In my work life and in my personal life I have seen the result of individuals ravaged by addiction to drugs or alcohol, and I have often wondered if they had found a creative outlet to deal with their sadness and anxiety, could they not have avoided the addiction.

To learn more about Jenny Hernandez, visit thepolkadotpixie.blogspot.com.

Comments

[Candylei]

Hi: Your sculptures are adorable. (I can imagine how thrilled your students must be in class.) I had to link over to your blog and you use the sweetest colors on all of your sculpted pieces. Thank you for opening your heart and sharing with all of us here. I love Jenny's blog and especially how she brings us all together to share and learn from each other.
Congratulations,
Candylei