Dear reader of signs,
Hello to the tenth day observation from my ‘Reading the Signs’ June challenge, an exercise of paying attention with a focus in mind as the day unfolds.
Honestly, I thought of skipping out on Saturday’s observation, as it was a bit of a damp squib. I woke feeling as if a trunk rolled over me, and that probably was a dump trunk of pollen that I inhaled. I like to think that I don’t really suffer from hay fever and then every summer I struggle when the pollen count is very high.
Since I live in the countryside I should expect this. It was also the first grey, miserable day we’d had in weeks.
So I picked a ‘fun’ deck I bought a few years ago, called Art Oracles by Katya Tylevich and Mikkel Sommer. Each card is a famous creative person who made a bit impact in the art world.
The three symbols in the cards stand in life, work, and inspiration with a line that meant to offer some inspiration in that area for the day.
In case you don’t know, Le Corbusier is Charles-Édouard Jeannere (often known as Corbu) a ‘Swiss-French architect, designer, painter, urban planner, writer, and one of the pioneers of what is now regarded as modern architecture.’
Interestingly enough, Corbu’s name had floated across my attention sphere only a few days earlier as I’d read an article about the Japanese architect, Tadao Ando, who was inspired in several ways by Corbu. Ando, like Corbu, didn’t have formal training in architecture, but what he had was a passion for buildings. Their trajectory was the same: they travelled, they studied books on the subject, visited famous building in person and then worked under the guidance of an architect. Ando knew that Corbu had taken the same route as him into architecture and realised it was a possible path he could follow.
This kind of growth into an art form is always interesting to me, because it reminds me that the vital value is curiosity and passion for a subject, not going the expected, formal route.
If you want to read up on Ando, there’s a good article on him in House Beautiful - ‘Who is Japanese Artchitct Tadao Ando?’ I’m not sure if that’s the piece I read, but Ando is having a moment right now because Jay-Z and Beyoncé bought the $200 million seaside mansion in Malibu he designed and there’s another super expensive apartment in Manhattan designed by him up for sale.
While I would only consider myself passingly familiar with architecture and its phases I love looking at buildings. When I’m in a city I’m always gazing up at the structures that give it its identity, and how that shifts and changes as you move through neighbourhoods. In cities, especially London and Manhattan, I love walking and taking public transport where I can enjoy observing the architecture.
Inspiration can arrive from any direction. Keep looking for beauty in the world around you.