Who Are the People in Your Neighborhood?

I guess first I should say, that it's taken a long time for this post to appear, because I have been on the road with a rock and roll band since March.  Which inspires many topics for post, but this is the first one.

We went through many small towns and the way down to Texas and back up to New York.  Met many people, slept in many places, and had a variety of situations and experiences.  And I have decided while thinking about creativity and life that "getting to know the locals" is one of the most inspiring things one can do.

This picture is taken from an old-fashioned style printing shop called YeeHaw Industries in Knoxville, TN.  They use the giant presses to do mostly posters/ announcements, but also have a variety of other things for sale.  We happened upon it while killing time, and one of our band members had been there before.  We popped inside and the employees let us go in the back and observe as he ran some of the most gorgeous posters I've ever seen.

I was fascinated with the gears of the old machines, and walls and walls and walls of stamps and plates and letters and numbers.  They ranged in size from large to smaller than the tip of your pinky.  But what's more, I was fascinated with the company's size and magnitude!

Here's an art form that has long been threatened by modern technology, as who doesn't know someone with Photoshop? And yet, here they are, doing it "the old fashioned way", no doubt, at top level. To me it is a great example of people with vision making it work.

It's too easy to get lost in our own heads about how we can NOT accomplish something.  Ask yourself why you can't reach one of your goals  or desires and you can come up with 100 excuses why it can't happen.  Imagine if a friend came to you asking for a loan to open "an old-fashioned printing press?" I think most of us would try to talk that person out of it or dismiss it as an idea that makes no sense.  There seems to be a better, faster, more advanced way to do everything these days, and yet- when you really look at the inner-workings of an art form, it's not a fast process.

My roommate is an artist and has been working on a piece for weeks.  Tiny pieces of paper have been visiting our house.  They escape his room and take little journeys on our socks throughout the hallways.  I'll occasionally find them hopping into the shower, or taking a ride on the cuff of my jeans.  I don't get annoyed, because I love that I live in a house where something is going on.  Recently I asked him to explain the sculpture to me.  I was fascinated by his thought process and the work it would take to get to the finish. (I won't reveal any secrets here!)  Talking to him brought up all kinds of other ideas in me that apply to music.  My psyche was stirred.

It's worth the time, next time you have the opportunity, to take the time to see what someone's craft is, and ask questions.  Maybe you know someone who sews, knits, is a woodworker, or has some other sort of fascinating penchant for the unusual.  Ask if you can visit their studio.  Make a little field trip out of it. Remember Mr. Roger's neighborhood?  I loved the episodes where he'd visit factories and they'd explain how things worked.  Do that again!

It's inspiring to see people in their natural element, and it's good for the soul to see people at work. Find one person in your life or your neighborhood that you can visit.  Most of them will be happy to talk about what they do.  And it could inspire your next great masterpiece!