Yes, this is Mahatma Gandhi! My friend, Maggie Stern, made him from clumps of felted wool. I don’t know how she did this except to say that I have seen her poke clumps of wool with a needle. Maggie is in our Saturday Morning Drawing Club in which we draw and make various experiments with visual expression. We’re explorers. I set up the exercises but we make no effort to draw like Rembrandt or even David Hockney, wondrous as those artists are. We do look at them, and other artists, for inspiration but that’s all. The club is just a place where artists can get inspired by art, by each other and mostly by their own explorations. We never critique work; we just look and try to see the strength in what each person does. We just allow ourselves to be where we are. The idea is when we recognize and appreciate our strengths, we overcome all weakness.
A few weeks ago, we spent the whole morning drawing Mahatma Gandhi from photographs because our art communicates what we care about and says something about it. Gandhi’s nonviolent intervention for India’s independence and peace is a true inspiration that we might look more closely at in our world of conflict. For me, the most luminous and vital art arises from our core selves, that place in all of us that is beyond our shadow selves. Gandhi knew this place which is why he chose a peaceful path. The core really is the place of love. He did not attack but held firm to the truth that all life has value and led through this wisdom. “A coward,” he said, “is incapable of exhibiting love; it is the prerogative of the brave.”
So, on our Gandhi morning, we all drew this brave, brave man. And then, later, Maggie made this wondrous figure out of wool. I love, love, love it! Yes, because it is of Mahatma Gandhi and because it comes from one beautiful artist who knows how to simply be herself. No small accomplishment! To imbue Gandhi with a sense of playful fun is pure inspiration. Just brilliant. I’m deeply honored that woolly Mahatma Gandhi now resides in my house—he lights us up! Thank you, Maggie—brave artist that you are!
