Author sara genn

Letters Untitled watercolour by Henry Darger (1892-1973), a Chicago hospital custodian whose 15,145-page, single-spaced fantasy manuscript called The Story of the Vivian Girls, in What Is Known as the Realms of the Unreal, of the Glandeco-Angelinian War Storm, Caused by the Child Slave Rebellion, along with several hundred drawings and watercolor paintings illustrating the story were discovered posthumously in his apartment.
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Tania Bourne wrote to ask if it’s possible to hold down a day job and build her career in art at the same time. The question keeps turning up. Here’s my take on it:

There seems to be some argument for the idea that the more you do — the better you do. There’s also the idea that if you want something done soon and well — you ask a busy person. That said, the practice of art requires a sort of tranquil contemplation as well as energetic execution. How do you pull off tranquility and energy after a rough day in the office or the frazzle of traffic?

Letters The Institute of Reconciliation, 2019 by Oscar Murillo (b. 1986)
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Dear Artist, I recently read about a new online platform where every artist shares in…

Letters Deep Forest, c. 1931 oil on canvas by Emily Carr
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Dear Artist, Yesterday, Charlotte Hussey wrote, “I’m not a painter, but a poet. I’m writing…

Letters Robert E. Lee confederate Monument, Richmond VIrgina, May 29, 1890 Granite and bronze by Antonin Mercié Repurposed and pending removal, July 2020
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Recently, a group of art conservators were discussing the removal of monuments. “As a person invested in culture,” said one, “I have really conflicted feelings.” “Every public monument is an instrument of power,” said someone else. “Let’s put them in a museum with blurbs about their re-examined context,” said another. “Like the Berlin Wall, watching them tumble is terribly exciting,” said another. “But,” said someone else, “the sculptural rendering of that horse’s flank is magnificent!”

Letters Nonchaloir (Repose), 1911 oil on canvas 63.8 x 76.2 cm by John Singer Sargent
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Dear Artist, A subscriber wrote, “I have a bad habit of overworking a painting. I…

Letters Study for Entanglements, 2019 Kozo paper, ink, china marker, aerosol paint 200 × 100 inches by Kentura Davis (b. 1984)
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Growing up, my Dad used to casually throw out an idiom that went, “There’s no such thing as undiscovered genius.” Over time, as my brothers and I embarked on slow-burning careers in the arts, we internalized his words as a call to work as hard as possible. We fleshed out this ethic with another favourite family strap-line: “Keep busy while waiting for something to happen.”

Letters Blocks and Strips Work-Clothes Quilt, c. 1950s Denim and cotton twill 87 x 66 inches by Emma Lee Pettway Campbell (1928-2002)
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Along the Alabama River just south of Selma, there’s a horseshoe-shaped turn resembling an inland island, where a cotton plantation once stood. In 1816, 18 slaves were brought to this bend by a man named Gee from North Carolina. A generation later, his cousin, Pettway, took over the plantation and brought more slaves — one of them, Dinah Miller, brought to the United States on a slave ship in 1859, has descendants living there today. When the last remaining African American slaves were emancipated on June 19th, 1865, many from the Pettway plantation, who now also went by the name of Pettway, continued to work there as sharecroppers.

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