Walton Ford: A Time to Gather and a Time to Create

I am a Walton Ford watcher and admirer over the last few years since I first saw his work.

Internet Fair Use - Walton Ford

His work is a surreal adaptation of a John James Audubon style.

Cruising the web and found this New York Academy of Arts Walden Ford Address and speaks to me today.

"... This is a time of gathering. You're gathering ingredients. I want you to think of this time as the time at a farmer's market.

You have a basket. You are looking around. What do you like to eat? What looks fresh? What’s available? Just gather stuff. Put it in your basket. That's the first step and in many ways, the most important step in making something delicious to eat later. So don't rush it. Enjoy this process. Steal a grape, you know? Look carefully, squeeze, taste, smell you know? While you're at the market, does it make sense to beat yourself up for not being in the kitchen? For not plating a completed meal? Common sense says it's not time yet. You are gathering, pick up a nice tomato. It's not time to open a restaurant. You are gathering. Smell that melon. Is it ripe? It's not time yet to write a cookbook.

Every artist has times of gathering and times of creation. The really great and fortunate artists have several times of gathering and creating, alternating times of creating where it all comes together and you have a body of work to do. But every single artist starts out with an extended time of concentrated gathering. So take your time at this great farmer's market. You're going to museums, galleries, book stores, searching the web, taking suggestions, watching films, hitting the streets, catching live music, theater-- you're gathering, gathering. Finding your heroes, finding your mentors, finding your nemeses.

And this is your job. Cook it all up later and then you'll know. You'll follow the recipes for a bit, but you don't need to write your own recipes for a while. There is time for all that. Life is long.

But this advice to slow down and enjoy the gathering time is not to diminish the urgency of what can be done with your gifts. The education that you have begun, this intense seeing, this mastery of these ancient mediums, this humanistic study of nature, this process of gathering, this education of beauty, what a rare thing in today's world.

 
And there is proof of this rarity. Just get in the car and take a drive. If you drive up or down the east coast on a major route and you look out the window at the banality of the giant, urban, mega, strip mall that uber city that we call Bos/Wash, Boston to Washington, look out the window it’s pretty banal. It’s a wasteland. Beauty, craft, design, are in short supply. There is plenty of horror, ugliness, and banality out there. But.... you have touched on the cure. You’ve touched on an education that pushes back with everything that makes humanity okay."

 Internet Fair Use - Walton Ford Passenger Pigeon

 Internet Fair Use- Walton Ford Crocodile

 Internet Fair Use - Walton Ford Tiger Profile

 Internet Fair Use - Walton Ford Leopard and Bull

 Internet Fair Use - Walton Ford Moose

 Internet Fair Use - Walton Ford Stalking Tiger

 Internet Fair Use - Walton Ford Tiger and Lion

 Internet Fair Use - Walton Ford Bull

 Internet Fair Use - Walton Ford Barbary Lion

 Internet Fair Use -  Walton Ford Rhinocerous

 Internet Fair Use - Walton Ford Parrot

Internet Fair Use - Walton Ford Black Wolf 

 Internet Fair Use - Walton Ford Tiger

 Internet Fair Use - Walton Ford Cobra and Mongoose

 Internet Fair Use - Walton Ford Wolves

 Internet Fair Use - Walton Ford Fish

 Internet Fair Use - Walton Ford Heron

 Internet Fair Use -  Walton Ford  Tiger

 Internet Fair Use - Walton Ford Island

Internet Fair Use - Walton Ford Heron

Thanks Walden Ford for the words, the inspirations, the images, the ideas, and the art. And the vision about enlivening the Boston-Washington corridor with beauty is enticing.