Tales from the Observer: Make the Mall Your Living Studio!

Spirograph by Lupsiberg

For a decade now I’ve been frequenting a number of shopping malls in our city. While I enjoy the solitude of working in my studio, I often feel the urge to get out and be amongst people. It might seem strange, but I’ve found I get more writing and reading done in public spaces than at home; distractions like social media and email really eat up my time. I also go walking in these places because it’s part of my exercise routine*; especially in the winter when it’s too messy to walk outside. You might recall from past entries that I’ve been an avid walker ever since I read Julia Cameron’s The Artist’s Way. Walking awakens memories and emotions within me; it helps me solve problems and de-stresses me.  I’ve learned as much from my walks in malls as I have from walking in my neighbourhood…

Since I work with images that are fashion-based, shopping centres are the best place to see this world in action. Not just in the stores but on the shoppers themselves. I love to ponder peoples’ lives by the clothes they wear. I also enjoy window displays and learn much from them. For me they are like theatrical sets or art installations. I analyse their construction and often use their visual strategies in my collages. While I can’t afford to buy most of what I see, window shopping is a great way of imagining putting pieces together…  (not just clothes but anything you buy); invoking fantasy in this way, is a cool way of composing. As some of you know the latest fashion trend in mixing patterns has also inspired my work. It’s the reason I’m also currently experimenting with Zentangling and working with Spirograph! I love patterns of all kinds so it’s a great excuse to use them in my work. I feel it’s important to work with concepts or techniques that excite you; Like Johanna Basford’s Secret Garden, the Spirograph kit transported me back in time. It was a dream come true when I got my first deluxe Spirograph set for my eleventh birthday. Having recently read physicist Alan Lightman’s The Accidental Universe in which he reflects on multiple views of the universe using art and scientific concepts, I thought it would be interesting to introduce Spirographic designs into my mixed media pieces. They make me think of mathematical studies; I’d love to contrast them with other types of imagery in my work. I’m not sure where I’m headed with these latest obsessions but I’ve decided to follow them anyway. It’s always exciting to embark on a mysterious creative journey.  Like life, you never know where it’ll lead you.

Yes, there’s something about the hum of peopled places that both energizes and calms me. My favourite part of mall walking is people watching. Each mall has its own set of unique characters. They spark many ideas within me for collage stories and even words for my pieces. I make sure to have my notebook or cell phone handy so I can jot them down. I think it’s funny how you never notice the same people twice when you go to a shopping centre. There are a few people however I’ve viewed countless times over the years. Memorable characters like an elegantly attired Japanese lady whose life, l sense, is slowly crumbling away. Once a svelte figure adorned in designer outfits and sporting an Audrey Hepburn updo, now she’s put on weight, dons simple clothes and wears her hair in a practical bob. I imagine she’s a dead diplomat’s wife. She sits having a sandwich on a bench oblivious to the world around her. There’s also a man with a droopy Groucho Marx moustache who’s worn the same clothes forever; I get the feeling he still lives with his parents.  He seems forlorn; I think he would love to connect with others but doesn’t know how. I imagine him as a high school dropout. These characters are like the Eleanor Rigbys and Father McKenzies of that old Beatles tune “All the Lonely People”. For them the mall is not a space of consumption but a kind of living purgatory. When I see their familiar faces, I want to smile hi but am afraid to. We’re so close and yet so far apart.

All this to say I think it’ll do you good to get out of the studio once in a while and immerse yourself in your local mall culture to discover what kind of stories and ideas you find there. Wendy, Sheila and Maggie, maybe we should incorporate this into our next Muses meeting! Come to think of it, it would be a great workshop/excursion idea. People do Paris, Lisbon and Rome, why not the local mall? 😉

* Here in Ottawa there’s a significant mall walking culture many seniors (and occasionally younger folks) partake in to get a good cardio workout. It’s not like going to a popular fitness centre, it’s more down-to-earth and accessible.

Other Related Links:
Collage Tip #5: A Walk A Day
Tales from the Observer: Pattern Alert!
Tales from the Observer: Art, Display & Installation
The Fabric & Patterns of Everyday Life I
The Fabric & Patterns of Everyday Life II