HAYLEE MATECKO
The Sky and The Ground
Spring 2018
I see it. I see a vision; a creative work of art, displayed on our living room wall for everyone to see. A work of art that entrances, caresses, envelops its viewers. A vision for art that is not shared by others but is clear as day to me. It is a vision I am ready to bring to life.
“I was thinking, what if I make a canvas? I think it would be awesome in our living room.” My roommates, Katherine and Allison, and I laid around the living room, talking about how we wanted to redecorate. I had just moved in, and they were tired of the art that had been on the walls for three years at that point.
“Yeah, that would be awesome! I’d be so excited to see something new on the walls,” Allison noted. Katherine nodded in agreement, and from that I went to work. I haven’t always been the artsy kind of creative; I’ve dabbled in lots of different types of creative expression. I danced all growing up, I played musical instruments, and I am now exploring the art of calligraphy and script.
“It looks great!” they exclaimed. After hours of work and with the help of my roommates, we hung up the canvas. I smiled, appreciative of their praise. But for some reason, I could see that something was missing. I could see the way the canvas looked… Empty on the wall. Something wasn’t right; my project was incomplete. As I shared my concern with my roommates, they shook their heads and disagreed kindly. “But it looks great! I don’t think you need to add anything else.”
I racked my brain for what it was that could be missing… Maybe a kitschy doodle at the end of the quote? Drawing a border, adding a burlap bow…? These ideas all seemed wrong, but I continued my brainstorming. I kept thinking…
Then I had it: broken picture frames!
“Wait… Can you explain that again?” Allison asked, with a puzzled look on her face. “You want to break a picture frame and put it around the painting?” I laughed as she repeated me with a look of disbelief, because it did sound a little crazy.
“Yes, yes, exactly that! I want to break a picture frame in half and put each corner on one side of the canvas. A dull golden frame, with a little detailing around the edges.” I explained through my smile, ecstatic that I had finally seen my artistic vision. Allison still looked skeptical, so I invited her to come with me to Goodwill to find the frame we needed.
We had fun poking around at all the different things the store had to offer, my curiosity landing among DIY-potential items scattered around. As we finally landed among the frames, there weren’t many choices. Allison thumbed through them, interested to see what was there. I looked next, and I saw one that caught my eye. The picture in the middle was hideous, a cheap brown circular design embossed into what looked like thin plastic. To the average onlooker, hideous. To me, perfect.
“This is the one!” I exclaimed, pulling it out of the pile. Allison wrinkled her nose at the hideous picture.
“You sure?” she asked, clearly skeptical. I nodded excitedly, and she shrugged her shoulders in dismissal. She laughed and said okay as we checked out and headed home to finish the display. I went outside with the frame, using a few different tools to get the rusty nails out of the back of the frame. I cut my hand pretty badly, which made me laugh because I thought it demonstrated such a dedication to my work.
I brought in the broken frame halves, and had Allison help me attach them to the wall. After lots of work and placing and testing spots, we finally finished and took a step back. I smiled at our handiwork, my vision truly come to life.
“Wow,” Allison breathed. “That’s exactly what it needed.”
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The day I went to get a canvas, I scoured my life to find a good quote to write. As roommates, we agreed that a quote like “Live Simply” would be too cliché, but we didn’t want it to be so obscure it didn’t make sense. After lots of conversation, we settled on a Ben Rector song lyric – “Sometimes it takes the sky to see what’s on the ground”.
Upon first glance, this quote doesn’t appear to make sense. It takes the sky to see what’s on the ground? What is this songwriter getting at? It’s a question that people have asked me if they don’t know the song, but I am forever in love with the quote because of everything it demonstrates within itself. It is describing a change of perspective. We live our lives on the ground, day to day tasks right in front of us, not always fully understanding how to look forward and see what else our lives have to offer. The change of perspective, placing ourselves “in the sky”, allows us to really see what’s happening on the ground.
The confusion people have about the quote and the challenge of getting from idea conception to reality in my art demonstrated to me the way my brain works. I am tirelessly idealistic, yet rational at times. I think about things in a future sense, and when I get an idea in my head I can clearly understand what the end goal will look like. These capabilities allow me to create art, create and develop business plans, or even desire to develop the people around me.
Taking something that was literally garbage to one person and transforming it… That’s art. That’s a vision that needs to be brought to life. I live my life constantly transitioning between the sky and the ground, because that change in perspective is essential for learning and growing and loving and developing myself and those around me. I am irrationally idealistic at times, but that optimism creates whimsical visions in my head, and I am ready to bring those visions to life.