~*~*~
Cam is many things - creative, artistic, athletic and quite musically talented. He's also a typical high school freshman - oozing with attitude, entitlement and, of course, he is all knowing. He pushes boundaries and is a pain in the ass more often than not. He is a typical teenager in many ways.
Last week, his artwork was selected for display in the annual Chicago Area Alternative Education League art fair. He was one of eight students from his therapeutic day school whose art work was submitted for the art fair competition.
You know, Cam's freshman year of high school has been anything but typical. There have been no homecoming dances, no spirit weeks, no after school clubs. I didn't imagine his high school experience would look anything like this. I had different dreams. And sometimes? That really sucks.
But not today.
This is his artwork that was displayed in the art fair - the art fair that he didn't tell me about, that he refused to attend with me, but that he secretly wanted me to go to as was evident by the pride in his voice when I finally got a hold of him to find out which piece of art was his.
Side story. I really wanted to get a photo of his artwork but the artwork didn't list the artists names to eliminate any bias in this judged event. Cam told me nothing about his artwork other than it was a watercolor. Fortunately, his painting was one of only five paintings submitted from his school, and one of only three water colors. I had to guess which was his and guessed right, which is good since he didn't respond to my calls and texts until after I left the venue.
When I got home, I asked him about the painting - what inspired him - why he called it "Chance"
He told me he did the painting in art therapy on his friend Carlos' last day at the therapeutic day school before transitioning back to his home school. The rainbow represented the happy ending - going back to a "normal" school. The black line through the rainbow was Carlos' journey.
When I asked Cam about the drops of gray and black sprinkled throughout the painting he said, "Those are my tears. I'll miss Carlos but I'm glad he gets to go back to his real school."
And the reason he called the painting "Chance"? Carlos got his chance to chase his rainbow.
Today? I realize that my dreams are not Cam's dreams, no matter how much I might want them to be, and I feel a tremendous amount of pride in recognizing that my son's dreams have much more substance than mine for him ever did.
Cam is many things - creative, artistic, athletic and quite musically talented. He's also a typical high school freshman - oozing with attitude, entitlement and, of course, he is all knowing. He pushes boundaries and is a pain in the ass more often than not. He is a typical teenager in many ways.
Last week, his artwork was selected for display in the annual Chicago Area Alternative Education League art fair. He was one of eight students from his therapeutic day school whose art work was submitted for the art fair competition.
You know, Cam's freshman year of high school has been anything but typical. There have been no homecoming dances, no spirit weeks, no after school clubs. I didn't imagine his high school experience would look anything like this. I had different dreams. And sometimes? That really sucks.
But not today.
This is his artwork that was displayed in the art fair - the art fair that he didn't tell me about, that he refused to attend with me, but that he secretly wanted me to go to as was evident by the pride in his voice when I finally got a hold of him to find out which piece of art was his.
Side story. I really wanted to get a photo of his artwork but the artwork didn't list the artists names to eliminate any bias in this judged event. Cam told me nothing about his artwork other than it was a watercolor. Fortunately, his painting was one of only five paintings submitted from his school, and one of only three water colors. I had to guess which was his and guessed right, which is good since he didn't respond to my calls and texts until after I left the venue.
When I got home, I asked him about the painting - what inspired him - why he called it "Chance"
He told me he did the painting in art therapy on his friend Carlos' last day at the therapeutic day school before transitioning back to his home school. The rainbow represented the happy ending - going back to a "normal" school. The black line through the rainbow was Carlos' journey.
When I asked Cam about the drops of gray and black sprinkled throughout the painting he said, "Those are my tears. I'll miss Carlos but I'm glad he gets to go back to his real school."
And the reason he called the painting "Chance"? Carlos got his chance to chase his rainbow.
Today? I realize that my dreams are not Cam's dreams, no matter how much I might want them to be, and I feel a tremendous amount of pride in recognizing that my son's dreams have much more substance than mine for him ever did.
~*~*~
14 comments:
And I feel that his interpretation was the key to this painting.
Way to go Cam!
Oh, that's a beautiful piece, made so much better with the description.
Quite a kid you have on your hands there m'lady :-)
That is wonderful but it is the interpretation that makes it amazing!
Sometimes we do miss the forest for trees, eh?
I was looking at the painting before I scrolled own to read the description, and it turns out I got pretty close. I didn't guess that it was about someone else's journey though. Very interesting.
I am very impressed with Cam's ability to take his feelings and make them art.
This is a talent that needs to be nurtured.
Congrats mom and even more so, CONGRATS CAM!
A great piece of art.
Sounds like you have one hell of a kid there. Good for Cam.
Great picture.
Amazing how our kids can surprise us when we think we've got them pegged isn't it?
Beautiful painting! And with the explanation, it's even more so.
Beautiful piece. Neat kid you have there. You never know sometimes the path of most resistance can lead to some pretty awesome placed too…
Nicely done. The Philosophy of Art. Cheers Dana!!
Cam's inspiration and interpretation shows a lot of maturity. The artwork itself is pretty damn neat too.
Cam's background story for his art piece is very very heart warming :)
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