Word-Less Wednesday
where image steps forward and words step back
Issue #1/ Welcome to a new regular feature of Good and Beautiful Things, called Word-less Wednesday: Where Image Steps Forward and Words Step Back. In this introduction, ironically I use many words to explain a feature that is ultimately about using very few words. Read on to find out more.
A few weeks ago I learned about an artist named James Castle and since then, I’ve continued to think about his work and the details of his life.
Castle was a self-taught artist who lived in a rural farming community in Idaho and died in 1977 (the year that I was born). He used found materials such as food packaging, discarded matchbooks, soot and his own saliva. He drew landscapes, farmhouses, figures, animals, barns, and more. When I look at his work, I not only see his talent and his keen eye for spatial details but also what I imagine to be a deep drive to create.
After I learned he was deaf and most likely mute, I couldn’t help but wonder what that might have been like and how those barriers to communication might have influenced his life as an artist. I’m just beginning to read the book, James Castle: Memory Palace by John Beardsley, but from what I’ve read so far, even experts can’t say for sure whether his life as an artist was driven by his communication barriers or if he would have been just as prolific without them.
Introducing Word-less Wednesday: Images over Words
Words have always been available to me for both my day-to-day life and my creative endeavors so I would never claim to be able to understand James Castle’s experience. Still, encountering Castle’s work has made me curious about what would happen if I were to intentionally eliminate words1 as a tool. Would it create an urgency to communicate more effectively with images?
I keep a running list of ideas for my newsletter. Usually, I sit down with one of those ideas and soon enough the idea becomes a thousand to fifteen-hundred word newsletter that I share with you. Word-less Wednesday will be a regular feature where images step forward and words step back. I’ll take an idea from my regular list and try to communicate the idea through a photo, sketch or painting with very few words included for context. Sometimes, I’ll spotlight a current piece of art and share a behind-the-scenes tour of how I made it.
The First Word-less Wednesday: Art-Making Behind the Scenes
Today’s Word-less Wednesday is a peek into the process of something I made this week, inspired by James’ Castle.
If you enjoyed this edition of my newsletter and would love to get more issues on creativity, courage and curiosity, go ahead and subscribe now. Thanks for reading!
Continue the (Art) Journey
An Invitation to Make Mistakes: I share about how my art process (and my life) changed when I stopped expecting perfection.
A Shadow over my Art Desk: I write about my experience in an art class and what I Iearned about comparing myself and my work to others.
A Collage of Old and New: I use a recent collage to illustrate how old parts of ourselves can blend with the new parts.
Blessings from the Guest Nest,
-Aimee
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This exercise is in no way meant to try to duplicate Castle’s real-life communication barriers or to treat his life as an interesting experiment. Encountering his work simply inspired me as an artist and sparked my curiosity about how I rely on words.
Aimee! I love this. I’ve love your other posts too, but haven’t commented because life has been a crazy. You inspire me, friend.💜