New month, new topic for Etsymetal blogger. This time it's all about our roots. Where we came from. Family influences. Art in the family.
I am trying to think really hard but I am pretty sure there are no artist in my family. A creative family but probably not what I would call artists. Like most kids I enjoyed drawing, coloring and getting my hands dirty with other creative tasks. My mom loves to tell stories about my sister and me drawing on the p-lam fronts of our furniture. She never found out who it was. I don't remember either, so who knows if that was one of my first creative outbursts or my sister's.
As kids we did all sorts of creative little projects that involved macrame, knitting, crochet, cross-stitch etc. My mom was a kindergarten teacher and really good at keeping us busy with learning a few new things. My dad taught us wood working and other little construction projects. That came in handy when the whole family had to help building our home when I was a teenager. My mom is also an awesome landscaper and our garden always was the envy of the neighborhood.
I wasn't exposed much to art as a kid. I remember art classes in school were pretty lame and often did not happen due to teachers being sick. When I went to architecture school at the Bauhaus University I was stunned by the first few assignment that were all about conceptual art. I almost quit school since I was so intimidated. I somehow made it through this and after the first year the projects became more architecture related than abstract art pieces.
I learned a lot about art during those college years. I also started picking up a few other creative adventures. I loved doing pottery and supplied my family with some handmade pots, vases and little sculptures. Later I picked up B&W photography and even had a dark room in my restroom in my apartment in Vienna. I somehow lost interest in photography when I switched over to digital SRL's. I missed the excitement of having to wait for developing the film and prints in the darkroom to see how the shots came out. Well, a couple years later I discovered metal working and found my love.
