How Drawing Outside the Lines Keeps Opening Doors

[Music]

it is said

that when one door closes another one

opens

i’m here to tell you that ain’t

necessarily so

we’ve all been on the wrong side of

closed doors

and when we’re on that side we’re not

seen and we’re not

heard and we start to question

why did the door close in the first

place

maybe the way we’ve been doing things

wasn’t the right way

or was it i’m an artist

i have a relationship with wood

and for the past 38 years i’ve not only

opened doors that have been

traditionally shut on me

but i literally make doors with my bare

hands

i’ve learned there isn’t a right or a

wrong way to open these doors that the

only limits

are the ones we’ve learned to impose on

ourselves

i’ve figured out a thing or two about

these humbling blocks

that have shown up along the way and

these practices have made me a

successful artist

in a traditionally male profession

listen up there i was four years old

on my den floor coloring wildly in my

coloring book

i loved coloring wildly i couldn’t

imagine anything more thrilling than

going wild in my coloring book

right i mean what fun

in the midst of my excitement my brother

peter says

you’re not supposed to draw outside the

lines annie

now i say

then mom annie’s coloring outside the

lines aren’t you supposed to color

inside the lines my mom walks over and

looks

says well honey

that is what they’re there for

no way door closed

i was already learning that following

the rules was a really

smart thing to do and my mom

meant everything to me so from then on

i did my darndest to stay inside the

lines great way to get approval it

seemed

my wild coloring days were over

for now but it wasn’t until

after college that i started working

with my hands

i was headed to cornell for graduate

school but i needed a

job before i left

i was meeting women in the trades

electricians carpenters

i was inspired and woodworking seemed

like a really cool thing to try out

and a live medium work with my hands and

my body

and my mind and be with people while

doing it

but most of the woodworking shops in

colorado springs

shooed me away they didn’t want an

inexperienced

girl in the way i persisted

finally the last workshop i went to and

a bit fed up i might add

i said to the manager look this is a

deal

i’m a woman i’m totally inexperienced

and i really want to learn this stuff

yay or nay and he said

we want you here persistence pays off

people

on the initial tour in that shop before

i even touched a piece of wood

i watched folks using their hands and

their minds

and as the smells penetrated my whole

being

i was struck with this knowing

and i listened thank god i listened

because in that striking moment

i knew i was gonna become a woodworker i

was gonna go beyond this company

and this was my life’s journey how did i

know

i don’t know but i trusted that feeling

and because i trusted it

doors started flying open dear cornell

not coming thanks

i loved learning the techniques of

furniture making

the fundamentals of woodworking it’s

actually vital to learn these rules you

really don’t want to lose a hand

i became a good furniture maker but i

wanted more

it didn’t seem to be quite enough making

sure everything was exactly 90 degree

angles for god’s sakes

so i was promoting my furniture to an

interior designer in pasadena who

suggested

that i meet john de suart

i had heard of him and i knew just

meeting him would change my life

the next day i met jan this

77 year old dutch master woodworker

yon took me under his wing for the last

two years of his life he had a stroke so

i was primarily his hands

on day one he said to me i have

finally met someone i can share my

secrets with before i go

um he also told me on that first day i

will teach you to use the band saw

like a pencil the band saw is the one

tool

in the workshop that allows me to make

curves in the wood

wow i actually learned to turn wood

inside out and to this day

i draw better with a bandsaw than i do a

pencil

i’m now a bandsaw aficionado

so jana and i would be sitting out on

his porch talking about life and love

and

woodworking and all of a sudden he’d

head into the shop and i’d ask what are

we gonna do

oh he looked so disappointed he said

oh annie if i knew i’d quit

so i followed him to the bandsaw

he put a cigar in his mouth and his

glasses on

he turns on the bandsaw he starts

cutting something wild

in the middle of the cut he turns off

the bandsaw

puts his glasses up takes his cigar out

and says annie

if ever you have a choice of going with

the mystery

or the obvious go with the mistity

puts a cigar back in his mouth and his

glasses back on and finishes the cut

there were dozens of these drop the mic

moments with yon

pearls creating art

has informed me about trust and letting

go

my first commission sculptural table was

a great and gorgeous piece

i created from one piece of wood

the movement in this piece even amazed

me

after i delivered it to my client in new

york i broke down

what if i can’t make another one like my

one novel

was this just a fluke so i decided to go

back to my shop in la

and sit with a piece of wood like i did

that first one

i sat with this chunk of wood for days

of a sudden i knew exactly what to do i

learned that when i get myself out of

the way

and listen to the wood boom i’m

presented with a

curve a line a movement how does this

happen

i trusted the wood i listened

i make wood look fluid like a flowing

river

i love making such a hard medium

look like water creating this

effect has become my signature as an

artist

i do know my way around a shop quite

well yet with every project i undertake

i still choose the mystery over the

obvious and

every project begs me to draw outside

the lines

it’s more exciting anyway

i’ve learned to expose the soul of the

tree

and oftentimes when i make a mistake i’m

pretty clear now it was supposed to

happen

mistakes are the road to magic

every piece i make is unique no copies

people ask me if i’m sad when i sell

them when i miss them

turns out after that first scary letting

go experience i

love passing them on each letting go

opens a new door when people ask me how

long does it take you to make that piece

my answer is my whole life

every piece is infused with my life’s

experiences

all of it how could it not be

my creative approach has always been

to trust the process to listen to the

wood and to slow down

though there still are obstacles and

challenges that show up

it is so satisfying to push through them

and see what’s on the other side

and that’s what i call opening doors

let’s keep opening doors

thank you

you