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