My Mother, Guest Artist

"From Alice, California mini avocado," Reiko Chiba, January 19, 2009


Ten years ago, I wrote this in my notebook...

Mom's Dream: Mom wanted to be an artist up until she was in grade 3. As a child, she and her sisters would often sit on the verandah and draw pictures of little girls in dresses - much like themselves - to send to their father who was far away in China.

In grade 3, the education system in Japan changed. There was a profound insecurity about the Japanese way of doing things. Teachers and students believed that the educations sytem was flawed and made deliberate efforts to learn from other countries. Before, art class had consisted of drawing and colouring, then after the war elementary school students suddenly lost their outlet for creative expression.

To my mother, who loved to draw, this meant giving up her own scribbling in favour of learning from others. She'd spend hours copying works of art from art books and became quite good at it. But through this development of skill, she lost her interest in becoming an artist.



At the time, I was reading a book called, "Finding Your Perfect Work." It made me curious about other people's dreams, so I interviewed my mother. She paints beautiful watercolours and used to tell me when I was little that she once wanted to be an artist. I needed to find out more.

It made me curious about my own dreams, though they seem to change daily still...


("Wagamama," 2000)

"When I get goosebumps from an idea or possibility, I know I better proceed that way."
- Rusty Berkus, poet