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Notes on Sea Marks

There are artists hidden among us - going about their every day lives with a poet's eyes or an artist's hands. Every day, they take out the trash, put out fires, make widgets, fish. They don't wear berets, or have art school degrees. They have grease on their hands instead of grease paint on their face. And their lives are spent in quietly useful toil. Maybe they are inspired writers whose only publication is the family Christmas letter. Or a visionary sculptor whose hands are used to shape flower boxes that only the neighbors and the grandkids will enjoy. Yet within them bubbles a wellspring of beauty - a deep reservoir of contemplation, sacrifice, and joy - that transforms a simple act of service or creation into a priceless expression of what it means to be human.

What would happen if one of these people were plucked from their life of useful obscurity and placed upon a pedestal labeled "Artist?" We expect a lot of our artists, you know. We expect them to be Symbols, to create brilliant work constantly, and "on demand." We insist that their private lives fit their public image. Which begs the question - is great artistry wasted if it is known only to family and friends? Is it improved by its introduction to the masses; especially if the masses care little about the workings of the heart that created it? Sometimes shining a spotlight on artistry can give a person the recognition they deserve. Sometimes it destroys the simplicity that made their art compelling.

And love is like that too. Sometimes its beauty lies in its hidden or semi-expressed nature. Some loves wither under ordinary daylight and the competing demands of the everyday world. Love, that great symbol around which we drape our most ardent fantasies and assured advice, is often trumped by things as simple as dishes undone, or a brand new pair of pants. It rarely conquers all, and when it does, what becomes of the conquered?

And yet, it is not the permanence of love that makes it worth pursuing, just as it is not the wide acclaim of a work of art that makes it worth creating.

In the play Sea Marks, Colm is reminded that all our great works - of art, of love - are just small spits of land "pushing back against a sea that would have it be all sea." In his world, the only sure things are that change is coming and devastation can arrive at any moment. But the battle to create - to love - to launch out into the waves against the storm… is worth it, whether the waves swallow us silently up or we live to fish another day.

And so I hope this simple work of art will speak to you… sharing something of the workings of the hearts that created it. I hope it will inspire you to create, to work, and to love another day.

- Trisha Pancio Armour