Alex Norman

Alex Norman graduated from Maggie Walker in 2016. She started in Art 2 as a freshman and stayed enrolled in art classes - including Art 5, Photography, and Art History - through her senior year. She is familiar with the stressors of Maggie Walker or any school that has high expectations - and the work-load and rewards that come with. It was her art classes that kept her from going back to her home school, from taking the easy way out, from missing out on the potential that she is now aware of. Art allowed her the opportunity to begin on a path that would guide her to where she is now: VCU School of the Arts, as a Craft and Materials Study major. Art would introduce her to an Eastern philosophy that would further and support her journey by helping her to navigate the purposes of the delicate balance of work and play that is life: WABI-SABI

Alex: "Wabi-sabi, as I’ve come to know it, is a Japanese aesthetic that is less of a style than it is an experience of finding beauty in the ordinary, the imperfect, and the broken; a process of accepting and even embracing the perceived “ugliness” and often uncomfortable emptiness inherent in our day to day lives. In the spring semester of my freshman year I ended up writing a fairly extensive research paper on wabi-sabi and explored the question: in what ways can the embrace of the wabi-sabi aesthetic in life and design contribute to human mental health and wellbeing?"

This is a helpful video, which explains the hard-to-explain the concept of "wabi-sabi" while also describing its connection to the Japanese tea ceremony (don't mimic the way the narrator mis-pronounces "wabi-sabi," however...)

Here's more information: Wabi-Sabi and Understanding Japan A philosophy and aesthetic as worldview

As hard as it is to explain wabi-sabi, it is equally difficult to express what was gained from Alex's lecture. My mind was blown, really. She is mature beyond her years and has a voice that can enthrall and entrance (she is also a singer whose original songs are as raw and powerful as all she spoke about). I hung on every word. I tried to take notes but the words on my page began to seem petty or at least inconsequential compared to the truths that Alex was speaking about. If you missed this lecture, I am truly sad for you - you missed something exceptional. I will document some of my take-aways below but, please know, they don't do her talk justice and may not make much sense if you weren't there.

I hope for all of you the ability to find what drives you, what grounds you, what keeps you happy and productive, and what separates you from the rest. I'd love to know that you found it through studying art - but if not, just find it. 

Some things I wrote down:

• When you deal with craziness (like the day-to-day @ Maggie Walker), you can better appreciate the simple moments
• Learning to "play" can cultivate compassion and can help one to be more resourceful
  • Look for "wabi-sabi" in everyday moments and things - like art made from what nature had discarded (and that people haven't learned to appreciate)
• IT JUST HAPPENS but you have to be open to it/ready for it (whatever "it" may be for you)
• You aren't expected to be perfect (at whatever you are learning) - you ARE expected to put put your heart into it