CCC Entry Five

READ: Alice Walker essay

I thought a really significant point of reading Alice Walker's essay was the idea that the creativity of the African American women could not be suppressed while they were oppressed through slavery. I think that creativity is something that cannot be extinguished in times of turmoil and trouble and this has been seen throughout history. Many times, artists prove their genius with works made during the darkest of times. Picasso's Blue Period began after the suicide of a close friend and produced some of his most popular works. The Bible also supports this idea with some of the most beautiful Psalms depicting the deep anguish in David's life.

In Alice Walker's essay she describes the routine of many African American women during the 18th century and asks how the creativity was kept alive. These women were not allowed to read, paint, or sculpt. How much greatness was held back by the oppression? How much greatness was released by the oppression? Walker writes of a quilt in the Smithsonian Institute created by an anonymous black woman in Alabama, a hundred years ago. "If we could locate this 'anonymous' black woman from Alabama, she would turn out to be one of our grandmothers-an artist who left her mark in the only materials she could afford, and in the only medium her position in society allowed her to use" (p74).

I believe if we could go back and listen in on the women singing in the fields as they worked, we would hear voices more honest and beautiful than any on the radio today. We would hear the raw feeling pouring out of their mouth as they praised God and made the hours go a little faster. If we look to the little touches in the folk art and song, we will see a generation of unconvered talent and creativity.

"And so our mothers and grandmothers have, more often than not anonymously, handed on the creative spark, the seed of the flower they themselves never hoped to see: or like a sealed letter they could not plainly read."

Alice Walker recalls her mother's garden and the beauty and 'magic' that flowed from her creation in the yard. Walker thinks back on her mother's face "as she prepares the Art that is her gift, is a legacy of respect she leaves to me, for all that illuminates and cherishes life." Walker saw the garden as the creativity outlet in her mother's otherwise dismal life.

One quote from describing her mother's art was especially interesting to me: "I notice that it is only when my mother is working in her flowers that she is radiant, almost to the point of being invisible-except as Creator: hand and eye. She is involved in work her soul must have. Ordering the universe in the image of her personal conception of Beauty." It is an observation that one could have looking upon most artists working on their pieces.

I love that Walker was able to capture that feeling of creativity and recognize it in her mother's gardening. She talks of mothers and grandmothers who pass on the creative spark without much recognition. It is such a shame that so much beauty was left untapped. But Walker also talks of how the stories she writes are truly her mother's stories. The legacy of her mother's creativity runs through Walker and can be seen in her art. In this way, the creativity of the African American women during the 18th century is being released by the generations of artists born after them.