Use Your Gifts and Discover New Language: Meet Mark Eanes
Mark Eanes (Ep. 11 and Ep. 28) had a decision to make about his life. He had a lot of questions and was certain he wasn't going to find answers in Virginia.
“I ran away from home and I had no idea what I was going to do with my life.”
He had graduated high school and Eanes headed west, where his uncle took him in.
“In the first week, [my uncle asked] “What about college?”
Eanes had no idea. But his uncle said he’d pay for the first two years of out of state tuition at a junior college. Young Eanes went upstairs to his room, a sketchbook in hand, and thought long and hard.
THE POWER OF GIFTS
Eanes knew he had been given an incredible gift.
Two in fact. The chance to go to school and the chance to use his gifts as an artist.
He ran downstairs and told his uncle. He wanted to be an artist.
“He was a businessman,” says Eanes, “so he wasn’t excited about that choice.”
Eanes and his uncle went to a school counselor and Eanes learned about the difference between a commercial artist and a fine artist.
“Not everyone needs to be formally trained. It really depends on the individual and what they want to do.” - Mark Eanes
Much to his uncle's dismay, he chose fine arts.
“He was thinking, You're going to suffer. You're going to starve.”
But Eanes told his uncle that he thought he could really do it.
“And God bless my uncle. He said, Let's give it a shot.”
THE MANY PATHS TO ART
At 18 Eanes took his first drawing and painting class and was hooked. Eanes has now since celebrated his 50th year making art.
“And I was lucky. Just the right place at the right time,” he says.
Today he has seen the many paths artists can take to get to their work. For Eanes it meant the art school route.
“Not everyone needs to be formally trained,” he says. “It really depends on the individual and what they want to do.”
Some want formal education and for that there is art school. And then on the other side of the spectrum is outsider art.
“There’s a great history of people who were never trained,” says Eanes of outsider art.
Then there are people who didn’t go to art school but are looking for more training through workshops and classes.
“I want to make that point because for a lot of people, I think they're inhibited because they feel they need the training. And so there is a great history of individuals who chose not to, and did wonderful stuff,” says Eanes.
THE LANGUAGE OF ART
Eanes understands there are many paths to art. But he also knows that all who do art are speaking a language. Some speak it well. Some speak it less well.
In music, for example, anyone can press a piano key. Not everyone can make music with a piano. To create art with music requires understanding the language of music. Scales. Notes. Chords. Rhythm. Which keys to press in which order.
The same is true for art. In visual arts the language of art is design.
Eanes has set out in all his teaching, whether that be through his classes at the California College of Art or in his in-person and online workshops, to teach that language. First in his Language of Color course and now in his new Language of Design Course.
The MOST IMPORTANT TOOL
Eanes knows that this can all feel overwhelming.
But through his own studies and teaching others, he knows that the ability to learn to be a good painter is within all of us.
“Whatever [your] creative endeavor is, I think the key ingredient, the most important ingredient is desire. Without it, you will not succeed.”
Check out Mark Eanes on the podcast. You can learn about color (and other topics) in his Episode 11 or all about design in Episode 28.
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