Creative Cauldron - Stephen Fry
Monday, January 07, 2013
Artist inspiration and artist influences. No biographies, dates or scholarly research here - this is a personal response to the work of Stephen Fry by Australian artist Fiona Morgan.
A small pondering on the admiral qualities of Stephen Fry and why he is the sort of someone I hold in high regard.
Well, he is a wordsmith, a master of language with his own unique voice. This is a trait that I tend to admire. But of course there's more.
In a world filled with vacuous celebrities, it is a relief to find an intelligent, thoughtful and even wise voice. This is someone who has a strong belief in the inherent good in people, the better side of humanity and yet is not naive. Someone who stands up to paranoid and closed thinking, looks at things rationally and with humility and says what he thinks.
To be opinionated but not offensive. To hold strong, thoughtful views. To be a free thinker. These are qualities I can aspire to.
To be well read and educated. To be kind. These too are qualities that anyone can achieve with persistance and mindfullness.
Of course he is wonderfully multitalented - writer, speaker, actor. While natural talent will get you so far, plain old fashioned hard work is what is takes to get this far. My hat is off and I am reminded to do the work.
His story of enrolling in English Literature at Cambridge University and becoming so enthralled and caught up in the acting world on offer there - to the point that exams and essays and such things that were there to determine a pass or fail were more or less ignored - is a classic 'follow your bliss' story. Again, a reminder.
And then there is the comedy. The boldness and freedom and aliveness in silliness. Hooray a real person!
There are gazillions of intelligent and thoughtful spokespersons who never get a toehold in anyone's imagination because, I think, they tend to be dull and hand their opinions down from above. Make people laugh. Like cartoons that bypass the everyday guardians of how we think, a bit of humour darts past the guards and gets the message through. Then 'just' learn how to graciously offer and explain your thoughtful opinion, with a dose of wit, plain talking and kindness.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_Fry
A small pondering on the admiral qualities of Stephen Fry and why he is the sort of someone I hold in high regard.
Well, he is a wordsmith, a master of language with his own unique voice. This is a trait that I tend to admire. But of course there's more.
In a world filled with vacuous celebrities, it is a relief to find an intelligent, thoughtful and even wise voice. This is someone who has a strong belief in the inherent good in people, the better side of humanity and yet is not naive. Someone who stands up to paranoid and closed thinking, looks at things rationally and with humility and says what he thinks.
To be opinionated but not offensive. To hold strong, thoughtful views. To be a free thinker. These are qualities I can aspire to.
To be well read and educated. To be kind. These too are qualities that anyone can achieve with persistance and mindfullness.
Of course he is wonderfully multitalented - writer, speaker, actor. While natural talent will get you so far, plain old fashioned hard work is what is takes to get this far. My hat is off and I am reminded to do the work.
His story of enrolling in English Literature at Cambridge University and becoming so enthralled and caught up in the acting world on offer there - to the point that exams and essays and such things that were there to determine a pass or fail were more or less ignored - is a classic 'follow your bliss' story. Again, a reminder.
And then there is the comedy. The boldness and freedom and aliveness in silliness. Hooray a real person!
There are gazillions of intelligent and thoughtful spokespersons who never get a toehold in anyone's imagination because, I think, they tend to be dull and hand their opinions down from above. Make people laugh. Like cartoons that bypass the everyday guardians of how we think, a bit of humour darts past the guards and gets the message through. Then 'just' learn how to graciously offer and explain your thoughtful opinion, with a dose of wit, plain talking and kindness.
More Stephen Fry links
Official site: http://www.stephenfry.com/http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_Fry
About the Creative Cauldron series of posts
The Creative Cauldron series of posts explores and showcases the visual styles, techniques, attitudes, ideas, artists and paintings that have had the most impact on me. The rest of the series is accessible via the Creative Cauldron page. Have a meander if you please, and remember to check out my artworks on Flickr, and have an insider peek at life as an artist on Facebook.
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