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How Drawing Outside the Lines Keeps Opening Doors | Anne Shutan | TEDxYouth@Vail
1,950 views•Mar 26, 2021

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In this culture that supports isolation, it takes effort to follow your dreams.
Here are some things that I've learned as a wood artist and as a woman, to face the
obstacles that show up along the way. Central to Anne Shutan’s work as an artist is
always to remind her audience – and herself – to smile! This is so essential to
survival in the modern world. Sculpting wood is how she explores the relationship
between artist, art and audience. Nearly 40 years of woodwork has given Anne a deep
understanding of this medium, an intimate relationship with this once-living
material. “That’s what sets wood apart from other artistic media,” explains the
sculptor. “It is organic, not manufactured. It is grown, not synthesized. Each
piece of wood, each trunk, each branch is absolutely unique.” Art is about
communication and connection with people, places, ideas and objects. Those
relationships are vital to Anne’s creative work, as well as to her enjoyment of
everyday life. Shutan lives and works at her lakeside home/studio outside of
Boulder, Colorado with her husband, Scott. This talk was given at a TEDx event
using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community.
Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx
Transcript

00:11
[Music]
00:23
it is said
00:24
that when one door closes another one
00:26
opens
00:28
i'm here to tell you that ain't
00:30
necessarily so
00:32
we've all been on the wrong side of
00:34
closed doors
00:35
and when we're on that side we're not
00:38
seen and we're not
00:39
heard and we start to question
00:42
why did the door close in the first
00:44
place
00:45
maybe the way we've been doing things
00:47
wasn't the right way
00:49
or was it i'm an artist
00:54
i have a relationship with wood
00:57
and for the past 38 years i've not only
01:00
opened doors that have been
01:02
traditionally shut on me
01:04
but i literally make doors with my bare
01:07
hands
01:10
i've learned there isn't a right or a
01:12
wrong way to open these doors that the
01:14
only limits
01:15
are the ones we've learned to impose on
01:17
ourselves
01:19
i've figured out a thing or two about
01:21
these humbling blocks
01:23
that have shown up along the way and
01:25
these practices have made me a
01:27
successful artist
01:29
in a traditionally male profession
01:32
listen up there i was four years old
01:36
on my den floor coloring wildly in my
01:41
coloring book
01:42
i loved coloring wildly i couldn't
01:44
imagine anything more thrilling than
01:46
going wild in my coloring book
01:48
right i mean what fun
01:52
in the midst of my excitement my brother
01:55
peter says
01:57
you're not supposed to draw outside the
01:58
lines annie
02:01
now i say
02:05
then mom annie's coloring outside the
02:08
lines aren't you supposed to color
02:10
inside the lines my mom walks over and
02:13
looks
02:14
says well honey
02:18
that is what they're there for
02:22
no way door closed
02:26
i was already learning that following
02:27
the rules was a really
02:29
smart thing to do and my mom
02:32
meant everything to me so from then on
02:35
i did my darndest to stay inside the
02:37
lines great way to get approval it
02:39
seemed
02:40
my wild coloring days were over
02:44
for now but it wasn't until
02:48
after college that i started working
02:51
with my hands
02:54
i was headed to cornell for graduate
02:57
school but i needed a
02:58
job before i left
03:01
i was meeting women in the trades
03:03
electricians carpenters
03:05
i was inspired and woodworking seemed
03:09
like a really cool thing to try out
03:11
and a live medium work with my hands and
03:14
my body
03:16
and my mind and be with people while
03:18
doing it
03:19
but most of the woodworking shops in
03:21
colorado springs
03:22
shooed me away they didn't want an
03:25
inexperienced
03:26
girl in the way i persisted
03:31
finally the last workshop i went to and
03:34
a bit fed up i might add
03:36
i said to the manager look this is a
03:39
deal
03:39
i'm a woman i'm totally inexperienced
03:42
and i really want to learn this stuff
03:44
yay or nay and he said
03:47
we want you here persistence pays off
03:52
people
03:53
on the initial tour in that shop before
03:56
i even touched a piece of wood
03:58
i watched folks using their hands and
04:01
their minds
04:02
and as the smells penetrated my whole
04:05
being
04:06
i was struck with this knowing
04:09
and i listened thank god i listened
04:12
because in that striking moment
04:14
i knew i was gonna become a woodworker i
04:17
was gonna go beyond this company
04:19
and this was my life's journey how did i
04:22
know
04:23
i don't know but i trusted that feeling
04:26
and because i trusted it
04:28
doors started flying open dear cornell
04:32
not coming thanks
04:36
i loved learning the techniques of
04:38
furniture making
04:39
the fundamentals of woodworking it's
04:42
actually vital to learn these rules you
04:44
really don't want to lose a hand
04:46
i became a good furniture maker but i
04:49
wanted more
04:50
it didn't seem to be quite enough making
04:52
sure everything was exactly 90 degree
04:55
angles for god's sakes
04:58
so i was promoting my furniture to an
04:59
interior designer in pasadena who
05:01
suggested
05:02
that i meet john de suart
05:06
i had heard of him and i knew just
05:07
meeting him would change my life
05:10
the next day i met jan this
05:13
77 year old dutch master woodworker
05:17
yon took me under his wing for the last
05:20
two years of his life he had a stroke so
05:24
i was primarily his hands
05:27
on day one he said to me i have
05:30
finally met someone i can share my
05:33
secrets with before i go
05:37
um he also told me on that first day i
05:40
will teach you to use the band saw
05:42
like a pencil the band saw is the one
05:46
tool
05:46
in the workshop that allows me to make
05:48
curves in the wood
05:50
wow i actually learned to turn wood
05:53
inside out and to this day
05:56
i draw better with a bandsaw than i do a
06:00
pencil
06:01
i'm now a bandsaw aficionado
06:06
so jana and i would be sitting out on
06:08
his porch talking about life and love
06:10
and
06:11
woodworking and all of a sudden he'd
06:13
head into the shop and i'd ask what are
06:15
we gonna do
06:17
oh he looked so disappointed he said
06:20
oh annie if i knew i'd quit
06:25
so i followed him to the bandsaw
06:28
he put a cigar in his mouth and his
06:31
glasses on
06:32
he turns on the bandsaw he starts
06:33
cutting something wild
06:36
in the middle of the cut he turns off
06:39
the bandsaw
06:40
puts his glasses up takes his cigar out
06:43
and says annie
06:44
if ever you have a choice of going with
06:47
the mystery
06:48
or the obvious go with the mistity
06:54
puts a cigar back in his mouth and his
06:56
glasses back on and finishes the cut
06:58
there were dozens of these drop the mic
07:01
moments with yon
07:02
pearls creating art
07:06
has informed me about trust and letting
07:09
go
07:10
my first commission sculptural table was
07:12
a great and gorgeous piece
07:14
i created from one piece of wood
07:18
the movement in this piece even amazed
07:20
me
07:21
after i delivered it to my client in new
07:23
york i broke down
07:25
what if i can't make another one like my
07:28
one novel
07:30
was this just a fluke so i decided to go
07:33
back to my shop in la
07:35
and sit with a piece of wood like i did
07:37
that first one
07:39
i sat with this chunk of wood for days
07:43
of a sudden i knew exactly what to do i
07:47
learned that when i get myself out of
07:50
the way
07:51
and listen to the wood boom i'm
07:54
presented with a
07:55
curve a line a movement how does this
07:58
happen
07:59
i trusted the wood i listened
08:03
i make wood look fluid like a flowing
08:05
river
08:06
i love making such a hard medium
08:09
look like water creating this
08:12
effect has become my signature as an
08:15
artist
08:16
i do know my way around a shop quite
08:18
well yet with every project i undertake
08:22
i still choose the mystery over the
08:24
obvious and
08:25
every project begs me to draw outside
08:28
the lines
08:29
it's more exciting anyway
08:33
i've learned to expose the soul of the
08:35
tree
08:37
and oftentimes when i make a mistake i'm
08:39
pretty clear now it was supposed to
08:41
happen
08:42
mistakes are the road to magic
08:46
every piece i make is unique no copies
08:50
people ask me if i'm sad when i sell
08:51
them when i miss them
08:53
turns out after that first scary letting
08:56
go experience i
08:57
love passing them on each letting go
09:01
opens a new door when people ask me how
09:04
long does it take you to make that piece
09:06
my answer is my whole life
09:10
every piece is infused with my life's
09:13
experiences
09:14
all of it how could it not be
09:17
my creative approach has always been
09:21
to trust the process to listen to the
09:24
wood and to slow down
09:26
though there still are obstacles and
09:28
challenges that show up
09:30
it is so satisfying to push through them
09:32
and see what's on the other side
09:35
and that's what i call opening doors
09:39
let's keep opening doors
09:44
thank you
10:11
you

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