An Abundant Life - Creative Magic

I've written about the artist Norm Kirby before in these pages, but I had not gone to visit his studio until I had the wonderful and magical opportunity last week. The first time I was introduced to him, it was because of a beautiful piece he had made with strips of canvas on a chain link fence that I photographed because it was so simply lovely that I wanted to have a record of it that I could print and put on my wall. I had just started using Instagram at the time, and the piece was so magical that I felt I had to post it. I had no idea who the artist was, and so when I posted it I used the words "Unknown Artist" and gave the location. It was the first of a series of posts I have continued to do from time to time that I title "Unexpected Beauty," and the first of a happily continuing line of photographs of Norm Kirby's work that I have been blessed to find and photograph.

After I posted that photo, a few weeks later a friend, Ed Ramirez, tagged Norm Kirby on my post. After that I kept looking everywhere I went, trying to figure out just who Norm Kirby was. Then one night when I was at Ed's coffee shop, Harry Street Coffee, for an art show opening of Swati Rastogi's work, I heard Ed talking to someone named Norm and I introduced myself. I had been posting and tagging his work for a while at that point, and now I could put a face with the art. He is such a nice person, and that in combination with his beautiful work makes him someone I want to celebrate, so when I saw him again a little over a month ago at the gallery opening of the work of John Fathom and John Ruddy at Cast Iron Lofts, I asked if he had the time for me to visit with him at his studio to take photographs for a blog post. I had a very busy few weeks, but it was on my mind to get there as soon as possible, and so as soon as I was able to schedule something I headed over to meet him. His fence work is very near and dear to my heart - I love finding and discovering his pieces as I take my walks all over Jersey City, and I even found one one day just in the place where Jersey City and Union City meet. But the work in his studio is so special, and there is so much variety, and I also saw some pieces, paper cut-outs, that he said were new things he was trying. What a delightful afternoon for someone like me to be allowed into his creative world for some magical moments. I had been dealing with some very difficult business issues right before I went to see him, and in the peaceful and beautiful studio they all seemed to easily melt away.

Norm Kirby In His Studio

Jersey City, New Jersey

https://www.facebook.com/normkirby

Blessings,

Jannie Susan