Inspired by the musings of a Velveteen Rabbit
Apologies that this is not in the form of a story, and as such is a detour from the standard M.O. of this blog. But trying something new ^_^
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Through the hands of a master, any material can be molded into something beautiful. Sand, clay, glass, wood...all of these things, if poorly handled, can be brittle. Sand will slip and shift. Clay will chip and crack. Glass will split and shatter. Wood will burn and rot. In the hands of a master though, each can be treated, fortified, refined, preserved, protected, and polished. Through gentle ministrations and imaginative deliberations, art is formed. Sand will glitter. Clay will gleam. Glass will glow. Wood will grow. The patience, dedication, devotion, and the passion of the artist is understood by many to be something to be celebrated. This works not because the material is completely malleable, but because the master knows exactly how the material will react to his ministrations. The art would not hold on its own if it would bend and sway at any whim. He has specialized tools and an encyclopedic knowledge of the properties, possibilities, and potential of the medium he is working with. Through that medium, they are able to bring something to life that they would never have existed in any other form, for it is only in that moment that the beauty is forever, uniquely, captured. The artist puts a part of their soul into the work, a part of themselves, a master's piece.
So why is it that the artist who works with a human is met with such distaste? It is likely because the damage that one can incur in that process is so much more precious. The mind can also slip and shift. The body can also chip and crack. The soul can also split and shatter. The heart can also burn and rot. The sand, the clay, the glass, the wood. All of it, at one point, was seen in the eyes of humanity as being worthless. Coarse and unstable sand. Muddy and rocky clay. Treacherous and broken glass. Kindle and brittle wood. By taking something that was once "unworthy" and making it "beautiful" is what an observer believes is happening to make art, just as they think that is what is happening when making human art. Their own beliefs that an artist is celebrated for taking something broken, beaten, and unwanted and making it beautiful, priceless, and glamorous. Something can only be "art" if it comes, first, from a place of emptiness and nothingness...and the human psyche struggles to think that is what is happening with a master and his human subject.
Humanity still sees the term "slave" as someone without "worth" it would seem. To take something that is almost universally acknowledge to be the epitome of greatness on this planet, a "human", and having them become a "slave" inverts this concept of art to many. They think that terms takes the sand castle and crushes it back to sand. It takes the China Plate and smashes it back to dirt and mud. Our own high opinion of ourselves makes us believe that, we are already, naturally, and without effort, a work of art just by being human. This extraordinary expectation that we are brought into this world as a beautiful work of art, ready made and full of potential. That we are to build ourselves up into something extraordinary, made in our own image, and anyone who infringes upon that process is violating the free will of the individual...but only if done incorrectly.
When working with a human subject, it is the ability a master has to impose upon their pupil the specialized tools and encyclopedic knowledge of their properties, possibilities, and potential. For a master to show their subject how to mold themselves into the person they want to be, and show them how to become the beauty the master sees in them, and the pupil sees in themselves. Guidance on this journey of self discovery. Motivation to reach the potential believe to be their limits, and showing them the vast world beyond what they even began to think possible. The infinite power and imagination of the human mind is the greatest medium an artist can hope to work with. To explore that vast domain not alone, but with someone there beside you, so when the abyss stares back at you with hunger, you do not shrink away from that raw potential because you are not alone. One is there to chart the course, and the other is there to steer the ship. Together, each bringing their own form of mastery to the dynamic. Through that guidance of self discovery, the master puts a part of their soul into their subject, a part of themselves, into their master's piece.
