Artist Marie Brozova's recollections of the public drawing event in Pelhrimov.
When I visited the international festival The City of Record Deeds in Pelhrimov, I was charmed not only by its spontaneous warm atmosphere, but first of all by unusual record deeds originated by common people, who dedicate all their free time and efforts to their extraordinary hobbies. I am really glad that Dobry Den Agency that organizes this project annualy, gives chance to these people to present themselves in contrast to all the celebrities bashed out by media. These record holders, who usually do not attract enough medial publicity, are able to do extraordinary things, often performing them in public. At that time I got an idea to picture the atmosphere of this beautiful festival, which is weird but also touching. I wanted to create a drawing, record size of course, with main square of Pelhrimov encircled by these original and eccentric record breakers.
But from my experience I knew that it would have taken about 14 days of hard work in public, and this seemed to be intimidating. Some people might think that public drawing event means lots of fun. They see me standing all days working on my drawing, talking to people in a good mood. But in fact it is not that easy. It takes a lot of emotional stress, because you never know what people passing by have in their mind, and Czech people are the nation of practical jokers. And I am not talking about the physical strain me and my husband must endure, especially in case of outdoor exhibitions. Then you must install the drawing easel and easels with all the pictures in the morning and after seven hours of public performance put all these things away. I am getting stronger each year and I even got dumb-bells from my husband for Christmas, but it is still not enough to carry out this every day calvary without negative consequences. But with the immense support of Dobry Den agency I decided to risk this critical experience and attempt another record deed. I can only say that it was worth it.
I was also very lucky to have kind people around to help me with the installation and thanks to them I had more time for drawing the picture that drew the attention of passers-by to the forthcoming 17th year of the festival.
The very first day of public drawing event I found out that drawing on format of paper measuring 185 by 125 mm was not very practical. First of all it is extremely heavy when it is attached to a drawing board. Every move up or down on the easel became a heroic performance. Another unexpected problem rose when I learned that the picture was wider than my visual field. When I worked on the right side of almost two meters long paper, I did not have any chance to prevent small children with their hands tacky of ice cream attacking my drawing from the left side, not even by a daring high jump over the little chair with my pencils. I wish that mothers were more interested in their children's doing and caught them in time. I would be also very glad if I did not have to repeat to so many people, that drawings are not to be touched.
The first dose of energy I took at breakfast in hotel Slavie, where we relished in sweet pancakes every morning. But all day long I was supported by wonderful people, who often came back to see how I would express their city. Some visitors recognized themselves in the drawing, especially children who took part in record deed of creating the biggest national flag from colored sheets of paper. This flag covered a great part of the main square and I put it into the center of my drawing. One good humored drunkard managed to persuade me to portray him standing on the corner where he always makes the decision what pub he would like to visit next. In the beginning I was alarmed by the exceptional number of drunkards walking by (I have seen so many drunken people in the morning hours only in Ostrava industrial hopeless region, but the truth is that I was performing in a book shop then). But local people soon explained to me that I put my easel in the middle of the way from one non stop pub to the other, and these two infamous places became homes of these unfortunate characters.
But most of all I would like to thank to Petr Kozak, a young man of many fiery talents, a skilled fakir and photographer (he created the most extensive photo documentation of this project) who never failed to help us with the installation of the outer exhibition. He also brought me all kinds of adorable animals like rats, boa constrictor, one small dragon and armful of inspiration. Thanks to him I could hold the boa constrictor for the first time in my life around my neck. His name was Little John and he was writhing around my body with such effortless grace that I would never have guessed his weight – full ten kilos! We must have made a lovely pair because many people told me afterwards: Madame Brozova, we are astonished! We did not know that you were trained to perform with snakes!
I was reminded again of the importance of talking to many different people. I never thought of the problem of grannies and grandpas who cannot retire because of the current reform of the pension system. It means that they must work long years after they were promised to retire. These elderly people lose the chance of valuable time they could spend with their grandchildren. When children reach teen age years, it is too late, they are not interested in their grandparents anymore. I remember very well the merit of the time I could spend with my grandparents, who were at home and saved me from meaningless afternoon classes for children that had nobody to take care of them. I am so glad I did not have to spend my childhood years in institutions. And talking about the institutions, I was sad that so very few schools in Pelhrimov took advantage to visit our project, except from one energetic teacher, who saved the reputation of the city by bringing many classes from her school. I was told that our announcements and invitations we always send to all the schools in the region do not reach the teachers and end up in a wastebasket as unwanted extra work.
During one rainy afternoon, when there was no hope for sunshine in the sky or in people's hearts, I was saved by a friend of ours, who came from a distance visit us unexpectedly. He invited me for a cup of coffee, I was holding the hot cup in my cold numb hands, and he told me, that even if I had a positive influence on one percent of people walking by, it would be worth it. I thought of his words when a lady told me, before going home, that she had been thinking of suicide for a long time, no pill helped her, but my drawings reminded her how beautiful the world can be. She saw the beauty and decided to wait a little with her critical decision.
I also gained lots of strength and energy when we visited a holy hill Kremesnik. We were inspired by a wonderful book by photographer Josef Chaloupek depicting the beautiful places in the region. We entered a different dimension woven from eternity and it was very painful to go back to the vanity fair of our hot present. But soon after the festival began. I could not watch the podium, because there was a huge plastic beer commercial monument in my view. But I at least enjoyed the evenings, sitting in the audience and admiring unbelievable performances – flying Indians Psito Oyate or guitar virtuoso Stepan Rak playing his music on the marble guitar created by a modest genius, young sculptor Jan Rericha. It was extraordinary impression to hear the sound of stone 250 millions years old. As I have said before, against all my fatigue it was worth it.
When Mr. Vanek from Dobry Den Agency invited me on the stage the last
day of the festival, he asked me an interesting question: What
is the most important quality for becoming a successful artist?
My answer was easy: You must have a hard core, because only a
very hard core can protect the most valuable seeds from being attacked
and destroyed from outside. And these things happen when you perform in
public. Your peel can be soft and vulnerable, because otherwise you could
not stay sensitive. But the core must be shielded and hard as a stone.
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