Deborah Tobola
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HeART
of the Matter
by
Deborah Tobola
In the fall I look forward to Open Studios on the Central Coast—the
annual event that brings the general public out to visit the homes or
studios of about 200 artists. It's a good excuse to visit one of my
favorite artists — who is also one of my favorite people.
I've known Guillermo Willie
for 14 years. His art is extraordinary and so is he. He is a master at
"being in the moment." He says life itself is an art form. If it's an
art form, how should we approach its canvas, I ask him.
He says, "What do you mean by if? I figure that if we're a chip off the
old block, then we must have been blessed with a little creativity
somewhere along the line. And isn't creativity what its all about?
Somebody somehow came up with the idea of the wheel, and now we have
tiny computer phones. Whether its called art or not, in the normal
sense, our creativity has evolved, just like art forms."
Guillermo is primarily a self-taught artist who found freedom in
self-expression. He wishes that freedom for everyone, especially young
people. He says, "It's wonderful to open people's minds to expression
through the arts. It's a step closer to exposing their hearts to it.
"And maybe the young person that keeps getting told to be quiet, to be
like everybody else, to stop acting out, just maybe he can express
himself through the arts. It would sure be better than them sneaking
off somewhere else, where forms of expression have a door that opens up
and leads to criminality."
This is something Guillermo knows firsthand. If he had discovered art
when he was a boy, I probably never would have met him. I would never
have encountered his "art from the gut" or taken amazing journeys with
him — to the Steinbeck Festival, Alcatraz Island, a
continuation high school in Redding — among many others.
(Every journey Guillermo takes, by the way, is an amazing journey.) I
would have missed our discussions about art and life over a cup of
coffee.
Because when I met Guillermo 14 years ago, it was in prison, where he
was an inmate and I was the facilitator of the Arts in Corrections
program. He paroled right before I left to begin Poetic Justice
Project. Now, almost six years later, he's thriving as an artist, actor
and student.
"Maybe art can be described as the creative process by which we become
better human beings, remembering that we're all in this together, and
doing our best to reach our full potential but not at the expense of
any one of our fellow travelers," Guillermo says. Maybe he's right. And
maybe he's a shining example of that statement.
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