Art & Fear

This week you'll be reading an excerpt from the book Art and Fear, by David Bayles and Ted Orland.

Select three quotes from the excerpt that you can relate to and type them into a post on your blog. Maybe they remind you of something that's happened to you in an art class or something you've seen someone else experience. Write about how you relate to the quote and include as many specific stories as you can.

"For every artist who has developed a mature vision with grace and speed, countless others have laboriously nurtured their art through fertile periods and dry spells, through false starts and breakaway bursts, though successive and significant changes of direction, medium, and subject matter"(27). 

~~~This quote is reassuring, because it is a reminder that artists all have different processes, and you shouldn't be worried by what those around you are accomplishing. So when the artist next to you is churning out ten unified pieces a week, and you only have a smattering of jumbled ideas, don't give up, and don't feel inferior.

"To demand perfection is to deny your ordinary (and universal) humanity, as though you would be better off without it. Yet this humanity is the ultimate source of your work; your perfectionism denies you the very thing you need to get your work done. Getting on with your work requires a recognition that perfection itself is (paradoxically) a flawed concept" (31).

~~~ I've definitely had many battles with my perfectionism over the years. In lots of mediums, I've gotten over it. It helps me to "messy up" the whiteness of the paper right at the start, because otherwise I get caught in a very careful bubble. Last term in ceramics, I made a conscious effort to subdue my perfectionism a little. It worked out really well, because I produced a lot of pieces, and I was happy with essentially all of them. I let myself be spontaneous, poking holes out of chunky candle holders, and also let myself add fine details, like the cut-out sections in my vase, or the shapes on my leaf platter. I'm glad I didn't get stuck, like I did on my pufferfish last year.

"What is sometimes needed is simply an insulating period, a gap of pure time between the making of your art, and the time when you share it with outsiders"(40).

~~~ I'm often uncomfortable showing my art to others. Sometimes because it's personal, sometimes because it's not personal enough, and I feel like people will be bored. I don't worry too much about the audience while making art. But once it's actually being viewed, I worry that people can't follow my train of thought. With what I've made this term, I'm worried about something different. Although I've had a blast painting my pottery, sketching my still life, working on my seal painting, I feel like my pieces don't "mean" anything, and I worry that the audience will think my work is juvenile. 

Week 2: Progress

This week, I accomplished two things. I glazed my mug, and I had fun doing a nice little still-life with cray-pas and watercolors.

For my mug, (I will put up a picture of it later), I decided to experiment with the wax-resist stuff. On the bottom half of the mug, I drew with this, making swirlies and stuff that will turn out as black lines. On the top of my mug, there are grooves cut into the clay. I filled them in with the "Black Magic" glaze. Using the "Dark Blue" glaze, I painted over the wax resist section of the mug, and I painted the inside of the mug. Then, I used "Turquoise" for the top half of the mug. I hope it turns out nicely, and doesn't bubble or anything... This is the lightest, nicest shaped mug I've ever made!

For my still-life, I chose a gourd and a pinecone for their nice texture. In the intense sunlight on my desk, they cast very sharp and beautiful shadows. After sketching out both objects in pencil, I went back over them, coloring them in with colorful cray-pas. I love doing this, it's a lot of fun to assign a bright color to a more muted tone, and completely change the feel of the image. I used cray-pas for the shadows and the objects themselves, and then added a light watercolor wash in the background.

Week 1: Progress

In the first week of class, I decided to finish up glazing some ceramics stuff from last term.I didn't get it finished up, but I did glaze 3 votive candle holders (the 2 chunky square ones and the delicate circular one).

On the chunky square ones, I used the Sea Mist glaze on the outside, which has glass chips in it which will become specks of white and blue. In the star-shaped indentations, I painted canary yellow. On the inside, I used an opalescent glaze (I think it was Sapphire Blue...)

On the delicate circular one, I used Light Green on the inside, and Black Magic on the outside. I want to have that nice contrast against the black when the light from the candle shines out. As you can see in the pictures, I put masking tape around the outside so that the light green could be poured into to inside and swished around. Then, I took the tape off, and applied a few coats of black with a sponge. The last coat I did with a brush, which takes longer, but I wanted to make sure the outside had a smooth and not pebbled texture.

Scratching, by Twyla Tharp

What is scratching according to Twyla Tharp (http://www.twylatharp.org/bio.shtml) and how does she suggest we do it?

"Scratching" is about the initial exploration needed in order to find an idea. She uses the word scratching to link this exploration with the image of scratching a lottery ticket. She suggest that we start off by scratching for small ideas, and then scratching for the connections between the small ideas. Some ways to scratch are: to improvise, to read, to converse, to look at other people's work, to think of your mentors and heroes, or to scratch amid nature.

Knowing how you work in the studio, what methods, techniques, or tricks can you see yourself using from Ms. Tharp's suggestions?

I can see myself reading, conversing, looking at other people's work, and definitely getting out in nature. A lot of my thoughts are supplemented by what I've read. I completely disagree with her points about reading the classiest, most admired works, though. I think that I often look for feedback, and that conversation about my ideas or work helps me to define it for myself. Looking at Hamlett's website with all the artists and studios was very exciting, and I would like to go back there for some extra inspiration. Finally, one of the things I know for sure about this term is that I am going to get outside some, and bring nature indoors some. I also have a whole stack of beautiful nature photos that are very inspiring in terms of colors and shapes, that my mom was going to recycle, but that I salvaged. : )

She's talking about dance. What would this behavior look like in the studio?

She also mentions painting occasionally, but she sounds kinda silly when she does. "... or a painter dashing off sketches right and left until one pleases the eye. That's what improvising is like for me" (100). OR, when she's talking about nature, she says, "A painter would study the bird's coloring" (103). She assumes that painters are only interested in what looks pretty, when in reality, a painter is probably just as interested in the bird's movement as she is. 

For a lot of studio artists, the improvisation stage would also include listening to music. One thing that I do agree with her about is that you have to actually be improvising physically in order to generate good ideas. If you are too contained in your head, you are restricting the impulses to jump, or paint, or whatever, that could become very good and creative ideas.

The Artist's Studio

PROMPT: Go through the studio visits portion of Hamlett's website (http://www.hamlettdobbins.com/studios.php). Look at as many pictures as you can in 15 minutes and then write in response to the following questions on your blog:

- What types of things do you see in more than one artist's space?

Windows, CD's, some sort of paint, pencils, or other supplies, Canvases half finished or all the way finished (sometimes you can't tell which is which)

- Why do you think these things appear in so many different artists' studios?

Inspiration, materials, and products. yay!

OK, whoa, I love the stuff that Erin Harmon had in her studio.... Especially because I wanted to use this mossy lichen-y piece of bark as inspiration for my first project. Also, along that same nature-y line, I want to look up those books that Chuck Johnson had in his studio.

Getting Started: Image of Brainstorm From 1st Day

PROMPT: Using a large sheet of paper, VISUALLY brainstorm on the following topics/ questions.

- What materials have you had success with?

- What are your most famous works of art?

- Trends and idiosyncrasies: materials, subject matter, themes, etc.

- How/ why did you start making art?

- What role does/has art and/or handmade things play(ed) in your life?

- What do most people think you're good at when it comes to art?

- What do you think you're good at when it comes to art?

- What would your ultimate studio look like? Where would it be?

- The goal for the 2 weeks before spring break is to make as much work as possible. What are some ways you could do this?

Artists at Work: Workspaces & Processes

"Prompt: In response to the powerpoint we looked at in class, answer the following question:

How do artists develop spaces and methods for making their most authentic work as part of a daily artistic practice?"

I think that most artists start by collecting things that they like. Like pretty paints, or interesting ideas, or scraps of textured materials, or books, or pictures. Some artists nest by piling all this into a cluttered, creative space, while others organize and sort neatly, in order to not be distracted or overwhelmed.

Setting up the space seems like the easier part to me. Developing a method for working is harder. If part of art is to follow your impulses, then what if your impulses tell you to stay curled up in bed? Artists have to find enough motivation to be productive. And are you producing based on your own whims, or with the judgements of others in mind? Which mindset results in the best work, the most productivity? It's probably different for everybody.