Perfection and more.....

I found this article in a old book of mind and thought I'd share this with others.

A ceramic teacher announced on opening day that he was dividing the class into two groups. All those on the left side of the studio , he said, would be graded solely on the QUANTITY of the work they produced, all those on the right solely on its QUALITY. His procedure was simple: on the final day of class he would bring in his bathroom scale and weight the works of the "quantity" group: fifty pound of pots rated an "A", forty pounds a "B" and so on. Those being graded on "quality" however needed to produce only one pot- albeit a perfect one- to get a "A". Well, came grading time and a curious fact emerged: the work of the highest quality were all produced by the group being graded for quantity. It seemed that while the "quantity" group was busily churning out piles of work- and learning from their mistakes- the "quality" group had theorizing about perfection, and in the end had little more to show for their efforts than grandiose theories and a pile of dead clay.

Art and Fear....Capra Press 1993

Art Issues....

Finding your place in the art world is no easy matter, if indeed there is a place for you at all. In fact one of the few sure things about contemporary art scene is that someone besides you is deciding which art-and which artist- belong in it. It's been a tough century for modesty, craftsmanship and tenderness.

Art and Fear, Bates and Orland 1993

Political Art's Problems......

Does political art have to be "dead on" to work successfully? If this is true, it suggest to me that disenfranchise art and artists have a higher standard to meet then those who make other types of non social/political art. Artists of color and female artists are on a uneven playing fields or must assimilate/compromise their works. How is it possible to be a minority or a women of any race and not create political works of art on some level and in some fashion? Perhaps non political artists are able to strike their artistic marks earlier and easier with less debate, and scrutiny attached ? Art which does not focus on social and political struggles is and remains high art, too. But does this mean that political art is more important then art that simply makes us feel good and doesn't require us to think as much? Does political art have to be entertaining, clever and always fresh ...or else ? Finally, does art even have to be fair?

Fear about yourself....

Fear about art-making fall into two families: fear about yourself, and fear about your reception by others. In a general way, fear about yourself prevents you from doing your best work, while fear about your reception by others prevent you from doing your OWN work.

Finding your voice......

For most artist making good art depends upon makinh lots of artand any device that carries the first brushstroke to the next blank canvas has tangible vaule. The hardest part of making art is living your life in such a way that your work gets done over and over and that means, among other things, finding a host of pratices that are plain useful. A piece of art is the surface expression odf a life lived within productive patterns.

Talent.....

Talent is a snare and a delusion. In the end, the practical questions about talent come down to these: Who cares? Who would know? and of course What difference would it make? And the practical answers are Nobody, Nobody and none in that order.
Artist get better by sharpening their skills or by acquiring new ones they get better by learning to work and by learning from their work.

D. Bates and T Ordland Art and Fear 1993

Drawing from within....

All creative journeys begin with a challenge to introspective, to fathom not only "what's in there" but "what's in here".

Art and Fear

...what's really needed is nothing more than a broad sense of what you are looking for, some strategy for how to find it, and an overriding willingness to embrace mistakes and surprises along the way. Simply put, making art is chancy-it doesn't mix well with predictability. Uncertainty is the essential inevitable and all pervasive companion to you desire to make art.
David Bayles and Ted Orland (c) 1993

The Nature of the Problem

Making Art is difficult. We leave a drawings unfinished and stories unwritten. We do work that does not fell like our own. We repeat ourselves. We stop before we have mastered our materials, or continue on long after their potential is exhausted. Often the work we have not done seems more real in our minds than the pieces we have completed. And so questions arise; How does work get done? why does it not get done? And what is the nature of the difficulties that stop so many who start?

"Life is short, art long opportunity fleeting, experience treacherous, judgement difficult"

Hippocrated (460-400 B.C)

Perfection......

If you think good work is somehow synonymous with perfect work, you are headed for big trouble. Art is human; art is error. Without flaws it is not clear what you would be, but clearly you would not be one of us.

Going To The Infinite Well...

There are times, however, when familiar paths and ways keep us stuck in patterns no longer rewarding. Embark on a hunt, with no specific quarry in mind except that it should be an object and that it speaks to you in some fashion.

Ask yourself....

Ask what am I more interested in painting or the issue? If it is the paint, the wood, or what ever, concentrate on those and pay attention. On the other hand, if it is "issue driven" concentrate and repeat..

Dreams.....

When we dream we all draw. And when we draw in our dreams everyone draws perfectly. There are no corrections, doubts or criticism, or skills necessary. We know exactly what we want, where everything goes, what colors it should be, how tall, small, heavy or light things are. Effortlessly we draw a world in our minds with ease and conviction. We are all the inventors of the great pyramids, briefly.

More on hair....

The revolution in hair began after slaves were allowed free time to care for their hair and the energy to Anglicize him/herself. White people gave old household scissors for slaves to cut their hair (which was a vast improvement over the animal shears they were formerly given; included were worn out brushes and combs. The Anglicizing process took root and grew with the rise of the house slave. Today my work "Fired Hair" is about this provocative history.

Inside, Not Out

Peter London, "No More Secondhand Art"

It is ironic that our very concept of art, and what is required to make it, dooms most would-be artist to frustration and modest results. There are three false and killing notions about art. The first is that art is about beauty. The second is that in order to be an artist you must train your hands to be dexterous and your eyes to be accurate. The third is that there are certain canons of good form that is applied, will bring about beautiful things. Each of these three precepts is true, but none is true enough. Their perversity resides in their incompleteness, not in their wrongness.

I share these blogger thoughts because; I have read many books on art and this one is without a doubt near my favorites.