Category Archives: Uncategorized

The Value in Terrible Art

Posted on by
1

This week, I drove to my old house in Pennsylvania to pick up some old art supplies and canvas I had left there when I moved out. My hope had been to assess what was there and potentially use some of it back in my New Jersey studio– art supplies can be expensive, at time, and I am no stranger to using what I have or gesso-ing over an old or failed painting so as not to waste the canvas. When I got there, I found three or four old, painted and half-painted pieces, including a huge 60″x48″ canvas. The date at the bottom of the painting read August, 2005.

And it was terrible. Really terrible.

I loaded them up and drove them to my home in NJ with plans to get each into the studio and painted white immediately. I didn’t want anyone to see them– as far as I was concerned, they didn’t represent my passion, talent, or potential and I didn’t want anyone judging my current work based on this old, awful stuff. Frankly, I was a little embarrassed of them. Continue reading →

The Artist’s Statement & how the @*#% to Write One

Posted on by
Reply

Just-an-assholeI have struggled with the idea of an artist’s statement for just about as long as I’ve considered myself an artist. As a painter/illustrator, I was sure my visual pieces were capable of speaking on their own– in fact, I figured that if they didn’t, I had failed at what I consider the primary goal of all art, to communicate.  Regardless, I kept coming across all the reasons I needed an artist’s statement, all the reasons I “should” have one, all the situations I would come across as a professional that would require it.  And so, I struggled. I like to think that I am pretty handy with the written word, but writing about yourself and your work is an entirely different game altogether. There’s so much pressure there. Ultimately, in the years I have spent as a professional artist, I have never successfully written and artist’s statement, and, frankly, I have never needed one– but I’ve recently learned a few things about this elusive beast, and now I’m going to share them with you. Perhaps you will spend a few less years writing terrible things about yourself than I have.

Among those in the art world– and by “art world” I don’t mean you and I, I mean the galleries, dealers, and agents running this business– there are mixed feelings about artist’s statements and whether they’re necessary at all. It turns out, far less of these people require them than you may think, though some still look for a statement in introduction or even use them in shows.  The problem is, most artist’s statements are just plain bad.  In theory, they should offer some limited insight into the art itself– who the artist is, the technical process, the artist’s belief system of philosophy, or how the piece fits into a larger body of work, and the like– without stepping all over what the art is able to say for itself. The artist’s statement should be demure and totally okay with playing in the background, while the art remains the focus.  The artist’s statement should offer insight and information without being required when it comes to actually viewing the painting (as a side note, if your visual art piece is not accessible to the viewer in some way outside of a lengthy and elaborate statement, perhaps you should consider becoming a writer instead…). And the artist’s statement should add to and compliment the work is accompanies, not distract from it.

Unfortunately, the increase in artist’s statements has come along with an increase in awful. Continue reading →

To Work for Free or Not to Work for Free? The Creative Question

Posted on by
2

Once you become an artist– in any capacity– I can guarantee you that someone, somewhere is going to ask you to work for free. It might be a doodle, a drawing, a “quick” design, a piece that comes along with “tons of exposure for you,” or a “great addition to your portfolio,” and the person asking for it would like to use it without paying for it.  For every artist who gets roped into doing unpaid work at one point or another, there is an online rant about why you shouldn’t be working for free; and for every online rant about why artist’s shouldn’t work for free, there’s a post or snippet about how artists have become “money obsessed” and have forgotten how to make art for the love of making art. And every once in a while, some huge company will have to deal with a bunch of angry creatives for trying to offer the “opportunity” for artists to let them use their work, again, without having to pay for it. It happened to Google in 2009, when the mega-company offered dozens of prominent and up-and-coming artists the chance to contribute their work to their newest web project and be paid in “exposure to millions.”

The artists were unimpressed, and even insulted, by Google’s offer. Thousands rallied, albeit digitally, against the company, who reported profits in the range of 1.5 billion that year and still refused to compensate the artists it was asking to participate. Still, despite the artists who refused the offer on principle, Google still found those who were willing to work for exposure alone. You can read the NY Times article here.

So where does the line exist for we creatives? Should we do work without getting paid for it? I would like to suggest that the answer is yes… and no.

First and foremost, as a creative, you are providing a service to society. You are exploring and answering questions of imagination, boundaries, and culture. You are making a visual record of the time and place in which you live. This service that you are providing– whether you are a painter, and illustrator, a graphic designer, a photographer, etc.– is immensely important. As such, you time, your talent, and your services are valuable. That means they’re worth something, and in this day and age, “something” is most often monetary compensation.  At the same time, I am not of the belief that a a lack of active payment, clients, or commissions should stop anyone from creating and producing art. There is something to be said for creating for the sake of creating and for the love of what you do. Only by practicing our craft do we get better, and if you are a creative and you do not create, you open yourself up to experiencing great frustration and dissatisfaction in life. I don’t think that the argument of whether a creative should work for free is really asking- “Should you do work unless it is paid for by someone else;” and to approach it as if there is any suggestion that one should not create for the pure love of their craft or for their own sake is to misinterpret the issue.

Inevitably, though, you will be asked by someone to do something for free. Whether or not you choose to take the job without any compensation is entirely up to you and your own professional guidelines, however, here are some general suggestions I would like to offer as a result of my experience over the years… Continue reading →

“How long is too long?” Or, Why artists make terrible bloggers.

Posted on by
2

Saying it’s been a while would be a massive understatement.  I’m pretty sure I haven’t legitimately blogged since August.  To be fair, I spent September through December finally finishing my last semester of graduate school, and am now the proud owner of a very fancy and very expensive piece of paper.

In all seriousness, my degree is in urban studies and community arts, and I am endlessly proud of myself for actually working through this and finishing, regardless of how long it took me; and I’m endlessly grateful for those people in my life who have supported me and encouraged me throughout the process. I am also pretty grateful that it’s over. Don’t get me wrong – I have always loved school, and I have always been a good student, but I was ready to be done this particular phase of my life.

I spent January and February recovering from the process. I know, that seems totally dramatic, but it felt like I worked nonstop for months and months and kept promising myself a break that never came. When January arrived and I had actually graduated, all the breaks I promised had added up! The last two months have seen me functioning. Not really reaching out and doing anything huge or worthwhile, but maintaining. Keeping the house, keeping my standard clients, doing a few small artistic projects, getting dinner on the table most nights, and not much else. For the first two or three weeks, I felt intensely guilty about this. Intensely guilty about not doing enough, taking advantage of my new skills, doing something that justified having this new degree, and, frankly, not blogging.

Guilt is a funny subject for most creatives– we all seem to feel it much more intensely than others because, many times, our creative productivity (and sometimes our jobs) rely solely on our own internal motivation. Most of the people in our lives don’t eve recognize our art as anything more than a hobby, and if we’re lucky they may classify it as a “side job,” let alone do they realize the work, effort, and constant self-motivation it takes to do something because you love it, and not simply because you get paid for it. No one pushes you to be a creative– it’s something you’re born with, and it often has to begin and end with the resources we have on the inside as individuals. There is no boss pushing and motivating, no company offering incentives and raises, and sometimes, there aren’t even parents and loved one pushing and hoping for your success as a creative. If I had a dollar for every time someone in my family asked, “Are you working yet?” I wouldn’t worry about promoting myself as an artist. Continue reading →

2012 in review

Posted on by
Reply

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2012 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

600 people reached the top of Mt. Everest in 2012. This blog got about 4,000 views in 2012. If every person who reached the top of Mt. Everest viewed this blog, it would have taken 7 years to get that many views.

Click here to see the complete report.

Creating Creativity

Posted on by
4

Creativity Right Brain Left BrainI have always heard people say, either to myself or any other ‘obviously’ artistic person in the room at the time, “OMG, you are sooo creative. I could never do that!” or, “I wish I could be as creative as you are!” or, even better, “How do you come up with that stuff? It’s amazing how it just comes from no where…”

I’ve learned to recognize these as comments in passing, for the most part. I don’t take the time to explain to them that I believe that we are all creative beings, and that our creativity comes from our spirit – that which makes us human, the “infinite intelligence” that Deepak Chopra writes about.  The only variations, I believe, are the level to which each of us has allowed creativity to be cultivated within us, and the form of expression we choose to use.  Even those of us who have taken on the title “artist”, “musician”, or the like, have moments that the creativity stream seems to run dry – the ideas seem to disappear, and with them go the motivation and any clue of what to do next.

We’re living in the era of creativity. No longer is it only artists, musicians, and writers who are expected to be creative – everyone is.  Businesses and corporations want increasingly creative solutions. Creative ‘giants’ like Google, Behance, and Apple are at the top of the economic ladder.  More and more people are employed in a creative capacity, and more and more people have taken their employment into their own hands. So, if creativity is in all of us – even those who make no claims at being an “artist” – and we all need it, how do we get to it? Continue reading →

How To Kill Your Creativity « Thought Catalog

Posted on by
Reply

I usually adhere to a general rule to avoid re-blogging or re-posting other content from around the web – both to avoid falling into the trap of becoming one of those blogs (you know the ones) that constantly re-post other people’s thought, work, and mildly funny jokes from last year.  When I followed this link from a facebook friend, however, I knew I had to share what I had read. It spoke to me.

It’s easy to catch myself acting as if creativity is this fragile, elusive thing, when in reality, it is inherent and surrounds us every day – we just have to learn to recognize it, nurture it, and use it. I know that I am a better person when I am creative – in some manner – every day, whether that be working on a painting, illustrating a book, singing, or making a really fantastic meal.

Take a look at this post by Mila Jaroniec. How are you killing your creativity?

How To Kill Your Creativity « Thought Catalog.

A Creative Funk: 27 Publishers & the Art of Failing

Posted on by
5

Dr. Suess' first bookIt happens to the best of us.

One only has to look at the countless blogs, websites, photo galleries, video montages, and television shows dedicated to people messing up, doing stupid things, and best intentions turning disastrously bad to  realize that everyone fails, in some sense of the term, at some point in their existence – and our society has come d0wn with a slight obsession with watching people do so. I guess it’s fair to say that watching other people fail usually means you aren’t, or, at the very least, makes your fails seem less fail-y.

Coming off of a two week hiatus from The Artist’s Way, I’ve been thinking a lot about what it means to fail. To take it a step further, I’ve been thinking about what the conclusion means about me once I’ve determined whether I’ve actually failed or not. What separates failure from success? What does it mean if I’ve failed? Do I have to start over? Can I pick up where I left off? Has the entire endeavor been made less effective because of a tad of failure in the middle?

The Artist’s Way was the great endeavor of my new year. I had committed myself to taking the time and the space necessary to develop my passion, creativity, and inner artist. Yet, for the past two weeks, I haven’t read a single page from the book (despite completing five straight weeks ot readings and exercises with great success!). I haven’t blogged. I haven’t gone on a new Artist’s Date. I haven’t done any exercises or even created on my own. I’ve been in a downright creative funk. Continue reading →

Creative Reality: Everyone Fakes it, Right?

Posted on by
2

acrylic paints art creativity“People frequently believe the creative life is grounded in fantasy. The more difficult truth is that creativity is grounded in reality, in the particular, the focused, the well observed or specifically imagined… Art lies in the moment of encounter: we meet our truth and we meet ourselves; we meet ourselves and we meet our self expression. We become original because we become something specific: an origin from which work flows.”

I spent most of my life – albeit only 27 years – vigorously avoiding the title “artist.” It took loosening and overcoming deeply embedded beliefs that art was not a “real” or “good enough” profession, that I wasn’t good enough to “make it”, and that, as an artist, I would forever be poor, starving, and struggling before I was able to begin to embrace the dreaded title. Once I graduated high school, I stopped creating altogether, and were it not for the help and encouragement of a good friend, I may not have picked up a brush for longer than the nearly five years it took to begin painting once again. These days, I have embraced the title. I identify as an “artist” and it is my profession. Most of my time (notice I didn’t say spare time!) is focused around my artistic career – whether I’m painting, researching, sketching, or blogging. I have finally become okay with this. I can say, “I am an artist” without any adverse reactions.

Now, I suffer from a different feeling altogether – I fear that I’m a fake. Continue reading →

Monster Hall of Fame: Preschool Creativity Killer

Posted on by
5

Kari in preschoolSeveral of the assignments in week #1 of The Artist’s Way have required me to recall memories from my childhood, specifically those that had to do with the growth and encouragement of my creativity, and, at time, those involving the squelching of my younger-artistic self. Honestly, I didn’t have too many memories of either – I remember having loved to draw and color from a ridiculously early age, winning my first coloring contest as a five year old, and my dad playing a game with me in which he would draw a line dividing a piece of paper in half and draw a picture in the top half for me to copy in the bottom (I still think this is one of the reasons that I have never had trouble looking at another picture and copying it near exactly). My artistic growing- up seemed more neutral than anything. Still, as I shuffled through my childhood memories in order to fulfill the Artist’s Way assignments, I was able to come up with something.

I can very clearly remember the building in which I attended preschool. I attended there from the ages of 3-5 before starting Kindergarten the fall after I turned 5. There was a large group of teachers working in the school, but one – we’ll call her “Teacher S.” was a woman you did not mess with, under any circumstances. Teacher S. was a loud, dominant, and slightly aggressive woman who took crap from no one, and you would be hard pressed to find a student in the building at any given time willing to cross her. As a child, I was pretty successful at staying out of trouble, in fact, it rarely happened at all, but I was just a little stubborn, highly creative and imaginative, and did not like being put into a box. It was something that I wasn’t used to – while my creativity wasn’t always directly encouraged, as long as I wasn’t adorning the walls with my latest creation, it wasn’t discouraged either.

My favorite time of the day in preschool was arts and crafts time. Not event the fact that Teacher S. was the primary overseer of the activity could dampen my love for it. I loved coloring, drawing, and creating. I loved the big windows and all the light in the room. I loved looking at all the colors and paints in the room. By the age of 4, I had already established some of my talent, and was accustomed to being highly praised for my natural artistic ability. I could already draw better than most of the kids my age, and my coloring was as impeccable as it came in a 4 year old package.

This particular day, when we were ushered into the arts and crafts room, on the table in front of each seat was a white 8.5×1″ piece of paper with the outline of a lion drawn on it. The lion was discernibly missing all of his hair.As we found our seats, we were also given several strips of brown construction paper, a pencil around which to curl them (to make lion hair, of course), a glue stick in order to stick them around his now-bald head, and a brown crayon with which to color his body.

My 4-year-old aesthetic sensibilities were immediately offended. Continue reading →