Art & Fear

"The myth of the extraordinary provides an excuse for an artist to quit trying to make art, and the excuse for a viewer to quit trying to understand it." 

"If you think good work is somehow synonymous with perfect work, you are headed for big trouble"

"Unfortunately, expectations based on illusion lead almost always to disillusionment"

I am a perfectionist.  I set expectations for myself that I cannot achieve.  This is the main struggle I have with art, I never feel my work is good enough.  Even if my art looks good to me, I constantly worry how the viewer will see it.  It is this self-consciousness, combined with impossible expectations that limits me. When I start working on a piece, I always have an idea in my head of what it will look like, and I strive to make it look like that picture.  However, I don't think I have ever made anything that looked exactly like the picture in my head, in fact my art rarely looks even remotely similar.  Even when I draw from observation, my artwork somehow takes a form of its own. 

Week 2

This week I focused on landscape.  I drew multiple landscapes from both observation and imagination in order to get ideas for the show in the gallery.  I did not focus on the final product, but the drawing ended up flowing nicely together.  After break, I plan on concentrating more on what I am putting in the gallery.  

Scratching, by Twila Tharp

What is scratching according to Twila Tharp and how does she suggest we do it?

According to Twila Tharp, scratching is looking everywhere for inspiration.  People can get ideas from looking at almost anything.  Tharp suggests gathering ideas from a variety of different sources.  She gets a large amount of ideas by looking at other dancers.  She then experiments and makes other people's ideas her own.  

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

I can see myself using Tharp's suggestions to make my ideas flow more freely.  Sometimes I am too focused on the final product and not the initial idea.  With Tharp's suggestions to gather ideas from my surroundings, I will spend more time digging through ideas and experimenting with different materials.  

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

For visual artists, scratching can take many forms.  Scratching can be visiting another artist's studio to see how they work, or an art gallery to see the products of another artist's scratching.  Scratching is finding inspiration, and since visual art can take any form, scratching can too.  

Artists at Work: Workspaces & Processes

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

Creating a studio space that the artists is both comfortable and able to get work done in is essential to creating authentic art.  It is important for artists to create their own space according to their personalities and type of work they create.  Every studio is completely different and this is because every artist's style is different.  Often, the style of a studio is reflected in the artwork itself.  This makes it particularly necessary for an artist to put time and effort into creating his or her studio.

The Artist's Studio

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

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

Most of the objects in artists' studios are either used for inspiration or are supplies for creating artwork.  There were CDs and stereos in many of the studios.  This is because many people do not like to work in silence, and because often music can be an inspiration for creating art.  Books were other common objects in the studios.  Artists can get inspired by both the text and the pictures in the books.  Some artists had pets or other people to keep them company while they work.  Mostly, there were random objects scattered about the studios.  These could either be used in the artwork itself or used as inspiration.  

Brainstorming Sheet