Preparing for the New Year
December 29, 2013
Ponderings, Tips and Tricks
I suggest focusing on the studio rather than the bank accounts!
In these days between Christmas and New Years, it is a great time to go through your studio, clean it out, and get yourself organized so you can start out the New Year fresh. Go through unfinished projects and decide which you are confident you will complete, and which you need to be resigned to never finishing, tossing them out or recycling them if you can. Go through your supplies and tools and make a list of what you need to replace or stock up on. Then you know what to use those gift cards and Christmas money for! And with after Christmas sales, you can make that money go farther … a lot farther. It will feel really good to start out clean, stocked and organized in the studio for 2014!
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Making Friends with Failure
December 22, 2013
Ponderings
This is a bit longer installment than I usually have on Sunday but I think this strip by Stephen McCranie explains so well how silly it is for us to be so hard on ourselves, to expect perfection in every piece we create, and to miss out on the lessons we can learn from our imperfect creations. It is well worth the read. Click on the image here to see the entire strip. Enjoy.
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Shininess is Catching
December 15, 2013
Ponderings
I don’t know that I need to add anything here. This is as simple as being enthusiastic about your creative endeavors or any other other myriad of wonderful things in your life. Smile and others will smile with you. Laugh and others will laugh along. Strive to do better in everything you do and you will inspire others to do the same.
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If It Scares You …
December 8, 2013
Ponderings
Scattered composition requires that you accept randomness, potential chaos, and even taking a chance that it will work. Sometimes these kinds of things scare us or at least make us feel that we are giving up control of the outcome, which we may find hard to do. But if you have full control of the outcome of everything–your art work, your day, your life in general–then you are not taking chances. Predictability breeds stagnancy. Do something that you’re not comfortable with this week. Something that scares you and exictes you at the same time. It can be surprising and even downright amazing what you find out, mostly about yourself.
And don’t forget … today is the last day to get in on the Cyber Week Special! $2 off each single Print Issues of The Polymer Arts magazine when you buy 2 or more. Catch up on anything you’ve missed or only have in digital. Or buy copies for gifts! You can purchase them here:
http://www.thepolymerarts.com/Single_issues.html
Code: CMUSP2 Sale ends midnight, Sunday Dec. 8th
If you like this blog, support The Polymer Arts projects with a subscription or issue of The Polymer Arts magazine as well as supporting our advertising partners.
Scars
December 1, 2013
Ponderings
I thought it would be hard to come up with a quote related to carving and cutting for this Sunday’s thought, but then I opened my folder of quotes and this one was sitting there in the first row. It has more personal relevance than artistic application, but I think we can all relate to this thought on some level.
I have a lot of scars. Some were imparted during some very hard times, others are actually reminders of blissful moments. I have always had a kind of affinity for scars. They all have stories. Scars, like discarded art projects, are simple evidence of the journey you’ve been on. They are nothing to be ashamed of and are quite often something to be proud of, especially if you are still getting out there and taking chances .
Personal Impact and Contrast
November 10, 2013
Ponderings
Instead of a quote this Sunday, I wanted to share a photographer’s artwork. Richard Renaldi works in contrast. A very unexpected and heartwarming kind of contrast. And he aims to make an impact, if not on the state of the world itself, then on the lives of 2 or 3 people at a time, which he then shares with us.
Before I explain further, look at this photo here. What do you see? You are certainly seeing a contrast in age and ethnicity, but in order for contrast to work well, some commonality needs to be present. In a photo of people, our first instinct is to find that commonality in the relationship between people. You would probably start to consider who these people are, how they know each other and what they mean to each other. There is certainly a story here. But it’s not one you’d expect.
Richard Renaldi‘s photographs are all about our perception of relationships. These two women actually have nothing at all in common. Minutes before this photo was taken they were complete strangers, plucked off the streets to pose as themselves with someone that, up until that moment, meant nothing to them. But by the time the little photo shoot is over, most of Richard’s subjects find they feel connected to that stranger, all because of one moment of allowing them into their personal space and being part of an artistic endeavor. What goes on is better explained in this short video about Richard’s process, including the words and reactions of some of his subjects.
All art has the capacity to impact another person’s life in some way. Often times a gifted piece of jewelry comes to symbolize the love of another person or the importance of a particular moment. A person who buys your sculpture may do so because of the joyful times it reminds them of, or just because the beauty of it warms them when they look at it. Our art can affect people in a myriad of ways, but it’s not important whether it will or not– it’s simply that it has the potential. That concept is a good thing to keep in mind as you create: value the work you put into your art as much as you hope the person who will end up with it will value it, too. You just never know what it could end up meaningful to someone.
Appreciating the Shadow Side
November 3, 2013
Ponderings
Not everyone wants to create, buy, or own work that is dark, creepy or sinister, or reminds them of all that is not sunshine and light in this world. I understand that. However, I do think we should all cultivate an appreciation for the many sides of this life, and the artwork that explores these other sides is just as important as the work that makes us smile and feel cheery. There are shadowy sides and bright sides to most things and they all have their place.
On many blogs, people share pictures of their pets–they are a big part of our lives for many of us–but I never thought I would post my pets, since I wanted this blog to be about you and all the wonderful artists out there. But I needed an image to go with this quote and, well, I couldn’t find one that I liked. However, I had this great photo of my cat and office companion, Cleo. So now you’ve met my cat who, should someone call asking for our marketing department, is the staff member I hand the phone to. She does a great job of getting sales people off the phone!
Having Fun
October 6, 2013
Ponderings
If you read this past week’s newsletter, you know I was traveling and spent a bit of time with the ever-entertaining and intelligent Christi Friesen. We got into some pretty deep conversations (regularly punctuated with laughter), but one of the more important ones was about not taking your clay too seriously. I may be guilty of that at times, but it is best kept in perspective. Because, as Einstein put it …
So don’t forget that what you are doing should be fun. Allow yourself to play as well as push through to meet those deadlines. There will be more on this (including a test to figure out what your goal should be with your claying) in the Winter 2013 issue of The Polymer Arts, due out late November.
If you like the fun drawing done with the quote above, a fellow artist, (ceramic) clayer, and Etsy seller Charity Hofert penciled the quote we see here and has this and other colorful prints in her Etsy shop.
And, in case you are not aware, twice a month we send out a newsletter with the latest updates on the magazine, community news and events, and at least one great tip for working and creating with polymer. If you haven’t signed up for it (and no, we do not access our newsletter list for anything but sending the newsletter and never, ever share it) you can do so on the left hand side of The Polymer Arts home page here.
Humans Elevating Nature
September 22, 2013
Ponderings
When I started researching the theme for this past week, I jumped over to the online thesaurus and was surprised to find that the synonyms for “man-made” were all things like “fake”, “counterfeit,” and “false”. There was no synonym that celebrated the genius of human creation, that referred to things made by man as positive. How silly is that? Man-made is not a bad thing, not when done with care and awareness.
So here is a quote to counter that negative sense of man-made:
This week, I need to beg your forgiveness as I am recycling a post from a couple years ago. There’s been a small avalanche of family emergencies — nothing life-threatening — and I need to head out to Colorado and Kansas for a couple of weeks. I’ve been unable to put something together for the blog with all the distractions, but I’ve been thinking about this idea of collections again. It seems a lot of us were doing it a bit of exploring last year, which tends to result in lots of unused bits and pieces. So, this might be a useful reminder of things you can do with those bits and bobs.
Do you have a bin or box of pieces and parts of your handiwork yet unfinished but which you are too in love with toss? If you regularly create, I can’t imagine that you don’t. But what exactly do we do with these pieces? Do we hold on to them, hoping that they will be just the thing needed someday or do we toss them?
It can be quite the dilemma, one that even Marie Kondo can’t easily help with because, hey, these do spark joy for us! We see value in them, in that they represent our creativity and what we can accomplish. But do such little jewels of our work belong in a bin where we don’t get to admire them?
I’ve been thinking about this question for a while and came up with a few solutions of my own. If you have a copy of Polymer Journeys 2019, you can see, in the very last entry, my contribution, which is a display case of small exploratory items for which I had no particular use in mind when created them. I created them without thinking, “This is going to be a pendant,” or “This is going to be a set of earrings,” or “This is going to decorate a vessel.” I just made them to see what the material would do, most of which I liked, and they all represented a little exploratory learning experience.
I had already been tying bits onto ribbons and hanging them off the edge of my studio corkboard as little festive decorations. That doesn’t work for pieces that only had one viewing angle though as they would twist around on the ribbons, so I was still in search of other options.
Then I was out talking to the butterflies in my backyard (Yeah, I talk to the creatures in my yard,) and remembering how I used to catch and collect them in shadow boxes as a kid. It just randomly struck me that my little creative bits were like butterflies. They are lovelies I caught in a moment of exploratory creativity and in that small frame of time, they became a kind of unexpected friend, going through that creative time with me. I didn’t want to toss my little friends, even though I had no end-use for them. You don’t do that to friends! You hold on to them and support each other, right?
Does that sound silly? Maybe it is, but it was revealing to me to realize that I kept certain pieces not because they were so beautiful or well done, but because I felt connected to them. So, why not collect them and put them out like a collection of butterflies or a collage of photos? What you see here is what I started making. My husband and I would find shadow boxes at garage sales and thrift stores for cheap, and I’d arrange my bits in them like compositional jigsaw puzzles. I’ve made half a dozen of these so far.
By the way, I use a hot melt glue gun to tack the pieces onto a bit of mat board cut to fit the box. The nice thing about the hot melt glue is that if you do every want to take a piece out of the collection, you warm the back of the mat board with heat gun or hair dryer for a couple seconds and pop them right off. So, your “friends” can come out and play in another piece or a new collection if you like!
As I shared in the previous version of this blog in 2019, people have also used old collectibles display boxes to show off small sculptural pieces or heavy pieces of fabric to pin or hook jewelry pieces as a means of display as well. Look around at how you are other people put together collectibles for ideas about how you might display your polymer bits.
So, do I have your little wheels turning? These should give you ideas not just for what to do with your extra bits, but many of these could be a jumping-off point for creating your own unique show displays and photo setups.
Do you have a cool and unique way to display your extra bits or jewelry? Send me links to images if you do. Put it in the comments below, or if you’re reading this by email, click the header for this post to get to it online to leave a comment.
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Libby Mills’ Mod Flowers are her latest challenges. Take a look at her Instagram page and all that she’s been doing over the last couple of years, including process and studio pics.
How adverse are you to hard work and challenges?
Recognizing your ability to face the challenges and incredible effort that goes into creating original artwork can be a necessary, if somewhat painful, bit of self-assessment. Most of us find ourselves on one or the other extremes—either we give up too soon, not doing the work or finding shortcuts that don’t help us grow, or we don’t give up even when the process becomes pointless or detrimental.
Are you one or the other, or are you somewhere in the middle? Or does it depend on the type of work or challenge?
The Easy Way
Trying to find an easy way around hard work and difficult challenges is probably a bit more common. If we’re all being honest, there’s few of us who have never used a tutorial or ideas from artwork we’ve seen to develop our own pieces. That’s okay. I’m not saying that it’s bad or wrong—taking inspiration from other people’s design is one way we learn. However, if you don’t get past that stage, you are missing out on some of the most joyful work you’ll ever experience.
Using other people’s instructions or ideas allows you to create something without putting your creative self or your ego at too much risk. However, it’s taking chances and doing the hard work that makes the successes so exceptionally sweet. By going out on a limb and creating purely from your own inspiration can result in one of the most joyful feelings I think a human being can have. Seriously. There is nothing like hard earned success in your creative work to put you on Cloud 9.
Now why do we feel that way about our own artwork? Well, for one, the work is born of our ideas, experiences, and loves. But more so, it’s because of the struggles we went through either to learn the skills that allowed us to make the art and/or the hard work and time we put into its creation. When it’s done, your talent, your spirit, and your perseverance become a concrete thing that you can revel in and share.
In one of my writer’s group, a friend of mine asked why every story has to have conflict. The answer is that story IS conflict. Can you imagine watching a movie where the hero of the story had everything happen just the way they wanted it to? If Harry Potter just flicked his wand and make Voldemort go away, or Hamlet didn’t care that his father was killed, why would we watch those shows? Do you gossip about the good things that happen to people or the difficulties people are having?
Now, think about how satisfying it is when Harry vanquishes his nemesis and Hamlet finally avenges his father. Those moments are so immensely satisfying to us because of what we went through with the characters to get there. And that is true of anything we want to attain as well. The more conflict and struggle we face, the more satisfying it is when we accomplish or gain what we are after.
There’s actually science behind this. Researchers have studied everything from job positions to winning the lottery and they have found that when people are simply given something without having to work for it, not only does any elation from the acquisition die quickly but people are far less fulfilled and, sometimes, even become depressed. However, when people struggle to get promoted or have wealth because of years of hard work, they are not only happier, but they are also more motivated to keep at it than those that were simply given those things.
So, when you’re in the studio, don’t be frustrated or shy away from challenges. When you find them, think, “This is my chance to achieve something wonderful and fulfilling.” If you presently lean on the ideas of others, challenge yourself to create from your own designs as much as possible if not completely. Take risks. Push yourself just past the point of being comfortable. Do the hard work and see if you don’t find it more than worthwhile.
The Other End of the Spectrum
Now, if you’re one of those that doesn’t give up when you should, or you don’t give yourself the time off when you should, learn to take more breaks both physically and from the work you’re struggling with. It often helps to put a difficult piece away for a little while. Pull it out a few days or a few weeks later and you can see whether it is still worth working on. If it is, you’ll probably see a solution you didn’t see before.
Just don’t be afraid to set aside a piece that is going nowhere. Don’t feel you have to try finishing something because you put a lot of time into it. None of your time spent is wasted. Everything you do helps you learn and hone your skills.
Me, I’m of this sort. A dog with a bone, as they say. I look at every challenge as a battle to be won, and I don’t know the meaning of surrender. It’s rather ridiculous sometimes. I also don’t stop working when I should either, which is why I keep hurting myself.
Scaling Back on the Blog for a Bit
For those of you that were not with me for the Great Elbow Drama of 2019, I developed an advanced form of tendinitis in my right arm and can no longer type with it for any length of time. Well, now I have an overused left arm after too much research for my novel and too much gardening. *Sigh*
So, this post, and probably the next few, will be primarily chatting rather than deep dives into design concepts as I’m limited to using my speech to text software while my arm (hopefully) heals. Searching for a selection of great art images to go with what I’m writing about requires too much mousing I’m afraid. I hope you’ll stick with me though. I’ll aim for a mix of “Life As an Artist” articles like this one and design refresh posts that need only one image for the time being.
In the meantime, for those of you who can, get to the studio, give yourselves some reasonable challenges, and enjoy the fruits of your labors.
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Is this fantastical coral sculpture by Lisa Stevens complete? When I first saw it, I felt like the orange fans needed to encircle it more. Then, after looking it over, liking it regardless of that initial thought, it struck me that it is as complete as it needs to be. It’s representative of coral, which is never complete in the real world. It is an organic structure that is constantly building itself and so having this open side gives that room for that potential growth, conceptually speaking, of course. And it scores well in design elements and principles!
When do you know a piece is finished? It certainly can’t be that magical moment when it comes out just as you hoped, just as you saw it in your mind. When does that ever happen? And it’s not like there’s some established design tenet or measurement we can take that tells us, yes, this is done, this is perfect, there is nothing else you could do to make this better. Because, chances are, we will forever look at it and see the bit we aren’t happy with, contemplate what we could have done better, and see it as lesser than what we thought it should be.
(Not that we aren’t sometimes over the moon with what we create. They are rather like children to us, aren’t they? So, we don’t always mind the flaws, the incongruities, the less-than-perfect execution. Sometimes we love them for it. Luckily, most of our viewers and admirers don’t see the imperfections at all.)
The fact is, no piece of art is ever completely done because no piece of art is perfect. Yet, we usually equate completion with perfection. Well, we also equate completion with deadlines, throwing up our hands and saying, This is all I can do. It will have to be good enough.
But, barring those deadline driven ideas of completion, how DO you know when your work is done? Well, you can ask yourself a few questions:
- Is the design of working? (Use your Elements and Principles of Design lists to check off on each of the elements and concepts if you are uncertain.)
- Is the composition balanced with a path for the eye to follow, a path that is supportive of the piece’s intention?
And, most importantly…
- Is it expressing, showing, or representing what I set out to share in this piece?
If you can answer those three questions in a positive manner, it may be time to put down the tools, the paintbrush, the colorants, or whatever else you are about to accost your piece with, and step away. At least for a time.
If you wonder if it’s done but are uncertain, it likely is done or is close. So, this would be another occasion where it would be best if you set it aside, out of sight, so you can move onto the next thing and give yourself some distance from it. If you step away from it for at least a week, that would be best. Longer would be ideal, but even overnight would be better than continuing to hack away at it. That time away should allow you to see it with fresh eyes so you can better identify anything that’s missing, needs to be changed, or needs to be taken away.
If you’re on a deadline and have no time to gain that distance from it, take it to a mirror, turn it upside down (if you can), and analyze it from this new view.
More coral sculptures from Lisa Stevens to contemplate. These are porcelain and/or paper clay but I thought they could be quite inspiring for some of you polymer clayers as well.
The danger we are trying to avoid here, of course, is overworking it. Sometimes you are just too close to the piece after working on it for hours and days, or maybe even weeks, and either you can’t see what it needs or think something is a problem when it’s not. So, pull away when you start to think it might be done, or close enough that it would benefit from a fresh look after some time away. It is better to stop too early than work a piece to an irreversible point. Just repeat after me… stop early, not late.
I know that advice is not some kind of magic spell that will allow you to always know when to stop. But, remember, this is art, not a math problem. There is no final version of a piece where it will be all it can be. I think artwork is just like us—it becomes what it needs to be, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t room for improvement. It’s just a question of whether the improvement is needed.
Make sense? Great. Now, let’s go finish some work!
Clay Time!
I’m speaking of myself as well on that call to go finish some work. I’m going to run off and actually work at my studio table. I’ve been designing some deceptively simple necklaces and earrings, even though I had intended on starting some wall pieces. You just can’t tell the creative mind where to go or what to do, can you?
But also, Polyform has a ton of new clay colors they just sent me, so I’m playing with a few. There are quite a number I’m not likely to use for my work, so I’m going to pack up a few boxes this week to raffle off next weekend. Do come back and join me for that.
And if you are having a hard time finding some basic clay colors, I checked on Polyform’s site yesterday and they seem to have a lot in stock so check them out if you are running low on your favorite colors.
In the meantime, I hope you have a beautiful, cozy, safe, and creative week.
You can support this blog by buying yourself a little something at Tenth Muse Arts or, if you like…
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Kathleen Nowak Tucci going big with not-so-precious intertubes and other disposables.
What would you say if I suggested that you create a piece and then, after you are done, remove your favorite bit? Yes, I realize the request might be physically impossible without causing complete destruction but, alternately, what if I asked you to destroy something you just spent your valuable time and effort creating?
I know you might be wondering if this is some kind of dreadful crafty torture. Why in the world would anyone ask that of you and what would be the point?
Well, this was done to me and a couple dozen other classmates back in college… twice.
The first time was in a creative writing class. We brought in a piece we had been working on all week then were asked to highlight all of our favorite lines. We passed the highlighted sheets to the person next to us and then the professor asked that we scratch out all the highlighted lines in the story we had in hand.
Of course, all us sensitive little budding Hemingways and Dickinsons sat there stunned and appalled as our pieces were read aloud without the sparkling gems that we thought would certainly reveal our genius. Strangely enough, all but one of the pieces still made sense and sometimes, the author even admitted it sounded a bit better. The point was, the professor said, that we tend to fall in love with phrases or sentences and will leave them in even when they don’t serve the piece.
The point was that without our wittiest word choices we could, in theory, make better editing decisions. In art, is it possible that we could make better design decisions if we were willing to set aside the glitzy accents we love so much or not fall back on our favorite tried-and-true textures all the time?
The second time I had a professor crush my little angsty ego was in a ceramics class after we each had done a small series of slab vessels. The professor asked us to pick up our favorite piece, bring it to the center of the room, and hold it up. We were then asked if we would be willing to drop it from a height into the trash bin that sat there. Of course, no one did it at first and he just stood there waiting until a couple brave souls let their pieces go. Then the pressure was on for the rest of us to follow. Even though I wasn’t particularly attached to the piece I had in hand, it was still so hard to drop it but I did. I seem to recall that a handful of students did refuse.
Sounds like a real jerk of a professor to ask such a thing, right? Well, I have to say that, at first, that’s what I thought but then he started to talk about preciousness. His conversation had something to do with becoming too attached to particular pieces. He wanted us to put value on our process, our growth, and learning, not on impressing him or our classmates. I think he was also looking for a way to wake us up as he had been getting frustrated with our attention span during the lecture portion of the class. Well, he sure did that.
I remember thinking about that lesson some years later, when I was better able to take it in. It made me realize that each successful piece I made was really just a step in a journey more so than an end goal unto itself. That changed the way I looked at my work. And it somehow made me braver.
I still did, and do, have favorite pieces that I cherish and will never sell, but seeing the work as steps and creation as a process rather than an investment of time in an end goal has allowed me to work a bit more freely. I have a ton of pieces that remain unfinished, and although it’s disappointing every time to come to a point where you realize it’s not going to succeed how you wanted it to, I don’t have any qualms about setting it aside. I don’t see the work as wasted because I know I’ve gained a little bit more experience and a little better understanding of the process. I’ve let go of the preciousness I used to have about everything I made.
Preciousness arises not only in our valuing our time to such an extent that we will not give up on a piece even when it’s no longer salvageable, or ignoring possible design solutions because they would eliminate our favorite part, but it also happens with the material itself.
Liz Hall creates in polymer and (a lot of) precious metal clay.
Quite a few years ago, I was itching try precious metal clay but it really wasn’t in my budget. Then I found some at a really great price and bought it. But you know what? I never even opened the packages. I just couldn’t get myself to work with this very expensive material for fear I would ruin it. But, of course, it’s rather wasted now that I’ve had it so long that is not workable. Pretty stupid, right? But we can be like that, putting value on the material and not on the process and the joy that we get from learning and creating.
Preciousness is tied into fear and failure in a lot of ways. Our idea of what we think we can do or what we think we should be able to do may be so lofty or so dear and treasured that we are afraid to try, fearing that we will make a mistake and ruin our efforts or that it will not come out as we imagine it. So, we do nothing, which is the same as ruining it, just really early on.
We may also get to a point in a piece where we love it so much that we are afraid to take the next step, a step that might spoil it, and so we set it aside, with all the best intentions to take that next step at a future time but all we’ve done is deny, or even end, the work’s potential.
I thought we’d start out this month on the concept of preciousness because it felt like a good segue into discussing October’s design theme – size.
Preciousness is one of those factors that comes into play when we decide on the size or scope of the work we will take on. Our sense of preciousness can make us hesitate to do something large or particularly complex, as we may fear that we will invest a lot of effort, time, and materials into something we are not assured will be successful.
Julie Eake’s cane mosaic portrait of actress Sophie Turner was, like most of her cane mosaic portraits, a huge undertaking. But aren’t we glad she takes those risks?
But, again, have we not already failed by not attempting it in the first place?
If we looked at everything we create as precious, all the time and effort that we put into it as well as the finished work, we would have to play it rather safe in the studio. However, art is not about playing it safe.
Art is largely about the risks you take.
If you’re not taking risks, then are you actually creating art? There’s nothing wrong in creating just for that sense of accomplishment or the high of that Zen like flow we fall into when the work is familiar and comfortable. It is more than valid to have the process of making things with your hands be the primary purpose in what you do. However, it’s the hours of exploration, the failures, the false starts, our vulnerability, the deep digging, like miners looking for gold, that makes the work that we inevitably uncover truly art.
The risks we are willing to take is the thing that is truly precious.
So, keep the concept of preciousness in your mind as we talk about size this month. Of course, we’ll talk about variation and contrast in size since that is what is primarily being referred to when speaking of it as a design element, but there are other things about size that we can take into consideration as we create, move forward, and grow as creatives.
Speaking of considerations…this week, I am going to have to take my health into consideration, so although I do plan on preparing a blog for next weekend, if it ends up being short or skipped it’s because I’m having a little surgery towards the end of the week. It’s just my esophagus and I should recover in all of two days. I have to fit in all my usual physical therapy before then though, along with all the regular weekly business tasks so it will be a full week.
Don’t worry though – all you club members will get your Midweek Mini-Mag as usual including a goodies giveaway so you can look forward to that if you signed up for one of the clubs.
If you haven’t signed up for one of the clubs yet but really appreciate the information inspiration you find in this blog, help support this project by subscribing! Get your weekly mini-mag, exclusive discounts, giveaways, and special offers along with your support. With everything you’ll get, you can also think of the club as a unique and special way to acknowledge the preciousness that is your creative self!
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Meredith Dittmar’s work is, surprisingly, freeform and spontaneous although her intention to “explore, illuminate, and break down the boundaries of the conditioned self” are well supported in her design choices.
Did you work on identifying colors similarities and contrasts, even though I was unable to get anything out midweek like I’d hoped? I ended up with an exceptionally busy week but, unlike many of these past months, it was mostly good, positive things going on. I’ll catch you up on some of that stuff at the end here (including notes about my latest big sale if you’re interested) but, this week, I thought we would take a break from the intensive design lessons so I could get back to writing what I call creative growth articles.
These kinds of articles were included in every Virtual Art Box but I had set them aside while we thoroughly explored color the past few months. I’d like to do these at least once a month now to keep you thinking about why and how you create and to give you a break from the lessons here and there.
The Question of Conscious Intention
When I started the Virtual Art Box, the first thing I wrote about was artistic intention. It was easily the most impactful thing I’ve ever put out if measured by the enthusiasm and number of the comments, messages, and emails I received and, if you read this blog regularly, you’ve probably noted that intention comes up over and over again. But I realized, after an interesting conversation recently, that I’ve never really talked about the variety and ways creative people approach intention.
The core question that came up in this conversation was about whether the person creating has to be consciously aware of their intention in order for the design to be intentional. In other words, can decisions be intentional without being understood by the creator? Sounds rather philosophical but it is, in truth a very practical and rather important question.
By definition, intention means that you have some knowledge of your motivations but, it doesn’t necessarily mean that you are wholly conscious of them, not in a detailed way that allows you to verbalize it to yourself or others.
For instance, you could head to the grocery store intending to get something for your sweet tooth but you may not realize what you want until you’ve wandered through the bakery section and the candy section and then found yourself entranced by some caramel gelato in the ice cream freezer. Alternatively, you may have specifically headed out to get a pint of Talenti Caramel Cookie Crunch. The intention, and the outcome, would be the same for either trip out but there was a varying degree of awareness as to what you were after.
This works the same way when it comes to intention in art. You aren’t just fully intentional or not intentional in your design choices. There are variations and degrees to which you understand and apply your intention as you create although, I will argue, having some intention is necessary.
First of all, understand that when I talk about intention, I’m speaking about the concept, story, or theme that directs your design decisions. In the shopping trip example above, the intention was to satisfy a sweet tooth. In your artwork it could be anything from re-creating an image or place to telling a story to relaying a message to simply sharing your aesthetic tastes. But that intention guides your design decisions.
You could, for instance, choose round shapes for a pair of earrings. That choice might be made because round is a soft shape and the theme or story or idea behind your piece would be best supported by soft characteristics, but it also could be a gut feeling that round feels right compared to squares or triangles or amorphous organic shapes. If you have strong instinctual reactions to certain options for your design, you can absolutely make decisions based on that intuition. You just need to check that it supports and is related to your intention rather than it just being something that you are drawn to in general.
The Role of Instinct
Instinctive decisions are very common in many artist studios but they work best when there’s knowledge behind them. If a creative person is well versed on design, they will likely transition to working almost wholly by instinct at some point. That education and understanding works away in the background, guiding the artist’s instincts, but when they run into a problem, they still have the ability to puzzle out possible solutions based on the knowledge that they have. That is actually the primary intention that drives all my publications and this blog – to get you to the point where you understand design well enough for your design decisions to be instinctual. That way, you can approach your creative work with anything from a general to very specific intention and can begin to make purposeful decisions from the start.
Donna Greenberg’s latest post on Facebook: “WIP. Glazed bubbles and supporting texture coming in on this bad boy. Miles to go but each step helps me clarify my idea and even surprises me at times.” Because of the size and complexity of Donna’s vessels, planning has to be fairly well thought out before she really gets going but she leaves lots of room in her intention for discovery and alterations (via those clarifications she mentioned, I’m sure.)
There is also an argument in the art world that proposes that the artist does not have any responsibility to create with an intentional concept, meaning, or story for each piece, suggesting that it is completely up to the viewer and not the artist to give the piece meaning. I can’t say that I disagree with that but, if you create without any direction or some kind of framework to work off of, I think it becomes rather hard to create cohesive work that is meaningful to viewers.
I know, I am getting all abstract here so here’s a concrete example. Let’s say you want to create an eye-catching, one-of-a-kind piece to be showcased in your booth at the next fair or on the opening page of your shop’s website. You could just sit down with your materials and mess around with them until something comes out of it that you like. That is a valid way to design. But how do you even start doing that? Do you work with just whatever happens to be out on your table or do you pull out your newest, coolest materials and tools or do you open up your drawers and cupboards and stare at them until something jumps out at you (you know, kind of like when you stare at the fridge contents trying to figure out dinner)? I think we’ve all started something in this rather mindless way but how often are we successful compared to when we have some bit of intention?
Never Face a Blank Canvas
It is often said that facing a blank canvas is the hardest step in creating because it is, as yet, directionless which can be rather daunting. However, if you look for your intention first, then you never actually face a blank canvas. Instead, you come to that blank space or yet to be formed material with something to work on already. It’s the difference between walking into the grocery store only knowing that you want something to eat versus knowing you specifically want something sweet. You might not realize what you want is the gelato but at least you know where to head off to when you walk in those doors. Otherwise it is a lot of wandering up and down the aisles and that can be frustrating. You might not even make it that far. You might just turn around and leave because you don’t know which direction to take.
So, I do think you need to have something to work off of but it doesn’t always need to be something that you understand well enough to explain to someone. That was actually one of the hardest things for me in graduate school as I work towards my MFA in Poetry. Every word I chose in a poem was very intentional but a lot of the time there was more a feeling of it being right than an understanding about why it was right and yet, I was called on to explain my work all the time. I could always explain the theme of the piece and my inspiration but I could not always explain the specific significance of an image or sensation in the poem. To be honest, I think my lack of explanations was partly a kind of rebellion against the dissection of creative work. I know a lot of you feel that way too, that some (maybe most) art should be a visceral experience not an intellectual exercise.
However, trying to glean understanding from a piece of art, writing or any other creative work can be very satisfying so I’m not saying that I don’t think art should be approached that way. With some work, that’s the only way to approach it. And I did eventually come to the understanding that, as creatives, we can learn so much from that kind of examination but I also don’t think we need to do it all the time. I mean, there is some work we may want to just enjoy for what it is.
It can be the same in regard to how you approach intention. You might just want to enjoy the creative process and let your fingers and mind take the designs where they will. That’s great, especially if you are doing the work primarily because you enjoy the process. In that case, intellectualizing your intention can take away from that visceral experience but I will still argue that you need something to guide your design choices , even in a general way, if you want to arrive at the end of that process with a well-designed and engaging piece. Alternately, fully understanding your intention and planning out the details of a piece will allow you to boldly move forward as you work but you may also want to allow for modifications as your ideas and construction may change as you work.
Celie Fago may have a penchant for some pretty intense planning if this sketchbook page is any indication. She shared this with Dan Cormier for the Broken Telephone project article published in the Fall 2013 issue of The Polymer Arts (available in digital if you want to grab a copy here.) The objective was to create a brooch inspired by another artist’s piece that was sent to her. Her notes start off with “What Do I Hear? (when listening to Dave’s piece),” followed by a list of descriptive words as a way to search for her intention. That leads her into an exploration of design possibilities that support that intention. (Click image for a larger version.)
So, I think the best way to think of intention is in degrees of awareness. You can be fully aware of your intention and be able to verbalize it in detail, you can access your intuition with a more general idea driving your choices, or it can be somewhere in between.
I think the most important thing is that you make all of your individual design choices purposefully whether or not you fully understand your reasons. (I mean, I have no idea what I like caramel gelato so much but the lack of understanding certainly isn’t going to stop me from enjoying it!) Just try not to allow your design choices to be decided for you. Like don’t just default to a smooth surface because that’s how your clay comes out of the pasta machine. Choose a smooth surface because that is what best supports your intention. Purposefully choose shapes that support the concept you are inspired by rather than determining them based on your available cutters or because organic shapes are easiest to create freeform. Pick colors based on symbolic or emotive qualities not just what you have on hand. And ask yourself, every time, whether your piece will benefit from lines or marks or if there shouldn’t be any so you don’t miss out those possibilities.
These kinds of purposeful decisions will show a controlled and skilled intention, creating depth and cohesiveness and, likely, a lot more satisfaction on your end as well as in your finished pieces.
Dare I Say Winds Are Changing (in the Right) Direction
Yes, I’d hoped to do a midweek blog last week with some more examples about how to look at color and pick contrast and similarities, but not only did I have a busy week taking care of my husband after his biking accident (he is healing amazingly well and quickly, thank you all for asking!), I also had the opportunity to bring a staff member back on board so I’ve been getting her up to speed and we start work on possible new projects this coming week. It’s going to be so nice not doing this solo!
Also, you all really took advantage of the Damage Sale! I am nearly cleared out although, as I write this, there is still a small handful of slightly imperfect publications on the Specials page if you want to grab up those last $4 magazines and $12 books.
Then I got so excited about how cleared out the shipping room was looking (I’ll need the room to bring in new publications!) that I added a 25% off sale through September 15 on all regular print publications. No coupon code is needed if you want to take advantage of that. Just go over to the website.
So, there has been a ton of packing and shipping this week which not only kept me busy, it also made me more aware of an issue I’m having with my bad right arm. It’s kind of worked into my shoulder. But I saw a new orthopedic doctor and he had some wonderfully encouraging things to say so this coming week I start a new and different regimen of physical therapy that he believes will actually heal my arm. I am reservedly hopeful!
So, I’m busy but relatively happy over here. I hope to have some concrete new project announcements after this coming week. It’s been such an aimless, up in the air kind of year for us all, hasn’t it? I look forward to having a production schedule of some sort to keep me feeling relevant and to keep you inspired. So, keep fingers crossed!
I hope all of you have had your own dose of good news, light at the end of the tunnel, or other positive developments. I’m sure we could all use a bit more of that right now. So, keep an eye on impacts for incoming upcoming newsletters and announcements. In the meantime, take good care of you and yours!
Read MoreI’m sorry to say that I have not been able to find sufficient Wi-Fi or cellular service to work on research and photos for this blog. I tried getting these done before I left but it got a bit chaotic and you know what they say about best-laid plans! But here is another little story about passion that will hopefully hold you over until I return next weekend.
Photo by David Clode on Unsplash
I am on Kangaroo Island in South Australia right now. 2 days ago we were in Cairns off the Great Barrier Reef where we got to see a real passion bloom in our teenager. My step-daughter just graduated high school and this trip was her graduation present. Australia and the Great Barrier Reef, in particular, were chosen because she is entering college as a Marine Biology major. She had to declare a major when she applied but the truth is, she is not at all certain what she wants to do. She is interested in conservation and environmental issues so the reef and its survival through the ravages of global warming is something that resonates with her.
In Cairns, were lucky enough to find a snorkeling trip run by a very passionate marine biologist who took us out on the reefs and educated us for a good hour on the creatures of the reef, the ecology, and the efforts being made to save it. Our teenager soaked it all in, every word. You could see her interest blossoming into an intense passion before our eyes. She couldn’t stop talking about it. It was so lovely to see that. I nearly cried.
This is not to say that she might not change her mind later but I do think we witnessed the start of an intense journey out there in the aqua blue ocean. Do you remember when your passion for art or for polymer occurred? Do you remember the feeling? Is it still there?
If that same passion doesn’t still exist, it is okay to consider a change. I have had so many passionate excursions in my life although writing and creativity have always been out front. Sometimes we just need to get out and adventure to figure it out or find it again. Sometimes those adventures just reaffirm or invigorate a passion that already exists but perhaps those passions needed a new and novel experience to energize them again. Or perhaps it is not the subject that is in question but what you are doing with it.
The blog I had planned for this week was originally about that—figuring out if we are doing what we want with our passion and our love of art. It is a question that needs to be asked regularly. Sure, routine and inertia can keep you going even if you’re not completely happy with what you are doing, but shouldn’t we strive to do what we love if at all possible?
This week, I’d like to suggest that you try something new every day. Not just in your art but in your daily life. Drive a new way to work. Shop at a different grocery store. Take a day hike at a nearby park or area you’ve never been to. Wear your hair differently. Try a new food or restaurant. And in the studio, try a new technique, just once at least. Or try a new material even. Or a new form—so if you primarily do jewelry, try sculpture or wall art. Set yourself this challenge just to shake it up and see what you discover. You never know if a new passion will bloom inside of you from just one little different adventure.
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Before I talk about this gorgeous mural, I want to ask those of you reading this to bear with me on what has been a bit of hard morning here in the US as I have a small request. But don’t worry, I am not going to get political. I simply want to send out, from my little tiny corner of the world, a message of positivity. It’s a message I think we as artists are particularly capable of sending out in a myriad of effectual ways. I believe this is the only thing worth focusing on right now in what is sure to be an unforgettable time. What about it will be so unforgettable is what I hope you and I can influence.
Last night, Americans saw a shift in our belief in and an understanding of our country and what it stands for. There are a lot of angry, depressed and confused people, not just here in the States but all over the world. Everything I’ve watched and read indicates that the unexpected US presidential election results was primarily a vote against something rather than for something but it has left us in a precarious place. For those of you despairing of the outcome, there are a few things to keep in mind.
The president is not the American people. He is just one person and we are millions. The president is not a dictator and does not have the kind of power to do many of the things Trump has said he would do. So let’s not panic or the panic itself will become part of the problem. Let’s take control of and influence what each of us has access to. And what we have access to, primarily, is our talent and each other.
As artists, writers and creatives in general, we have, collectively, a tremendous amount of influence. The creatives in our world monitor and voice our emotions. They color the atmosphere of our world. And right now, all of you, whether you are an active artist or simply a supportive admirer, can make a difference in how the US moves forward and how the world is effected.
No, we will not be able to shore up stock markets or end bigotry in any kind of immediate and dramatic way but that is not how change actually happens. Change happens in a series of infinitesimally small steps. Like an earthquake, tiny small shifts and pressures build up until the plates cannot stand it any longer and releases the pressure all at once. This is what happened yesterday. We now have the opportunity to create the right kind of change by applying the right kind of pressure in this atmosphere where people are looking for answers. We can be the pressure for positive changes.
So I want to ask everyone reading this to do a very simple thing, something that we all have the power to do and can collectively use to make truly positive changes in what has been, for a while now, a very divided and emotional time, all across the world. I want to encourage you to put out nothing but beauty, compassion, love and positive messages right now. Set aside anger, disappointment, depression and even your fears for the time being in order to do and say kind and positive things.
It is extremely important that negativity not rule the day. So use your network, your influence, your exposure and your creativity to help bolster the atmosphere of our global community. Don’t desert or admonish family or friends for supporting the other candidate or for sitting out the election. Instead support what you believe in with charitable donations, volunteering, vocal support, and your art. Create beautiful things so the world is just that much more lovely a place.
I’ll do my part now by sharing a bit of beauty. This beautiful Starling mural by artists Collin van der Sluijs and Super A is on an apartment building in Berlin. The collaborative work was created for the “One Wall Mural Project”, a project that aims to highlight the diversity of the many neighborhoods of Berlin by enabling artists to create these huge murals, thereby spreading a message of cohesion and beauty throughout the city. Take a look at this post on Colossal to see it in more detail. It is amazing.
It’s too bad we can’t all create 137 foot tall murals to be seen by thousands of people daily, sharing beauty and inspiring others along the way. But we can do our small part to contribute to a positive solution rooted in love for everyone. Will you join me?
Inspirational Challenge of the Day: Select a piece of your artwork and give it to someone who could use a little more beauty today. Do this for them and for yourself. Being kind and charitable will enrich your day as well as the day of the person you gift the art too and, hopefully, that has a rippling effect through many, many people.
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On the last page of the Winter 2015 issue, we have a very, very special Muse’s Corner article. It was brought to us by Anke Humpert, who had the good fortune to connect with a polymer artist who may very well be the first published polymer pioneer, unknown to most all of us. The reason we may not recognize the cover of this book, or the author, is probably that it was written in German. Which makes sense since that is where polymer clay was invented and first produced commercially. But how have so few of us even known of dear Sigrid Smolka?
Here is the thing that so shocked Anke (and, later, myself) when she first found out. This book was published years before Nan Roche’s seminal book The New Clay. Now, we aren’t talking 3 years, or 5, or even 10. This book was published 17 years before, not too long after the clay actually hit the market. Isn’t that amazing?
All on her own, Sigrid developed techniques and processes that we will all find familiar and common today. I guess that really shouldn’t be a surprise. The clay can leads us to obvious conclusions even now. But it was just so early on and she did this all on her own and so hidden from the rest of us. But not anymore.
You can read Anke’s whole story about Sigrid Solka in the Winter issue. Get your copy ordered, if you haven’t already, so you can read this and all the other wonderful contributions your fellow polymer artists shared with you in this issue.
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Focus on the Journey (And March Giveaways!)
Joseph Barbaccia created his “foXstitch” piece as a proof of concept, which, if you’re not familiar with the term, means that he’s experimenting and there is no particular expectation of a completed piece. Now, who would think his process a waste of time, even though it’ may not become a finished piece? He says he’s not happy with the execution, but that just means that he can see ways to improve it. And he could only see that through what he learned in this process. And, yes, all those “stitches” are bits of polymer clay.
Do you know who said this:
“It’s not the destination, it’s the journey.”
Well, first of all, a lot of creative people! But specifically, this is a line in the book Self-Reliance by Ralph Waldo Emerson. Emerson was particularly good at appreciating the little things, especially the value of our true and unique experiences.
If you spend all day in the studio and don’t complete a single decent piece, or a successful part of a piece, do you feel like you wasted the day? I think we can all be disappointed when we don’t accomplish as much as we hoped to, but it’s never wasted time.
Every minute you spend at your studio table, no matter how long you’ve been working with the material, is a valuable experience, right? We are learning something new all the time, even if we don’t see it. We are honing our skills, solidifying our understanding, trying out new ideas, and finding out what doesn’t work, which can be more important than finding out what does work.
But the most valuable thing, I think, is the fact that we are sitting down for some quality time with ourselves and our thoughts, taking up the enormous challenge to make something from nothing, and forging ahead on a creative journey that will teach us things and give us memories that no one else and nothing else can provide. How common can such an experience be? Not that common, truly. We are some lucky ducks to have the creative time that we do.
Sure, having a successfully finished piece is such a high, but what comes after that? The journey’s over. Okay, that’s not quite true. The process of creating any piece is a short trip on a much bigger journey. But what is more valuable—the finished piece or the skills and knowledge acquired that will allow you to make that again, and probably even better?
Now, where is all this philosophical nattering coming from?
Well, this week, I had lots of starts and stops with my time at the polymer table and with my writing. Not only am I trying to get taxes done—that can really kill one’s creative vigor—but I’m on a new nutritional regimen which is making me a little foggy in the head. So, I’ve been a little frustrated. However, I realized that every night I go to bed, I think about what I did do that day, and, honestly, it’s just all too exciting to know there’s newly created bits on the studio table and new pages in my writing project. All in all, if I got to create something, it was a really good day.
So, if you can go to sleep at night with a little more knowledge and a bit more experience than you had when you woke up, that’s been a successful day. I know we can be anxious to finish things or can be disappointed by how little we produce, but unless our efforts need to put food on the table, let’s see if we can’t step back and not just appreciate but really learn to value our creative time for simply being our own precious, unique experience.
I mean, really, would you trade that time for anything?
Yay Giveaways!
So, I’m keeping this short since I’ve had a bit of a rough week but, as promised, I’m going to do some giveaways!
I have enough goodies here to give something away every weekend this month, so here’s what we’ll do this week:
Giveaway:
How to Win:
Then … next weekend, I’ll put together another pack of goodies to giveaway so keep an eye on these posts!
You can support this blog by buying yourself a little something at Tenth Muse Arts or, if you like…
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