Coming into One’s Own

There comes a point in some artist’s lives when their work veers a comfortable and well traveled path and into something wholly unexpected. Last week, I posted images of Kathleen Dustin’s first translucent beads, which marked the beginning of the direction we all know her so for now. So it makes one wonder, when you see a very different and amazing piece from an artist, something you hadn’t seen from them before, something you wouldn’t have even recognized before, if this is the start of a new and amazing journey for them.

Dorothy Siemens has been working in polymer for several years making nicely finished jewelry and decor using a fairly wide range of, but common set of, techniques and forms. However, just last month she posted some stunning, and quite unique sculptural objects. The images below are of the same piece, top and side view. I would not have at all guessed they were from the same person represented in her collaborative jewelry website.

What happened here? I don’t have that story exactly, but Dorothy did admit that she just let her imagination go, which was probably a key approach that allowed her to develop something that looks nothing like any work being done by other polymer artists. But what was it that gave her that sense of freedom or need to just let her imagination go?

We each have a truly personal aesthetic which can remain quite buried when we ‘borrow’ continuously from what we see around us. There is not anything wrong in drawing inspiration from other art but our own true voice should also be allowed to come out. The number one bit of advice I got in writing school was to wake up every morning and, before even getting out of bed, stop and write … not anything specific but just freeform thought. The idea was that if you write just after waking, you are writing with your own true voice, not influenced by any tv show, conversation, news article, email or any other written or verbalized language.  If you would like to work on developing your own personal visual voice, try sketching or getting into the studio first thing in the morning before you’ve looked at any other art form–this means no media of any kind. See what you come up with if you do this for a week or so.

If you don’t have the luxury of getting up and sketching or jumping into the studio right away, try napping then upon wakening, get to work. (The napping trick also works when you find yourself stuck on a piece. It’s amazing what you’ll be able to see after letting your brain rest and reset.)