I just tidied my studio, getting ready for some art students who are coming over tomorrow. I've had several opportunities to lecture recently. Things like that always seem to come in sets. Luckily the topics have over-lapped, one moving into the next.
I feel like I'm the one who benefits the most from speaking. It's good to organize my thoughts and purpose... and clean my studio. The underlying theme I keep coming back to is becoming. Reading Dan Barney's dissertation is where I first started wrap my mind around this idea. See, I don't think the word 'goal' is appropriate for what it stands for. A goal is a terminal point, an end. I'm not progressing to get to an end, I'm in the state of becoming.
But seriously, what would you want me to talk about if you visited my studio?
7 comments:
I'd want to talk about when you first realized art was your passion and how you keep the balance in your life between your art, your family, your home, etc. And, I'd like to know what kind of vitamins you take!
When I was a student, I liked guest speakers to blow my mind with a controversial statement.
I didn't realize it at the time, but it really encouraged conversation and independent thought, and helped us to articulate and justify our beliefs. It helped me realize I didn't have to parrot back everything I was told.
One time, Kent Wing visited. He made the claim that Duchamp's "Fountain" was the most important piece of 20th century art, and possibly the most important in the history of western civilization. That's a lofty claim for a urinal.
The room exploded like a frozen turkey in boiling oil. Halcyon days.
I ADORE the idea of 'becoming.' This is much more appealing than goals which do seem so final.
If I visited your studio I would want to hear you talk about how you prepare to create. Do you meditate or do you jump right in? Music? Quiet?
I would also want you to tell what you do when you get stuck on a painting (if you do). and how you resolve it.
thanks for the question!
Thanks guys! I'm actually going to read your comments right off of my computer and answer them.
I'll let you know how it goes.
C
I would want you to just show and tell things. Anything in your studio from your masterpieces, to what soda you're drinking and everything in between. How you organize things, your jars of stuff, the view you have what music you listen to, etc. Basically everything about YOU!
i would want to ask you about how you are. how your kids are. i'd ask you if we could bake and decorate a cake together.
oh wait. visiting the studio. not the living room.
ok i would ask you if you ever paint something and then you look at it and go "oh WOW that is revealing...too revealing", of something inside, something words could never express.
am i making any sense? possibly not, i should be in bed.
I can't think of any questions. If I were in your studio, after a big hug, I'd probably just like to examine everything you have in there, look at all your art, and I'd LOVE to spend an entire day pretending I'm a shadow on the wall and watching you paint. However, if I'm being realistic, after an hour or so once the "celebrity shock" had worn off, I'd probably distract you with silly small talk and thoughts on the universe and we'd both end up laughing a lot.
That'd be a good day.
I really would like to watch you paint. Not just for a few minutes, but long enough to see you settle into a groove and almost forget I was there.
Post a Comment