We resumed our meetings this week after 2 months during which we traveled to places we weren’t able to go during the no-travel restrictions.
We talked about how describing our art helps build a connection with the viewer and the artist but at the same time might interfere with how the viewer connects with the artwork. And if written in an esoteric tone, artist statements may give the impression that we claim a certain high-level place for ourselves. Cindi shared how she recently realized that her recent color palette was perhaps her voice, what she wants to say with her art. Danielle talked about how the colors dance and sing for her and there is no other answer to the question of “why” when it comes to choosing her colors – they speak for themselves. Carly mentioned how diverting from what is expected from an artist might help staying “alive” when one has the courage to do so. Brooke said the words might provide an intimate connection if we can speak at the same level as the viewer – which to her is the only level. As for me, I have much to say about my art and I want to share them if anybody wants to listen however in some cases I am afraid that my inspiration and what I visualize might replace the imagination of the viewer. Cindi also brought up the 100 day Instagram challenge I took in spring saying that it was a good example of how art says different things to different people. So I think it isn’t about guessing what the artist intents to say it is more about what art says to the viewer. Maybe we are all saying that art talks about truth either mine or yours – I didn’t say that, just thought of it now : )
Another interesting topic that came up was whether if we should keep our emotions/problems/sorrow or our past, present and even future with us while creating? Does this depend on who we are? Can we or should we really control such things?
In our next meeting on the 23rd (at 11:00 this time) we will talk about “being alone” and how that might change we see ourselves and indirectly how we make art. I was inspired by the following excerpt from ‘Alone’ in “Consolations:The Solace, Nourishment and Underlying Meaning of Everyday Words.” By David Whyte.
“To be alone for any length of time is to shed an outer skin. The body is inhabited in a different way when we are alone than when we are with others.
Alone, we live in our bodies as a question rather than a statement.
The permeability of being alone asks us to re-imagine ourselves, to become impatient with ourselves, to tire of the same old story and then slowly hour by hour, to start to tell the story in a different way as other parallel ears, ones we were previously unaware of, begin to listen to us more carefully in the silence. For a solitary life to flourish, even if it is for only for a few precious hours, aloneness asks us to make a friend of silence, and just as importantly, to inhabit that silence in our own particular way, to find our very own way into our own particular and even virtuoso way of being alone.”