And are you challenging yourself as an artist?
It was not my Friday morning plan to write a long blog post, but I couldn't help myself. I was over at Holly's blog this morning and saw a post she wrote yesterday, about the recent tea towel show
I was in. Within the comments is a very interesting discussion going on
in response to a comment from Pippa Rex. And I felt compelled to share
it here with you and also offer up my thoughts on this subject, as I
was one of the artists in this show with bears and birds and cuteness
in my creations. And really you might wonder about this yourself in
regards to my style of creating and also in the art world in general.
It's a really wonderful topic and another reason I love blogging so
much, because we get to have these kinds of honest and insightful
"talks" with one another in such an open forum.
So here goes, a very long post for today. The comment from Pippa Rex:
"Now I am not just talking about these tea towels but I have to
finally say this as you finished your post by talking about the risks
taken in the art world. Does it not bother you that most of the "art"
posted here and on other design blogs is all the same. It seems to me
that there is an awful lot of silhouette trees and birds, childlike
drawings of little girls and bears etc and they are all done by various
artists. I guess that I think that there is little risk there. I read
your post about how peoples houses are all becoming silimarly decorated
(How many "Keep calm and carry on" posters can this world handle? I
feel the same is true of this "art" world. When did art stop being
controversial or at least personnal. Is this form of art really not
just craft?"
My response:
"Hi Holly ~ thanks so much for sharing and Maya, again thanks for
inviting me to participate in this show. I am truly loving this
discussion via the comments. So thanks to, to Pippa for bringing it up.
Since I am one of the artists of the show and you can clearly see my
towel in the images above with both a bear and a bird (and good lord,
another owl!) on it and cuteness just dripping from it, I feel inspired
to share my thoughts here.
The funny thing for me is that a) I never thought I would make a
living as a painter and b) I never at all thought about letting
"cuteness" especially with animals be my subject matter. In fact one of
my favorite stories to tell is that my photography teacher in college
told me once that "cute doesn't sell". The style that I presently work
in developed all on its own. I just remember trying to paint a
character for a show theme a group of us had almost 3 years ago now and
that was so much fun, it inspired me to go further, and challenge
myself with creating characters, because it was something I didn't
think I could do. Then through the process of daily painting more and
more of them literally kept appearing in my paintings.
It was like a creative faucet had turned on and it couldn't stop.
And I would ask myself the same question, "I mean really, can I paint
another bear or a bird?" but the truth is I couldn't help myself. And
looking back at my childhood and what I created even then, the
attraction to cute has been there from the beginning. And every time I
try to push myself in a new direction, it feels forced. So these kinds
of childlike drawings embodying a certain innocence, joy, hopefulness,
simplicity~ they represent the truest part of me right now at this time
in my life.
From a small business perspective, it is convenient that these
themes are trendy right now. I have even been asked by galleries to
paint them because they are "what sells". And I have to be honest and
say that as an artist who makes a living with their art, I am always
walking that fine line of, "is this my true inspiration and is this
something that will sell?". So there is a part of me that wants my work
to sell because I love what I do so much and I want to keep doing it,
and there is a part of me that is always trying to challenge myself and
ask the questions you are asking, especially because I pride myself on
not making decisions based solely on financial survival, and most
importantly I also want to keep growing as an artist. Somewhere in the
middle is where my creations find their voice.
I am also continuously influenced by the art that inspires me and am
often interpreting and incorporating what I see in the world around me,
into my own art. I do think that while we see a lot of the same themes
as you mentioned with "birds, animals and childlike drawings" in art
and featured in the world of design and design blogs ~ there's a reason
that it is received so well. I feel that there is a present theme of
happiness, and beauty among many of the artists creating work today,
and I think people are in search of more of that in their lives and
this kind of work, and the design blogs that feature it are reflecting
that back to them. It happens to be the art I personally collect,
because I too want more happiness in my every day. And I when I look
around my home and feel uplifted by what I see, it feels so good. When
I travel the internet and visits beautiful blogs like this one, I feel
good. It's that simple. I just want to feel good more of the time.
I often feel that "controversial" art is from a pushed place of the
mass idea that somehow "art isn't good unless it's controversial".
There are artists for whom controversy is their true voice and you can
tell that it's genuine and compelling and interesting. In the same way
that artist's who paint sweeter, less controversial images are either
faking it because it's popular, or it's also their true voice. Either
way I find that genuine art in any form speaks to most people. And
really in regards to taking "risk", ANYONE who is willing to create
ANYTHING and share it with the world....now that is truly RISK. Every
time I put something I make out into the world, it feels risky to me.
Every time I wonder how will this be received? Even writing this
comment, I wonder. And then I remind myself that however it is received
is ok, and that all I am asking from myself is that I be satisfied with
what I put out into the world. I really just want to keep creating from
my heart and let that be what continues to call me forward.
Which, in closing I have to say that translating my style and my
characters to a tea towel for this show, was challenging and so much
fun ~ it opened me up to a whole new world of creating that I am just
at the beginning of. "
The photo above is me painting at my grandparents home in Germany,
when I was 15. I loved it then, and I love it now. And you see I'm
painting roses. :)
