What’s Your Name Anyway?

It can become very routine to get in a routine.  Sometimes this is also called “A Rut.”
Which is not good to get into.  Unless you’re an elk or a deer, but that’s a whole other discussion.

Consider what can happen simply by changing the name of something.  If it is your art, you could change from “bad” to “good.”  You could change your genre of art from Abstract to Cosmic Expressionism.  You could change the title of a work from “Ode to the Woods” to “Wood, Where You Be?”  See how making a simple name change can, in fact, alter one’s perspective and perception of something?

Not to get all Biblical and stuff but there was a time early on when Mankind was given permission to name all things living.  Imagine what the implications would or could be if Great Ape was now Hairy Beastie Who Beats His Chest and Has Banana Breath.  Or if Kangaroo was now Bouncy Ball of Fur with a Pocket.  Maybe Fish could be named Scaly Slippery Side Faced Water Wigglers.  Okay.  You get the picture.  On one hand, I think it is important not to get too hung up on a name.  There is an argument for it all being “semantics.”

It has long been a tradition that a person’s name is one of the most important “possessions” they can have.  Whether that be through dint of reputation or the more superstitious belief that it was important to keep your real name a secret lest someone take your power away.
I believe that Words do have power and we must be aware of and carefully consider what we name our creative works and the names we give ourselves as well. 
For many creative people, calling oneself an Artist or a Writer seems to be fraught with all sorts of “deservingness” issues.  If you are creating art, writing, or making music, please, please consider calling yourself an Artist, a Writer or a Musician.  Let yourself be what you are.

Keep in mind that should you decide you do not like a label that has been attached to you, you can choose a new name.  Today, I am Woman Who Juggles Many Tasks and Risks Falling On Face.  Tomorrow I may be Little Miss All About Recycled Upcycling Trash User Girl. Next week maybe I will be Jelly.  I get to choose.

What to do when the heat hits?

It's not as hot here in Florida as it is in say, Phoenix, Arizona, but it's hot and humid, my studio has no insulation and only a small A/C and fan.  It's too hot to run a kiln (I ran the enameling kiln at 1500 degrees Fahrenheit last week and it was no fun!)  Though I will be getting additional AC and insulating...

IN THE MEANTIME, what to do when the heat hits?  As a believer in the idea that a messy mind = a messy workspace and vice versa (notice I didn't say dirty mind), I decided to beat the heat this week by getting my desk organized.  It was heaped at least two feet high with magazine clippings, file folders, jewelry and art items that need photographing and posting on Etsy, proposals for classes and calendars.  And sometimes one or more cat. I had lots of plans I wanted to work on but it was impossible to get started, much less begin to focus.  Messy desk = messy mind.

I discovered yesterday that the majority of the mess on my desk was paper that fell into these categories:

1.  To Put on PC Calendar/Tasks and To Do list

2.  Possibilities for my Art--this is an all encompassing idea, some of which of course could be put on the To Do list but which is meant to be a "tickler" file--places I want to investigate as a co-op member, locations to propose a show, places where I want to teach classes, etc.
3.  Classes--this is a file just of already prepared proposals that I need to be certain that I have electronic copies, as well as to write notes about how I need to adjust the proposals for new locations
4.  For Pinteresting--websites I want to spend some time exploring or things I've culled from magazines to explore
5.  Scan--immediate documents I need to scan so I can shred and NOT FILE.
6.  Magazines--the writer's guidelines for each magazine I want to query.
7.  Will/Funeral--okay, morbid and not necessarily work related but it is something I know I need to take care of...cuz you never know.
8.  Put on TO BUY list on my PC.  Through Post-It (TM) Digital Notes, which I love--a software program I got last year, ironically, to keep my desktop clearer.  It helped with the sea of tiny post-its I used to have every where. I have a running bulletin board list of things I want/need to buy--this can be specifically for the house, personal purchases, gifts, and art/business related.

(c) SZing The desk, post cleaning.

Once I got things filed into a vertical filing system with these folders, my desk was almost cleared up--just my address book and Rolodex that need to be culled/updated and updated to my PC for mailing lists, a couple of pieces of paper that I MUST file (unfortunately there are just some papers that I feel need to remain papered and not electronic) and a small pile related to a very important project I need to work on today.  It's amazing to be able to see desk in more than a small 4" x 4" area, and to feel like I'm actually organized.  And I'm actually not sweating it.

Next step?  Put up some artwork.  Then go through each file and do what it says to do in it, i.e., put on to do list, etc.,--I'm gonna do that today.  Get my calendar updated.  It'll be a relief to know what I need to do.  And a relief to be able to stay out of the heat.

The cats and I are in negotiations.

The Good, the Bad, the Ugly

As I mentioned a few days ago, I've been going through my art magazines--trying to cull the herd, as it were.  I love to cut out the pictures that inspire me or intrigue me and keep an inspiration binder, as well as articles and biographical stories of artists whose work I admire.

As I mentioned in my blog Exposure a few days ago, it's pretty interesting to see what is trending and considered to be "art" by the "art world" which, for many of these magazines seems to be limited to New York City and the influential/critics (to reiterate--who do nothing truly creative and yet "we" as artists have invested them with the decision making as to what is good, bad or neutral.  Okay.  Also ugly.

Public domain artwork

Composition VII, artist unknown

1913

Over time, the boundaries of what is even considered art has expanded exponentially to our global communication abilities.  We are a highly visual society with our multiple in-house televisions, computers, glossy magazines, book readers, et cetera.  I believe it is due to a combination of the global access and the technically enhanced visual environment that our definitions of acceptable art have exploded.

However, this being so, there are still some basic questions one must ask:
1.  Just because you can make art with excrement and urine...should you?
2.  Does every piece of art have to have a meaning?  If so, should that meaning be obvious, obtuse or somewhere in between and how do you decide?
3.  Are artists desperately seeking "the next big thing" to make a name for themselves, start a new movement and, of course, appeal to the money?
4.  In that attempt to create "the next big thing" are artists sacrificing honesty and integrity for schlock and shock? 
5.  Just because something is shocking or large does that automatically make it good?
6.  Just because something is schlocky or shocking, does that automatically make it bad?

and I'm sure there are many more questions.  However, I've not yet had my coffee today so this is all my starving brain can come up with at the moment.

Public domain artwork

K. Morimoto, "Hiroshima"

1948

As an artist, I am exploring for myself my definitions--even if those definitions may not stand universally:

Good = Something that I like myself and would put in my own home or be proud to give as a gift to someone else.  It doesn't necessarily follow "the rules".

Bad = Something, not unlike behavior, that I know innately isn't good.  This could be subject matter, colors schemes, technical expertise, material quality, composition, et cetera.  The worst art is a combination of two or more of these problematic qualities.

Neutral=art that is neither good nor bad nor ugly but which is just...boring, uninspiring, technically perfect (or at least proficient), and usually includes artwork made with subjects and or colors that are designed to try to please someone other than the artist's preferences.  I suppose in the long run, this makes anything neutral bad art.

Ugly=art that is repellent from subject matter, color scheme, discordant composition, warped perspective, et cetera.  Just because something is ugly, does not automatically put it in the bad category.  Some ugly art is extremely intriguing and interesting.  If it arrests my attention and causes me to explore it further, then it's probably leaning toward the good side.

Butcher's Stall with the Flight into Egypt

1551, Aertsen, Pieter, public domain image

Is it good?  Is it bad? Is it ugly? 

Would I put this up in my home or give it as a gift?

Of course, I don't truly believe that artwork can be so simply labeled and pigeon-holed.  We live in a technicolor world with thousands of variations so trying to think in black and white when defining artwork doesn't really work.  While I would cringe at the suggestion, I am sure there is some crazy art critic out there who has some sort of "Pritchard Scale" (from the movie Dead Poet's Society) for art. Art is intended to be visceral and to be appreciated based on an individual basis?  Art for the masses, is, I believe generally called "advertising", not that there aren't artists and their works who/which have gained enormous popularity.

Ultimately, it's impossible to define artwork satisfactorily for all audiences.  Perhaps it would be better if a 'movie rating' was imposed just to warn off anyone.
FA = fine art as it is academically imposed
CR = craft when compared academically with FA
OS = art that refuses to be defined
SHXX=shock art simply for the sake of shock and monetary gain as a result of being 'trendy'

Public domain artwork

Seurat, Georges

1887-88, Model

I'm sure, if I had some coffee, I could come up with more ratings.

In the meantime, I'm going to get my coffee, then go visit the Appleton Museum where I plan to simply enjoy the art.  All of it.  The Good, The Bad, The Neutral, and the Ugly and everything in between.