well, i'm up. hello...
i love rabbit foot ferns.
pictures come alive, you can dance right through your life!
hub was wondering why Narcy was hiding..
and he realised she has a secret, or two...
lots of Thoughts have been occurring as i've been laid up. i've been mulling over my Why for a While now.. and there are lots of them, some seem more worthy than others. this has been a great read. and it makes sense, for sure, to put ideas before commodities.
but then i think, maybe i'm more inspired by art and less by business.
”To all viewers but yourself, what matters is the product: the finished artwork. To you, and you alone, what matters is the process: the process of shaping that artwork.” Art and Fear, page 5.
i am not someone who believes that all art should be in service of something larger. i enjoy the occasional activist art or political novel, but mostly i think art - and craft - is an end in itself. i think one of the qualities of great art is that it is complex, there is no clear agenda, no easily decipherable overarching Message.
i'm not really sure how or if this applies to yarn. maybe i'm just deferring the important questions. i think i've burnt out a little trying to be a production crafter. in a way it seemed more straightforward and honest to try to create something useful rather than something meaningful in some other way. that's how how i felt for a while anyway. but now i'm faced with these questions involved in making a successful business and they leave me sorta cold. there must be a meeting ground between artspeak and business-speak.
but what i really want is to be an artist. i want that extra indefinable that makes me want to create, and keep on creating.
maybe that's all the Why there is.
i am going to apply to art school. i may not go, but i'm going to apply.
but then i think, maybe i'm more inspired by art and less by business.
”To all viewers but yourself, what matters is the product: the finished artwork. To you, and you alone, what matters is the process: the process of shaping that artwork.” Art and Fear, page 5.
i am not someone who believes that all art should be in service of something larger. i enjoy the occasional activist art or political novel, but mostly i think art - and craft - is an end in itself. i think one of the qualities of great art is that it is complex, there is no clear agenda, no easily decipherable overarching Message.
i'm not really sure how or if this applies to yarn. maybe i'm just deferring the important questions. i think i've burnt out a little trying to be a production crafter. in a way it seemed more straightforward and honest to try to create something useful rather than something meaningful in some other way. that's how how i felt for a while anyway. but now i'm faced with these questions involved in making a successful business and they leave me sorta cold. there must be a meeting ground between artspeak and business-speak.
but what i really want is to be an artist. i want that extra indefinable that makes me want to create, and keep on creating.
maybe that's all the Why there is.
i am going to apply to art school. i may not go, but i'm going to apply.
sounds like a new adventure is a coming...i've always enjoyed making art and crafting but never gave in to all the encouragement from others that i should make it a business. i was too afraid i would lose the love i have in just making and giving. so i worked at jobs i wasn't really crazy about for some years after leaving teaching (which i loved) and unable to get a teaching job here in texas. i'm now retired and am happy in the decisions i made in the past. there's no harm in going in one direction and changing your mind if it doesn't suit you. i wish you the best.
ReplyDeletemy mother always told me that when you take something you love and turn it into your job, it changes it and not for the better. one of my best artist friends just made the decision to go back to school for teaching so that she could divorce her art from commerce. i completely understand it and it's very tempting. i've been there though too but wanted out of a day job for so many years to pursue my dream. it might make a difference if i loved (or even liked a little bit) my day job, which is something that's usually eluded me. it's always a balance, isn't it. i really appreciate you sharing your experience!
DeleteYip! Hurray!
ReplyDeleteawww, jeana, thank you!!! and Hip, Hooray for You, Mama of Three!!!! The girls are getting so big!!
DeleteMy whole purpose for creating is to be in service. Creating what I want in the world now. Your statement that not all art should be in service of some thing larger makes me question my own service. Is it larger? smaller? Sometimes I make work to be in service of myself. to pay the mortgage. My business coach claims her book will help me be where I'd rather be: in the studio. It's partly true. If I do that businessy stuff, I sell work, and can continue being in the studio. But LARGELY, I'd like to be able to say that creating keeps me in a moment. And that my work creates other people being in a moment. And because I am breathing earth and sky while I work, people who experience my work experience the same, consciously or not. I think we are all babies learning that we be Gods and Goddesses. The creators of it all. Artists do that every day. We can create largeness or smallness all of which IS.
ReplyDeleteso much for me to think about here Susan! like, what is service? being part of the creators and creatrixes of the universe is such a lovely thought and i've never looked at it that way before.... and i like the idea that smaller is good too, that smaller is maybe not less important. and btw what's the name of your business coach's book? i need all the advice i can get!
DeleteAlyson Stanfield "I'd rather be in the studio"
DeleteReally, smaller not less important. Like butterfly eggs! Also, I LOVE being a rebel. I consider it one of my tasks in life to create art and earn a living at it. No more starving artist but philanthropist artist. Mwaha!!!! The challenge for me is to see and know that what I create merits an exchange. I give. I receive. We have been brainwashed to think that our rightbrainedness deserves to be ignored and stuffed in a closet or some storage place under and eve. This does not mean that I give up my fantasy life. The life where I day dream and write and play with clay. It means I have created a beautiful playground to do it in and sometimes I have to do things like brush my hair, push papers around and take the trash out. Mama is counting on me to create my work and she gives back in a variety of ways, including in the form of cash money. Not wicked money. Money that I can take to the grocery store or clay supply store or gas station.
DeleteI am jogging right behind you on that same path, tripping over the making for money, for function, for others. I have never felt so conflicted as an artist. Like I lost my way somehow. I shoulda turned right at the sign for joy, then left at experimentation, and then home again to loving what I do and doing what I love. And settling back into the art-making life that feeds instead of drains. Art school sounds like a cure! xo
ReplyDeletethis path is a mine-field, isn't it? or maybe a mind-feeled.. would love to sit down with you with a cuppa and gnash on it. so glad to know you, fellow traveler!
DeleteOoooooo mind feeled. Yeah.
Deletewhy indeed, I haven't figured it out yet, maybe I never will, but I know I can't stop: I've tried: said aloud I'ld give it all up and felt no relief just the urge to get straight back in the studio!
ReplyDeleteand moneywise: I work for this Big Company that has Nothing to do with my own work and that's okay, I feel freer now there is no need to make money from what I make -I still want to sell of course- but do not depend on the sales...and we need the steady income for family and home, so I 'll probably keep going on this two-track-path for a while.
Very interesting, thought-provoking post, could not comment yesterday, was too tired...
I feel a flicker of excitement for you. It's wonderful when a light comes on in one's head, a change of direction, change is good. I don't think I could have an arty business, I don't like making on demand, it takes the magic out of it for me, art is my sanctuary, something I do without pressure or deadlines. I would love to go to art school, DO apply, I will one day (when I am done with the business part)!
ReplyDeleteSuch a dilemma for so many of us. The answer for me is keeping a balance and that seems to be about teaching and "making". When we teach...we learn! And, the learning can be the inspiration and the motivation to "make".
ReplyDeleteyes - i just love that DIY quote on your blog! thanks so much for visiting and adding your insight!
Delete