VAM : Goal 3
September 17th, 2007
“Be a support and critique resource for the artists at Real Life.”
Every artist wants to be better at what he/she does. Both in process and communication. We all could be more technically excellent and we all can communicate our ideas more effectively. The problem lies in trying to do this by yourself.
Everyone needs someone to bounce ideas off of and get opinions and critiques of their work. Members of the Real Life VAM will be that sounding board and critique for each other. Sometimes it’s hard to keep working and you need some encouragement or you need some fresh eyes to look at a series of photos you’ve been working on. This will be that place for you. Call up another artist in the church and get together to talk about what you’re working on.
I know that I need some artistic encouragement. I haven’t painted in several years and I miss the raw emotion that is expressed in painting. Do clean polished design work on the computer pays the bills but I don’t have a strong emotional attachment to it. I need to do some “fine art” for fun. So just as I hope to be an encouragement and perhaps a thorn in your side, spurring you on to more difficult subject matter or process, I hope you will be the same for me.
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4 Comments
Add your own1. Ryan | September 17th, 2007 at 1:35 pm
Continuous hard work and self critique can equal improvement. However, I have found that surrounding myself with people who are better than myself in my area of interest is the most effective means of education and improvement. College is great for this. It places you with a group of people with similar interest. It streches you beyond what you think is possible. I miss those surroundings now that I have graduated. It is very nice to see someone interested in creating such an open, positive and hopefully creative environment.
2. Jodi | September 18th, 2007 at 12:29 am
The problem I’m having though is lack of peers (meaning, the college environment just doesn’t work anymore for me; imagine that). I think maybe I’m just at a stage where I just need to indulge in my art and those things that feed my art, and just create. What I find intriguing though, is not a group of like-minded people who are working to create the same type of art, within the same medium. I find this idea of having artistic friends/collegues who have very different mediums fascinating. (By the way, Clayton, you should paint. and paint a lot.)
3. Ryan | September 18th, 2007 at 9:53 am
I am certainly not apposed to meeting we a vareity of artists. It is a great way to learn about other art forms and in the process gain inspiration for ones own work. However there needs to be a chance to meet and talk with someone who is working in your medium. I cannot learn the finer detials of counterpoint from an art welder. However I suspect there are many formal structures I could learn from a poet.
4. Clayton | September 18th, 2007 at 10:40 am
Great discussion. I think that both have their merits and equally needed.
Sometimes when we only spend time around those that do the same thing we do we get tunnel vision and lose touch with reality. Then when we present a work to someone outside our little world the work doesn’t hold up, it isn’t relevant and they look at you funny. No one wants that right. We also can learn much from someone who is excellent in our medium. They can suggest new techniques and discuss things like process with us. We need both.
We can’t be effective in a bubble and we won’t get better if we don’t challenge ourselves.
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