Art Group Meeting

Today my artist friends and I had another stimulating meeting. Unfortunately, one of the regular attendants is not able to make it for some time due to scheduling conflicts. The group is small, but great.

Ch 1: Section 9-12, pg. 23-34

Reading:
(pg. 23) To love ourselves we must grow avid. We need both to feel hungry and to eat. If we experience hunger but find eating too dangerous, we can’t create. Instead we find ways of further ruining our appetite. For example, reading the newspaper from cover to cover, watching television hour after hour, etc.

Hungry-Mind Anxiety

(pg. 24) Hungry for what exactly? Just hungry! Famished. Hungry to understand. Egoistic. Grandiose. “Curious” hardly captures this hunger. Ravenous–to understand the universe. Anxious to make worlds out of words, pictures, sounds, ideas….

...What were you supposed to do with that shadow? In pain on the sofa, confused, failing yourself, you feel the vision evaporate, the moment pass….

...Too many people end their art careers here, before they’ve begun them, because they mistake this moment for a tragic one. This is what must be tolerated if you are to be alive: data taken in, deep connections made out of conscious awareness, projects begun in a split second and abandoned in the next split second. This is pain, but not tradegy. This is hungry-mind anxiety…
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(pg. 26) ...The productive artist lives with this. She knows that something wonderful and terrible is going on, something difficult, something important and uncontrollable. She also knows that this will happen again and again, and that she is lucky if this happens again and again, for it means that she is oriented correctly toward her own wish to create, that she is a creator at the ready…

Exercises:

1) Affirming Your Appetite
Today I spend an hour glutting on pictures of Victorian mourning pins and the amazing dark packaging. Afterwards I sat down with three books on the medical field in art. I marked some of my favorite pages and made a few notes.

2) Imaginatively Analyzing

1. How does a sculpture differ from an installation?
2. Why chose working on a sculpture over an installation?
3. How can I better explore existentialism in my work?
4. How does my work relate to Abject Art? How does that matter to the creative process?
5. How does my work relate to Grotesque Art? How does that matter to the creative process?
6. What do I want my audience to experience?
7. How can I encapsulate both qualities of an aversion to face difficult realities, with intense exquisiteness and curiosity?
8. Does working semi-abstract turn off potential audiences?
9. How can I give suggestive qualities without pandering to literalness?

3) Meal Planning
Appetizer

1. Caprese Salad - Sometimes keeping things simple is the best. The power of threes often creates a stimulating relationship. With two materials or themes, there are four different relationships (1, 2, 1:2, 2:1), with three, there are fifteen different combinations (1, 2, 3, 1:2, 2:1, 2:3, 3:2, 1:3, 3:1, 1:2:3, 1:3:2, 2:3:1, 2:1:3, 3:1:2, 3:2:1).
2. Power Salad - Creativity provides complete fulfillment. Not only is creating art good for you, but it is healthy, so consume and do as much as possible.

Entree

1. Tempura Sushi with Spicy Cream Sauce - I enjoy layers and layers of richness and complexity. One experiences a different experience with every bite. Or in the case of art, every time you look at it or read it, you find another complex layer, rich with symbols and meaning.

Desert

1. Salted Licorice - It’s an unusual experience that may only appeal to a few, but to those who love it, they are usually fanatical.

Beverage

1. Martini - Just because something may seem simple and made from a few materials, doesn’t mean it cannot be enjoyed for its subtleties. Make the few materials carefully and superbly.
2. A cheap imported wine - It does not take a lot of money to have an enriching experience. Also, there are A LOT of wines that one can be easily drink right now. It may be overwhelming where to start, but just pick one and drink...don’t spend too much time researching which wine is the best, because it is subjective. Just commit to buying one and remain aware of the experience. Is it delicious? Is it complicated and full of layers? Is it too strong with one ingredient? What about the experience or taste do you respond to?

Goals for this week:

1. Mock up armband with hook and eyes - began by laying out the pattern, marking it, laying out the fasteners, and threading my sewing machine. Finally, I finished the mockup, but with only one set of hook and eyes.
2. Buy two vest buckles for armband - completed
3. Make hair flowers for 10 minutes - worked for 30 minutes
4. Peruse 3 Sculpture magazines
5. Go to Dick Blick to buy crackle paste - decided to buy two different kinds
6. Work on film breakdown for 15 minutes - instead of working on the breakdown, I spent more time incorporating my new ideas into the rewrite of the script.

Goals for next week:

1. Peruse 3 Sculpture magazines
2. Do another test with crackle pastes
3. Research how to sharpen a knife with a curved blade
4. Cut out pieces for second version of armband