I’ve been thinking a lot lately about art and how it differs from and overlaps with craft. Most of what I do is craft. It can be artistic — designing a weaving pattern, or choosing how to handle colors in a yarn I’m spinning — but I don’t think of it particularly as art. That’s not to say weaving or spinning can’t be art. They definitely can be. But what I make doesn’t feel like art, nor is it intended to be.
Yesterday I went to an exhibit of fiber art by local artists, and it got me thinking about this more. I chatted some with the weavers guild members I went with. Some of the pieces on the walls were not very technically difficult, but what made them Art and not just somebody fucking around with a technique and liking the result?
I’m of the opinion that good art shouldn’t require context. Context can make something more meaningful, but the piece should be able to stand on its own without me even knowing the name of it. This is completely subjective, I know. Tommie Kelly, an artist, musician, and podcaster, once described it this way (I’m paraphrasing here):
Say you see a mediocre painting of a man with his head down on a desk in an office. You aren’t impressed. But then you find out the man was the artist’s father, whom she found dead in his study. Suddenly the painting has meaning. But then you find out she’s lying and her father is alive. It’s back to being a mediocre painting.
Tommie Kelly, AIWW podcast, not sure of episode number but it was a couple of years ago
I am absolutely not a philosopher, and I’m sure my thoughts about the nature of art are simplistic and unsophisticated. I like a lot of modern art, but I like it for the way it makes me feel, not because of the artist’s intention.
There was a piece at the fiber art exhibit yesterday that was abstract, but it made me feel deep feelings. It looked exactly like how I felt when my abusive former spouse would force me to go to Halloween Horror Nights at Universal Studios in Orlando. I hated going. I hate haunted houses, I hate crowds, I hate being scared. (I like reading horror novels, but those I can put down and walk away from.) After the first year I was forced to go, I started sedating myself (with legal medications) before going, and I was still miserable.
That piece of art had nothing to do with haunted houses. There was nothing pictoral in the piece. But it evoked such a strong feeling that I had to stop looking at it. I was impressed.
I want to make things that evoke emotion. Preferably more positive ones, but feelings. The cross stitch I’m doing is very definitely art, but it’s not my art. My contribution to the finished piece is purely craft. It blows people away when they see it, but I didn’t design it. I’ll have made a piece of art, but not using my own originality or ideas.
I want to express something visually. I’m not sure what, exactly. Yesterday a friend suggested designing my own cross stitch/embroidery and then making it myself. I’m playing with that some now. I want to draw into a grid, but I can’t find a good app for my Android tablet. I used to have an app for that when I had an iPad. Instead I’m sketching freehand, then I’ll import the sketch into an app where I can turn it into a pattern. Maybe that will work. I’d prefer to design on a grid. Can some Android developer get on that, please?
(I also still have ideas on using the Theo Moorman technique, a way of making woven art that isn’t tapestry, to do art. Which, again, would be nice to grid out beforehand.)
I also think about how to say things with art (specifically, with the limited visual art skills I possess) without requiring the viewer to read a title or description. Art that speaks for itself. How to make a statement without being preachy or over the top? I know artists who start from a position of “I want to say something about a particular idea or issue” and go from there. But I’m not sure that would work for me. I have a few ideas, but nothing that doesn’t feel pretentious. I don’t know. I’ll think about it some more. Yesterday a friend suggested I think about using art to tell a story. I’m kicking around that idea too.
What are your thoughts, gentle readers? I’d love to hear your ideas and approaches.
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