Is there a particular statement in the first half of Art & Fear that especially speaks to you? Which one? Why?
Please respond by noon Monday, Feb. 2.
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"Against the ruin of the world, there is only one defense -- the creative act."
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16 comments:
The one quote that definitely stuck with me the most was, "...namely, that it is a species of fear- the fear that your fate is in your own hands, but that your hands are weak." This quotation, which comes at the top of the third page is in reference to the idea that when it comes to talent in art, it is an innate feature. It is either something you have, or something you don't. The authors speak of how this idea is fatalistic, using the above quotation as a definition of fatalism.
I think the reason that quote struck me the most is simply because that is a fear of mine when it comes to producing any type of art. I think one of the biggest reason why my writing is so restricted is I feel as though I lack real talent for it. When I read a good piece of writing, whether it be from a well-known author or classmate, I think to myself that it is just because they have the talent to write. I look at my own work and decide, "well this is passable, but it not as good as the work of a real writer."
We've spoken about confidence in class, as well as in last semester's class it is very evident that I have very little of it. I do agree with the authors that we are almost trained to be artistic ability is innate. Now after really thinking about it, I do believe this to be true in some cases. Everyone can be a writer, not everyone can be a good writer, this is true. However, I believe it is a skill, one that with enough work and dedication can be improved if you allow yourself to try.
Well actually, there are a few parts that speak to me, but for the sake of time I’ll keep it to a minimum!
The first part is in the preface, when the author says: “After all, art is rarely made by Mozart-like people—essentially there aren’t any people like that. But while geniuses may get made once-a-century or so, good art gets made all the time.” I like this quote because it tells me that even though I am not the greatest artist/writer, I should and still try to maximize my potential, and also it makes me feel good because my chances of just writing some really good piece of work are higher than creating this master piece, which in my eyes is much better.
Another quote that speaks to me is on page 1. “Making Art is Difficult. We leave drawings unfinished and stories unwritten.” Here I see hey, this isn’t easy, it will take time and practice, so as long as I don’t give up and do everything required even if that is learning the style of other artist before me, I to can make art. And also, It helps me to see that future artist like myself will at some point be faced with the same problem.
Finally, the quote that touches me to the core is, “In large measure becoming an artist consist of learning to accept yourself, which makes your work personal and in following your own voice, makes your work distinctive.” I feel this quote speaks directly to me because at this phase in my life, that’s what am striving mostly to do. I constantly question my self about the future and the notion of me being a successful writer, and I want it, really bad but sometimes I don’t always see it because I personally don’t feel my skills are as great as others. I know and feel that I have a story to tell and its going to be a worthwhile read, but I haven’t reached the point of confidence as of yet. This quote, tells me that I should just stop stressing accept me for me and love the way that I write because it is “it” that is going to set me a part from other artist.
I just have to say I am really enjoying this book so far!!
I never questioned why I make work, until recently. While in school, I always had someone that was going to see my work. Someone who cared if I did, and was pissed if I did not: my professors. Now that I have graduated (technically), I don't have that push anymore. But, for some reason, I am still making work. I was on vacation in Florida over this past break, and I was incapable of relaxing. I felt like shit doing nothing and felt unproductive, not myself. I guess that is the reason I still do what I do: it is who I am (I guess that is who i am!). The disarming realization that was addressed in Art and Fear was the fact(?) that no one is going to give a shit if i make work or not.
-"For art students, losing the destination for the work goes by another name: Graduation...If ninety-eight percent of our medical students were no longer practicing medicine five years after graduation, there would be a Senate investigation."
-"Virtually all artists spend some of their time (and some artists spend virtually all of their time) producing work that no one else cares much about."
The good news is knowing all this, this book was still made with the intention of pushing us not to quit and to continue to make work because it makes us who we are.
Does art really change anything? Maybe (probably) not. I guess I'm selfish because I am more concerned with making art because it makes me feel good, not others. Ugh, I don't know.
Ahh, there's so much in this book that I can relate to or I have thought before. There's not exactly specific sections, but more specific quotes. Toward the end of Part 1, Bayles and Orland comment about a routine and the importance of having one. I also liked how they commented about making one grand piece of art. The work of an artist isn't to make something grand, the work is to continue so when that piece is done, you take the memories and everything during that time for the next art. I feel like there's less pressure for me to write something I consider "great," or thought-provoking, memorable, entertaining-- the list is endless. I can take what I wrote and then use that experience to write something else. I can't compare all my works, other than recognizing the common threads of me in the work. The authors also said, "Fear that you are not a real artist causes you to undervalue your work." There are so many times I ask myself if I'm a writer. I can't compare myself to great literary artists, and just because I don't write for a living doesn't mean I'm not a writer. I'm a writer because I enjoy the art, despite the fear behind making it. In order for me to write, I must consider myself a writer, but not any writer, a writer that is me. What I write is great in itself because it comes from me.
There are several statements in the first half of Art & Fear that speak to me but the earliest statements are on page six.
--- “The point is that you learn how to make your work by making your work … The best you can do is make art you care about – and lots of it!”
Although the part about making art you care about is a statement students hear all the time, it’s the combination of those words with the beginning of the quote that spoke to me. Usually when writing, I process my thoughts as thoughts that may have come from someone or someplace else. In other words, when I know who my reader(s) is I write the way I think the reader would enjoy. I usually wrote to satisfy the reader. Recently I’ve been trying to write to satisfy me first and then whoever may be reading it after.
When it comes to making my art and making lots of it, that’s something I need to work on. As we’ve discussed in class, students typically work on things when they are give an assignment. I need to get into a routine where I produce my own art/write as often as possible otherwise I just may lose myself in other people’s work (that relates back to my above comments about writing for the reader).
--- “… the only people who will really care about your work are those who care about you personally … they will always care about your work, if not because it is great but because it is yours – and this is something to be genuinely thankful for.”
This statement stood out to me because I never really thought about things this way. I realized that that statement is so true! An example could be as simple as writing a short poem in the first grade and your mom being so proud of it that she puts it under a magnet on the fridge for her to see everyday or just for others to see, but compare that to your first grade teacher who may have just given you a pat on the back and maybe a golden star sticker, and probably forgetting about it the next day.
I figure if I concentrate/work on things I care about, while surrounding myself and my work with the people that I care for and that care about me, the relevance and maybe even the quality of my work will go a little further.
Since the fourth grade when my teacher read my short story aloud to the class because it was good, I've had an ego with my writing. When I read through my work, I say, hey, that's great. I don't need other people to praise me for my words. What I do feel that I need is for people to understand my work. The section that hit home for me was "Understanding," from pages 38 to 41. I've always worried that people would read what I write or even see what I paint and say, what the hell does that mean? Or that they'll think that I'm crazy because of some of the ideas that I've had. This section shows that it's okay to be different and I'm not the only one in the world that's had these types of fears or thought these kinds of thoughts. It's comforting in a weird sort of way, but it will definitely makes it easier to digest the nasty looks or comments I get in class when someone reads a story they didn't think I could produce.
Firstly I would like to say that in my eyes "Art and Fear" is such a great book, because it gets straight to the issues which matters so much to me.
I found two quotes which stuck in my mind.
"Artmaking involves skills that can be learned. The conventional wisdom here is that while ‘craft’ can be taught, ‘art’ remains a magical gift bestowed only by the gods. Not so.”
I think that I will not be singled out in my fear that I don't have enough 'art' in me not only to do my job, but do it well. I realize that I need to put a lot of time and afford to learn my skills and I strongly believe that with all persistency I can master it. I would be heartbroken if all my hard work will go to waist, because I don't have 'art' inside me...
The other quote I think are strongly connected with impatient side of me and when I first read it I felt like someone was exactly explaining what is going on in my head.
”The artist’s life is frustrating not because the passage is slow, but because he imagines it to be fast.”
Nearly everything presented in the first part of the book struck a chord in me, somewhere, stirred a connection. However, the first few pages of the first chapter held some words and declarations that I related to especially strongly.
On page one the sentence "often the work we have not done seems more real in our minds than the pieces we have completed" describes a feeling I experience more often than not. There are days when I will finish an assignment, an article for the paper or even just writing for myself, and I'll feel unfulfilled, like something is missing. I know I did what I had to do, and that the piece addressed everything I wanted it to address, but there are thoughts and things I can express clearly and more eloquently in my head, than I could ever put on paper--or so it seems that way. I have spent countless nights laying in bed, composing a piece in my head that sounds and is expressed exactly the way I envision it should, but when I go to put it into a Word document, the physical product often doesn't come close to the unwritten words in my head. How do we overcome this and transfer it onto paper so that everybody can read what I have to say and see the talent I know that I possess? Well, I guess that's what needs to be addressed in this course, hopefully I can figure out how.
The other quote I really appreciated was "...becoming an artist consists of learning to accept yourself, which makes your work personal, and in following your own voice, which makes your work distinctive. Accepting yourself sounds simple, why would anyone NOT accept who they are? But in reality, at least for myself and for many of my friends, self acceptance is so much deeper than saying "This is who I am and I love and accept everything about me." There are emotional, psychological, emotional and most of all physical aspects to accepting myself, which opens up the door for imperfections and conflicting inner feelings to overpower and prevent the talent I actually do know that I have, but is sometimes hidden because of a struggle I have going on inside me.
As far as finding a voice and letting it show in your writing to make it distinctive, I think I'm doing pretty well in that area. I write as I think, which might not always be appropriate for every writing situation, but usually my writing does reflect the type of person I am, or at least the me I present to the world.
Although I agree with pretty much everybody on this blog that the whole part of the book really struck a chord to me and is very relevant, the one particular section I felt applied to me was "Vision and Execution." It told the story of David Bayles studying with a piano master. He said that he could hear the music so much better in his head than would come out of his fingers. The teacher simply replied that it never really changes. The section explains that vision is always ahead of execution, and that that is okay. I particularly liked the quote that said, "Vision, Uncertainty, and Knowledge of Materials are inevitabilities that all artists must acknowledge and learn from: vision is always ahead of execution, knowledge of materials is your contact with reality and uncertainty is a virtue.
I just think that this hit a chord with me because I do have that problem of getting a good idea that sounds great in my head, but never as good on paper. This does make me more insecure about my work, feeling like it's never as good as I thought or wanted it to be. I know that it's a problem I have, but just hearing that it's normal makes it a lot less discouraging.
"Talent is a snare and a delusion."
This quote is part of a larger concept that the book pushes: that innate talent does not have much affect on how good an artist's work is, and that it is detrimental to the artist to take talent into consideration at all.
Numerous psychological studies have suggested that athletes that are at the top of their fields aren't there because of any innate talent, but because they work harder and more intelligently at GAINING talent.
The book repeatedly asserts that good art is produced through a long process of creating bad art, making mistakes and searching for your personal voice, instead of springing, full-formed as Venus, from some magical, intrinsic thing called 'talent.' What the elusive concept of talent DOES do is to convince us that we either have 'it' or not, and dissuades us from trying to gain ability through hard work.
Much of what is said in Art and Fear has been said in our Literature of Journalism classes. In the very last class, Professor Good encouraged us to have a routine in order to be able to write without anyone having anyone tell us to do so. He emphasized the importance of it and offered many examples. Bayles and Orland also comment on this and note the difference between stopping and quitting- stopping is temporary and quitting is permanent. They go on to acknowledge how after college many artists quit because they don't have anymore assignments or deadlines to meet. It is a scary notion that has also been brought up in Literature of Journalism. The fact that some Graduate shows are called Terminal Shows is frightening, especially since I never realized this was a universal notion.
This chapter motivated me write more on my own. It highlighted the importance of being passionate and writing for yourself. Other passages which noted that we are own audience were also very influential. They pointed out that we must always continue writing for ourselves and one then, when we're really good, maybe MOMA will come to us.
So, I'm on the bandwagon too. A lot of what this book says in the first part cut somewhere deep, and there are too many passages that connect with my exact thoughts to be able to list them all. And so, I think the most important thing this book has told me to do is to just relax, but not to the point where I think my art will flow effortlessly from my fingertips. It has let me know that it’s okay to struggle, and that that struggle doesn’t necessarily mean that I’m not supposed to be here, doing what I’m doing.
I think especially as “blossoming writers” (not “students”--what negative connotations that seems to hold for all of us), all of these fears are tenfold because we’re scolded for doing things “wrong”, or for writing in a way that doesn’t jive with an instructor’s idea of good writing. Like we’ve mentioned in class, we don’t think we’re any good, because maybe someone else doesn’t think we’re any good. We take criticisms personally and we let them spill over into our personal writing, oftentimes quitting before we even start. We assume that because one person doesn't like us, no one will. So we over think our art, or we pander to our audience too much or we think that our mistakes will pop up in everything we make (which, when you over think, they usually do). And as Bayles and Orland say, we “find reasons to procrastinate, since to not work is to not make mistakes”. A vicious cycle, really.
However, what this book tells me, is to not forget criticisms, but to take them in stride, understand that I will make mistakes, that I SHOULD make mistakes, but that my path is different from every other artist’s path. There are going to be potholes in places I don’t want them, and complete dead ends in others. As one of the most important ideas of the book says, art isn’t about giving up when the going gets tough, or when the product isn’t award-winning. “One of the basic and difficult lessons every artist must learn is that even the failed pieces are essential.” It is about learning from your mistakes, changing them the way you see fit and creating the art that works for you, and that just maybe, someone else will appreciate.
I think what I found most interesting and helpful in the first part of art and fear is the notion that art comes from ordinary people. This means that artists are not flawless, and no matter how much I compare my own work to others whose I think is better, everyone has flaws. I am hard on myself and often think my work isn't good enough, but I have to learn that nothing comes easily. Great work requires effort to work through the flaws, and that is why being an artist is both difficult and rewarding.
"...while geniuses may get made once-a-century or so, good art gets made all the time."
I loved this quote because everyone has heroes. Everyone has a favorite writer or singer or actor that they wish they could be like and that they view as a genius. It's always nice to step back for a second and say "Wait a minute. Brad Pitt used to wear a chicken suit and hand out fliers."
"The function of the overwhelming majority of your artwork is simply to teach you how to make the small fraction of your artwork that soars." (Pg. 5)
Right off the bat this sentence struck me because the nature in which it looked at the creative process. It puts pressure on the artist yet at the same time it made the whole thing more human, more like a natural progression which we all must face in attaining what we want out of our art. By dispelling the romanticized version of the artist, I think the book portrays a more realistic, albeit more artistic, vision of attainment.
I would like to examine two statements made in “Art & Fear,” because I feel they are similar in meaning. From page 13, “Making art precipitates self-doubt, stirring deep waters that lay between what you know you should be, and what you fear you might be.” The second, from page 30, “You find reasons to procrastinate, since to not work is to not make mistakes.”
Both of these statements seem to deal with self-doubt and how it will hamper your art. Now that I have sent my work out to various publications, having to deal with rejection, I start to acquire self-doubt. Although, I think I have had self-doubt in my poetry for a while now. I haven’t really taken any writing course dealing with poetry in years, so I feel I have stopped learning the art. This has made me lack confidence in my poetry — feeling that I have nothing to offer. Maybe part of it is I forgot my process, but I fear what I might be too. Could I not be the poet I truly want to be? What is the poet I truly want to be? Can I even write good poetry anymore? These are a few of the questions I have been asking myself. This fear of making mistakes, though, seems to be stopping me from doing poetry in the first place. Going back to journalism, I have feared for a while now what I know I could be and what I am. Procrastination I feel again comes into play here. Learning something that is an art, like writing, always has you questioning what you can be and what you can’t be? Surely, everyone has some potential or niche they are most comfortable with — something they want to pursue. I am starting to fear what I would like to do I might not really be able to do. I don’t want to be another music journalist. Granted that is fine if someone wants that. I want to be something more, something with an almost tangible social value. I feel I have a very romantic outlook on journalism. We are the caretakers of justice and a voice for the people when they need to be heard. I guess I just really fear if I will reach what I know I can reach. I am sure that fear is almost commonplace with writers and artists.
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