Wednesday, February 26, 2014

The one about the functions of art: art as a tool

The farther you walk into the woods of creativity the clearer the path becomes Oil on canvas 2013 16 x 50 inches
Art as a Tool

WHAT IS THE FUNCTION OF ART? Adapted from Art as Therapy by Alain de Botton and John Armstrong and Exploring Art: A Global, Thematic Approach by Margaret Lazzari and Dona Schlesier
 
From Art as Therapy, the authors write, “A tool is an extension of the body that allows a wish to be carried out, and that is required because of a drawback in our physical make-up.
A knife is a response to our need, yet inability, to cut.
A bottle is a response to our need, yet inability, to carry water.
To discover the purpose of art, we must ask what kinds of things we need to do with our minds and emotions but have trouble with?”

The material choices in artmaking are the same as the knife and bottle: the need to do something is facilitated by the materials at your command.

 Detail of The farther you walk... Oil on canvas 2013

I like thinking about the materials I use to communicate what can’t be said through verbal or written language as analogous to our sticks, clubs, and racquets used in lacrosse, baseball, tennis, etc. The instruments in music also apply here, but as an athlete who played sports that used sticks it’s the sports analogy I am going with for now – though in class I address the instrument-experience of my students.

And this has led me to construct the analogy: Tools in sports are to an athlete what materials in art are to an artist: each enables you to do something that our faculties can’t do on their own

Where the club, the stick, or racquet you control can optimize your performance, the control of materials enables you to say something profoundly and with an economy that words alone can’t.

Woods Oil on canvas 2013 9 x 12 inches

FUNCTIONS OF ART from Exploring Art: A Global Thematic Approach
·       Art glorifies the power of the state/rulers
·       Art celebrates war and conquest, and sometimes peace
·       Promotes cohesion within a social group
·       Records likenesses of an individual and their environment
·       Art entertains
·       Art assists in rituals that promotes our spiritual or physical well-being
·       Art reflects customs related to food, shelter, and human reproduction
·       Art communicates thoughts, ideas, emotions
·       Creates pictures of deities or what one may be
·       Serves to commemorate the dead

What do you see are the functions of your art? Does it differ for you from your audience?

Monday, February 24, 2014

The one about portraits in different media

Portraits I have done in oil paint, charcoal, and colored pencil. Dimensions are 18 x 24 inches
Glazing oil over titanium white, Payne's gray, and yellow ochre

Charcoal on paper, 18 x 24 inches

Colored pencil over graphite on 18 x 24 inch paper. From "Anthropologie"
Student work samples in charcoal and graphite on paper



Student self-portraits in oil on canvas


Tuesday, February 11, 2014

The one about art making and exercise


As a former competitive high school and college athlete the authority I have to speak about exercise is now limited to the ritual of my personal workouts - my Monday night winter pick-up ice hockey notwithstanding – but I have been thinking more and more about how exercise helps strength, skill, and vision improve over time the same way confidence and clarity improves over time in art making.

So the working theory I have is art making is exercise...

It’s the discipline to want to see results
It’s the commitment to improve, grow stronger, more sure in my abilities, and show the resolve to improve weaknesses
It’s the personal responsibility to do the work because it has to get done and I’m the only one to do it for myself

In my art classes, I’ve called my assignments exercises for the same reason that my personal go-to’s like jump rope, weight training, running and yoga are called exercises: they create the circumstances for personal achievement to occur. They aren’t an end, they are a means.   

In my studio I have artwork that’s been started and it can only be completed by me. The work, an appropriate name for art, albeit too close a link to economics than the humanities, it implies the process of completion and satisfaction one feels from a job well done, and the 'work' it may be worked on over time. And the results may lead to a clearer understanding of the direction I can go in the next artwork. The discipline, the commitment, the personal responsibility that are easy in exercise are the hardest things for me to face in regards to doing the work in my studio. I can show up to the yoga mat, to the weights, to the road, to my jump rope, if only every day I could show up to my artwork the same way.  The cliché phrase that life is a journey, not a destination comes to mind and I write it reluctantly, but applying my theory I consider that my art will not lead me to an end, instead my making art, like exercise, is a means of living well, achievement, and growth.

There are many issues here to be addressed in upcoming posts: the gap that exists in art making that is significantly smaller than that which occurs with fitness; integrating art making into life like exercise; art making as a form of nourishment; not making art and its effect, like not working out and how I become an awful person to those close to me; rituals and their difference from routines; and many more. 

Jump rope, weights, running, and yoga are my go-to’s, often outdoors regardless of the weather. Follow me on Twitter to see what I mean, @ricky_sears

R

Sunday, February 9, 2014

The one about teaching

To be a teacher means sharing the knowledge you have while sharing the knowledge you gain because I'm still an active learner myself. It's my five-years full-time teaching experience that tells me that if I expect my students to learn I am reminded to do the same. Teachers aren't born, we're made - often the good ones succeed by being perpetual students. And students who succeed seem to be those who don't just do what they're told to do.

So there are two rules if I follow my teaching:
1. Don't tell students what to think or do
2. Ask the questions* that you want students to have the answers to
* : know the questions to ask.

When learning occurs (which could be argued is always) it's important to lead students to find the answers for themselves (see Rule 1) but it's equally important to ask the questions directly and in the right way. For instance, when it's been observed how progress is made on an idea or during a project by following steps that include preparation (of sketches, of materials, etc.), exploration (of materials, or limits, of goals, etc.), and execution (of ideas from sketches or materials toward goals within limits) it's important to use the prior success or area to improve as an example. I don't see telling he or she what one did right or wrong as helpful; instead, ask about their experience and how it worked out, allow each student to identify successful processes or things that could be improved, and let it be told to me so their voice is heard and their effort is empowered moving forward.
This leads to a corollary of Rule 2.

Rule 2A. Expect the answers to be different from yours
Rule 2B. The students can teach you something so keep your ears open