http://www.indy.com/posts/5679 en-us caralyn Love the quote from the Eickmeier interview. I agree with her, too. Anyone can create art. But it's when you wake up in a cold sweat at 2am needing to write, to paint, to sculpt, etc. that you can consider yourself an artist based on the sheer neccessity to create. I don't neccessarily think all reporting is art, per se, but I think it has the potential to be. Tue, 11 Mar 2008 10:39:08 -0400 http://www.indy.com/posts/5679#comment_17244 http://www.indy.com/posts/5679#comment_17244 Fox523 It's just a figure painting class. Its purpose is not to make art, but to develop your basic skills so a you can use them later. There shouldn't be any "vulnerability" because of your work. They mean nothing, they are not finished works of art. Strive for perfection, it can only help your grade. Learn all that you can then use it (or don't) in the future to create art. In the meantime, all you have to do is appease the instructor and satisfy yourself - nothing else matters. You can always touch up the studies, use them as source material or burn them later. Now if you plan on exhibiting or selling art to the public - then you should really be concerned about what people think, but by then you should know what you are doing. Have Fun and Good Luck! Tue, 11 Mar 2008 10:25:44 -0400 http://www.indy.com/posts/5679#comment_17238 http://www.indy.com/posts/5679#comment_17238 Indy.com Staff All very interesting. I think perhaps writing is more of a craft than an art. But I guess it all depends on how you regard what you do, like Eickmeier's quote. I have friends, reporters, who considering writing to be part of their identity. Writing is who they are. While I love writing, I don't think of it that way. I stop writing once I get home at night. But there are times when writing means a great deal to me. There are larger scale narratives I've done that I consider to be art. Many of them. In fact, I like to write a couple of them a year to sustain me. But the day-to-day stuff, that's just work. Still, it does take some small amount of bravado to put yourself out there at the risk of sounding insufferable. All of this kind of reminds me of Anthony Hopkins. He's said in interviews before that he loathes hearing actors talk about their art. To him, acting is a job, albeit a job that is primarily creative in nature. Basically, he doesn't take it too seriously, and that's how I try to regard putting words together from 9 to 5. Write well, but you don't have to live and breathe it. (Oh yeah, and Schnabel was a typo.) Tue, 11 Mar 2008 09:38:44 -0400 http://www.indy.com/posts/5679#comment_17218 http://www.indy.com/posts/5679#comment_17218 Jolene.Ketzenberger I think writing is a craft. I don't think reporters and most writers (myself included) are artists. Here's an interesting question from Abe Aamidor's interview with Herron's Valerie Eickmeier: Can anyone be an artist? I love that question. No. Can anyone make art, enjoy art, yes. There's a difference. Being an artist is not what you do, it's who you are. . . . The process of making art or the process of making an art object is an activity that can be taught, and there are various levels of accomplishment and skillfulness. I think that's the difference. When someone has the passion and commitment and the personal drive to go to art school, make it through -- it's not easy to make it through, it's not what people think, it's not a talent you're born with and no one has any influence at any other point. The moment that the outside pressure, where it's not a class, it's not an expectation, it's not someone imposing expectations on you to create or do something, and you do it because you have to, you can't imagine your life not doing it, that's an artist. Tue, 11 Mar 2008 09:26:31 -0400 http://www.indy.com/posts/5679#comment_17217 http://www.indy.com/posts/5679#comment_17217 caralyn Konrad - don't sell yourself short. Writing - in all of its myriad forms can be art. Just because you're reporting (facts) doesn't mean that a great deal of care and craft doesn't go into your work. Reporting, dear WinsorNewton (who doesn't even have an avatar up! jeez!) IS art. Nice job all around, K. Tue, 11 Mar 2008 09:17:03 -0400 http://www.indy.com/posts/5679#comment_17215 http://www.indy.com/posts/5679#comment_17215 Jolene.Ketzenberger When I heard you talking about going to a figure studio for an adventure, I assumed you were going to BE a model, not paint one. Now THAT would be an adventure. Talk about vulnerability -- standing up there naked and then looking at the paintings or sketches to see how the artists saw you. Tue, 11 Mar 2008 08:41:06 -0400 http://www.indy.com/posts/5679#comment_17210 http://www.indy.com/posts/5679#comment_17210 WinsorNewton I beg to differ with you once again, Konrad. Writing is an art when the writer can develop a plot, place and characters. Reporting is, well, reporting. And speaking of reporting, is it not "Schnabel" instead of "Schanbel"? I find that the bravest artists are commercial. Their living depends upon the acceptance of their works by the severest of critics; clients. Posturing and pyjama wearing is for those whose work needs help to be noticed. Real vulnerability is working to please clients and solve their problems, day in and day out, year after year, living through the feasts and famines of freelancing. Mon, 10 Mar 2008 23:09:00 -0400 http://www.indy.com/posts/5679#comment_17192 http://www.indy.com/posts/5679#comment_17192 Konrad.Marshall Painting a figure was, honestly, much harder than I thought it would be, and that's part of what I was trying to share. And yeah, the "ever-so-precious" analysis might not be what everyone sees when they view artists, but I genuinely think that a goodly portion of the greater public are intimidated by art, and by artists, due in large part to that kind of posturing. It doesn't happen all the time, and it comes from different places, but I think in some small way, that too-cool-for-school posing could be what makes art inaccessible to certain groups. Maybe not. Take Schanbel, for instance. I love his work. I love hearing what he has to say. I love his larger-than-life persona. I even love the way he wears pyjamas to an opening if he feels like it. Where that comes from, why he does it, I don't know. I can only guess. But I think that vulnerability mentioned above might be a big part of it. That kind of vulnerability is inevitable, because the act of creating art and putting it out there is - at heart - a fairly brave thing to do. On a personal note, I don't think of what I do as art, per se. But writing could be considered exactly that. And I should point out that as reporters, we sign our work with our name. And we even have to include an email address and phone number so that would-be critics can tear up our stuff. In the online world, we have posts like this where our work can be dissected further. With that in mind, maybe the smart-arse jabs sometimes included in certain stories are MY clothing. Maybe snarky words are just another way of hiding yet another form of nudity. Maybe not. I dunno :) Sun, 09 Mar 2008 17:09:47 -0400 http://www.indy.com/posts/5679#comment_17018 http://www.indy.com/posts/5679#comment_17018 Jammy That was a fun silly article, nice job. It's surprising how different it actually is from how you think it will be once you're actually doing it isn't it? pickasso hit it on the head, you don't realize how vulnerable you'll feel working like that until you're actually doing it. Of course artists are often pretentious and dress funny. :-) If you want to sell your work and be known as a great maker of things you have to have a high opinion of yourself or it simply doesn't work. You can't allow yourself to feel 'average' and then stick a piece of canvas and paint on a wall with a $1200 price tag, you've got to believe your work is worthwhile and something special. You've got to believe in yourself or no one else will. As far as the whole ever-so precious fashion ensembles and sticking out in a society like a sore thumb, don't think for a minute that's not a meaningful social behavior. It creates a public persona and helps someone to be memorable, it also works into that whole wanting to be an 'individual' so many creative types hold dear. Any publicity is good publicity, even someone saying how ridiculous you are... trust me I know. :p Sun, 09 Mar 2008 03:22:58 -0400 http://www.indy.com/posts/5679#comment_16988 http://www.indy.com/posts/5679#comment_16988 DigitalEvolution so, anyone need a nude model? Sat, 08 Mar 2008 17:46:28 -0500 http://www.indy.com/posts/5679#comment_16985 http://www.indy.com/posts/5679#comment_16985 WinsorNewton Hold on here. He's wearing gloves? I've been an artist for over 50 years, and have never worn gloves to oil paint. What kind of sissy wears gloves? The authentic aspect and tactile enjoyment of art is getting your hands dirty. Gloves serve to isolate the artist from the work. It's oil paint, not acid. Next time try it without the gloves and get some pigment on your pinkies and dig into the painting. Sat, 08 Mar 2008 17:36:05 -0500 http://www.indy.com/posts/5679#comment_16983 http://www.indy.com/posts/5679#comment_16983 pickasso I graduated from one of the better art schools in the country 20+ years ago, and I found some of your insights in this article on point (although I found your writing pretentious). Kidding. I would sum up your feelings in one word: vulnerability. When you create art, you are laying yourself out; possibly for ridicule, especially if you push the envelope and embrace risk and innovation. Additionally, articulating or commenting on one's work is not easy to do, as some things go beyond logic or thoughts that have a rational basis. This can be construed as flighty or pretentious. Whatever. The world is a better place because of the art that is created by those who work from the heart and create both beauty and controversy (see Picasso's Guernica, in real life and you cannot help but be affected, if you have a soul.) OK, enough pretense. Sat, 08 Mar 2008 12:33:45 -0500 http://www.indy.com/posts/5679#comment_16968 http://www.indy.com/posts/5679#comment_16968