Here it is, 5:08 a.m. I've been wide awake since 4:35, my mind racing with thoughts I feel compelled to put on record. I could just write them in my journal, but here is an environment where these particular thoughts might resonate with others, and so I share them with you.
Last night Rob and I attended a panel discussion put on by an organization called
Project Grow (please do check out their website to learn more about them!). The theme for the discussion was "Why Make Art?" and the panel consisted of full time and part time working artists. (I'm sorry I don't know their names, as they weren't printed on the fliers, and I didn't write them down either, but it was a good group. One was named Avalon, one was Chris. There was a Jen and a Karl -
Karl Lind! - and Harold and Larry. My apologies to the woman next to Larry - I couldn't hear you very well.) The event itself had some surreal moments, and was an art happening in and of itself. A homeless man had joined the audience. He had a lot of questions and was somewhat disruptive - if you were there to hear the panelists. But if you were there to experience whatever life throws your way, you were not disappointed. Some of the man's comments were very thought-provoking indeed: to those in our society who are in survival mode, does discussing art make any sense? It seemed to underscore the question of the night. WHY make art? The whole scene would have made a great documentary and I wish I had had a video camera.
The audience was very participatory, but I was very quiet. I will now pretend that I was a part of the panel and answer some of the questions. I'll present the questions first, so that you can be part of the panel as well, contemplating your own responses before I give mine:
Why do you do art?
What is your goal for your art - what kind of impact do you want it to have on your audience?
Would you do art even if there were no audience for it?
What about the impact on the environment (the use of material stuff to make art)?
What is art? What is the difference between art and craft ad trade?
What does art give to society? Does it help anything?
My responses:
First, there was a panelist's comment on the title of the discussion. Rather than Why Make Art, could she call it Why Do Art? I like this question. For me, it's not quibbling over semantics, but a fundamental question of the relationship the artist has to her art. "Why Make Art" implies a product, as if the product were the purpose of practicing one's art. "Why Do Art" implies the process. For some or many of us, the process is more essential than the product. Why do I involve myself in the process of making art? The panelists had a variety of reasons, from beauty to learning to expressing one's ideas. I've thought about this a lot over the years. Sometimes I do art to have a gift to give somebody, because it's something I can do and I hope it will please them. Sometimes I do art because I get an idea and I want to see it in a physical form - I want to take on the challenge of seeing if I
can do it. Sometimes I do art to learn and to practice and to get better at it so that I can use it to create what I want to make, or to communicate what I want to say. Years ago I thought to myself that as a quiet person, I needed
some way of communicating what was going on inside me. Which leads to my final answer: I do art because I
need to. It is vital to my sense of well-being. I get really cranky if I haven't done art for awhile. My emotions go awry, and that's putting it very nicely. To use Michelle and Janne's word, "arting" is fun, joyful, intense, invigorating, calming, and healing. And nurturing. I need to do art just as I need to drink water.
What is your goal - what impact do you want your art to have on others? I think this is part of the reason I am reluctant to consider myself an artist - I'm out there in the world only occasionally as an artist. I am not working with my art constantly like I wish I could be, and I rarely have an audience. But when I do put it out there, or when I have in the past, I think my goal is to have the viewer pause and think, or to have some kind of emotional reaction. I enjoy anonymously hearing those reactions. Some viewers make a connection with me via my work, and I learn that I am not so alone in the world. Other viewers bring their own interpretation and something unexpected. I learn that concepts or forms have other meanings outside of my intention.
Would you do art even if there were no audience for it? Yes, I would. I do a lot of work that I never show anyone, again, because I need to. It helps me process thoughts and feelings and move forward. Sometimes I think that I would like to keep it all for myself, but then I am surprised when I do share it that others do respond to it. My tenth grade English teacher, Mrs. Feuerstein, wrote to me that I needed to share myself - that I owed it to the world. I have to admit that when I do feel brave enough to share, I like the response. But I would still do it without the audience.
What about the resources, the "stuff" of art and it's impact on the environment? For years I didn't make art because of this issue. Not that I was being ecological, but that the products from doing art were taking up a lot of space and I was sick of having all that stuff around me, piling up, cluttering my life. Now more ecologically conscious to a certain extent, I am more aware of the environmental issues in various art procedures, and it does worry me sometimes. Certain pigments from nature are not renewable resources, clay comes out of the earth, paper comes from cutting down and processing trees, paint waters and turpentine and paint jars need to be disposed of with thought for how their elements affect ground water and streams. It can feel overwhelming and cause an artist to stop doing art. But paints and materials continue to evolve thanks to the growing awareness. More artists are reusing materials in their art. I do a mix of both new and reused/recycled. I know I need to continue to improve in this area.
What is art? What is the difference between art and craft, and trade? Oh, ugh! Sometimes I think I know, sometimes I have no clue. I mean, there's art, then there's fine art, and there's craft, then there's fine craft... Who or what makes up these distinctions? Galleries and art magazines? The price you put on it? The artist's or craftperson's training and education? I make art dolls. Are they art or craft? Are they an artful craft? I have friends who tell me my stuff is art, and that we know the difference. No, I really don't know.
What does art give to society? Does it help anything? One of the audience members told a great story she had heard about a dramaturge who was going through that crisis of what good was her work doing anybody, wanted to go to India to help the sick and the poor, met Mother Teresa who told her, "In my country we have a famine of food, people are sick and starving. It is my work to help heal them. In your country there is a famine of the heart. It is your work to help heal those people." I'm totally paraphrasing, I didn't hear the story first hand. But what an amazing story. Although the discussion continued and more questions were asked, I felt like I had what I needed to know. There is a movie playing in Portland right now, a documentary called
I Am. In the previews there are scientists and philosophers talking about how we are so much more interconnected than we ever realized, and how what one person does somehow affects everyone else. In light of this, don't we absolutely need art - art includes music, writing, poetry, theater, movies, visual arts, happenings, design work, landscaping, cooking, sewing, etc. etc. - to balance out the wars and mayhem that go on about the world? If my work, or your work or anybody's work reaches and touches another person and helps them in some way, there will be a ripple effect that will bring light into the world. An idea so grandiose and yet humbling at the same time. We have work to do - our small part.
This is my soul work. This is what I need to do.
