The Grand Finale is a Celebration and a Letting Go

THE GRAND FINALE

Understanding when you are finished, when anymore would be over doing, and knowing when to stop is the last phase.  You see it is time to stop, and feel it fits as a whole, that you feel it fits with you.  That is when I know I am done and nothing else I do will benefit the work. It is almost an audible clicking in my mind, done!  Now is the time to let go.  I have raised my child, we have grown together, and now we have competed our journey...I must let go now and send my piece I have struggled with and loved out into the world.  Will it do well, will it be understood, will it be received with thought.  That is mainly what I ask, whether you like a work or not, observe and think.  It is not my responsibility that you like my art work, only that you will interact and give consideration.  One artist I know says this gut wrenching for her to do, to put your most vulnerable inner self out for all to see the critics as well as the art lovers.  And being an artist means one must continually do this.  But in the letting go is the showing, it is an important process for an artist.  I know many artist who will never show their work, they get to this last stage but give their work away or hang it at home, give it to family or friends, or put it away.  The inherent risk of criticism and exposure is too much, but there within lies growth also.  It is critical to show, to share, to talk to people about your art. 

Finished Assemblage on Mountain studio steps

Side view

Detail shot of front upper section

Side view

The Coming Together/Convergence

Stage 4

The Coming Together

In this stage one has moved through the doubts, weathered the storm of negativity and self distraction/sabotage coming out on the other side of darkness to light.  I have faced my fears and stopped feeding them.  Now I am focusing on how the piece will work as a whole, what elements will tie it together for the finishing touches.  I still have the assembly and the practical parts of making the sculpture in  all its various parts stabile and durable for shipping and showing and handling. But now I can see all the elements working together, and I have found elements to unify the piece as a unit.  Now I know I can direct the viewers eye from one section to another and convey a unified message with many individual triggers of thought and meaning, like subtext. So if we think of this in literary terms, there is the body of the work, the title, the central theme, and then the chapters and sentences.  

photo of hand with world spinning resting precariously on man's finger tips
photo by Elizabeth Gordon of Elizabeth Gordon's art work.

I once worked at a writing focus school where I learned to team with writing teachers using art and writing to support each other.  I learned many of the art elements and processes parallel those in writing.  I thank those writing resource teachers for helping me to see the creative process in a different discipline.

science vials with insects and image transfer

Wasp nest on rusty disk

You will never know these wonderful women, one has passed away at a very young age to cancer. Janie 
Guillbalt you will always be in my heart.  Mary Osborn, who continues on fighting the battle in making writing important to a doubting bureaucracy.  To Christy Curran, an innovative teacher and writer who went on to work in the larger world of NYC and making a difference on a wider scale.  To all of these strong vibrant women I am thankful, for it enriched the lives of children and exposed them to importance of art and writing, but also it enriched me as an artist to have a clearer vision of my own art and the process of creation.

The Doubting

If you read Julia Cameron's books on artists and writers, The Artists Way or the book the War of Art by.....Then you will read about the artists block and the many ways artists block and sabotage their own creativity and art projects.  It is inherent in the process.  "I will never make the deadline I might as well quit", "I shouldn't have put that there and now it is to late", "this is no good, no one will like it", "this is no good, it is the crappiest piece of art I have ever done", "why did I ever think I could do art", "maybe everyone will find out I am really no good and the last award was just a fluke", .......it goes on and on-a thousand negative thoughts that are meant to sabotage your efforts all manufactured by your mind.  Then there are the delaying tactics, I need to clean the house(when you know you don't), I need to wash my hair, I need to take go to the store, I need to watch paint dry(I threw that in for the ridiculousness of it) and so on.  Then we often enable friends and family members to sabotage us by asking leading questions, "don't you think this work is a piece of crap?", "this is not the best work I have ever done", or when we choose a family member or friend who we know doesn't appreciate our style of work and then ask their opinion, in that way we subtly invite negative remarks to sabotage our own feelings of doubt to re-enforce our own need to block ourselves.  

This is a dangerous phase because even the best of artists and the most experienced of creative people will fall pray to its temptations.  If you think Leonardo Da Vinci or Michelangelo or Manet or Sargent did not have these devils you would be wrong, all you would need do is to read their biographies and you would find the same struggle all artists have gone through over time.  Van Gogh is one of the most dramatic of examples, his mental illness magnified his struggles and doubts.  But the point here is it is a step in the artist process as well as any other, and one we must all weather through to get to the other end of success in our work.  

Last night my doubts began and my mind filled with negative thoughts about my piece.  Much the same as I wrote above...this is a crappy piece of work not worthy of my effort, they are going to think it is ridiculous and look at it and know right away I am a failure, the cows are the wrong color, I should have glued the evil eye charm down I should have tied it, shit I got glue on the plastic now the piece is ruined, the top works, but the bottom belongs to another piece, I am not conveying the theme Home,  I started in one direction and ended up in another maybe that is too confusing, I can't enter this and show it hundreds of people, and on and on and on.  

Then at some point the doubts quiet down if you stare them down and restore confidence in yourself.  Ah, if I put this here or it really does look good, that flows better than I was thinking, the blue cows with added lettering in gold work, I have put in many elements, but it is a conceptual piece and I want people to think, and in the end I realize I must do the work for myself and  create for myself..how others perceive it is their own business.  Andy Warhol said it best, just do art and let others figure it out, but the art must get done. 

I am a Surrealist at heart, it took me half of my art lifetime to understand that, it is an intellectual, conceptual way I work.  I put many subconscious triggers throughout ever work, each to be interpreted in a variety of ways by the person viewing them.  So I know from the outset my work will be viewed differently by the experiences a person has in their lives when they view my work.  For example if I put a snake skin in a work, some people may thing evil or danger or the shedding means getting rid of the old to be born anew, new life or many other meanings.  So much depends on our experiences, our education, our culture, our age, our childhoods, and so many other things.  The next time you view a piece of art, whether conceptual or not....there is always an intent the artist is trying to convey to you, even when you think they are not, take time with the work, let it seep in to your senses, and then open your mind to all the images and possibilities that come.  That is what the artists, the creator would want. 

And for the artist who are experiencing the doubting phase I say weather through, it is only one of the steps, but it is necessary to go throughout the tunnel to get to the light.

The River

Stage 3

The River

letter blocks

 I f you have ever played a card game called Texas Hold 'em you may know this term, it is the last draw before the hand it over.  You have three previous cards before this one is dealt.  As you receive your cards you are waiting to see what kind of hand you can put together. 

Statue of Liberty Transparency with colored piano key pads,
and words of home in varying languages

 I think of the term River as an actual river also, where there is a flow and the water is running downstream. The water runs over rocks, around bends, and though eddy's may form the constant gathering flow builds from a tickle to a small stream to a river, mighty and flowing.  This stage of the artistic process is like that where all the bits and pieces I have gathered are coming together, first a trickle of an idea, then a stream that is growing clearer and clearer in my minds direction until the idea flows and comes together like the Mighty Mississippi as it becomes the glorious river it is. 

varying type sets of letters and numbers

Porcelain glove mold hand with image transfers

Rear view of suitcase with ceramic round disc with ceramic ink transfer in
multiple overlays 

The flowing also takes place in ones mind, runner's call it a runner's high, Zen masters call it meditation, for me it is like a floating place where there is no sense of time.  In this step one minute can be one hour or all afternoon, time stops and there is just no sense of time at this point. 

Test tubes with cicada's, cocoon, and leaf bug 

 Once can sense there is a coming together and it feels right, things are beginning to make sense and fit, but the end is not yet in sight, as I am still swimming in the flow of the water like riding a crest of a wave....I can feel the power of the movement below me and I am riding its motion.

The Disparate Parts and The Journey

In my collage/assemblage art there are always many parts that must come together.  It is my process to surround myself with all the interesting, intriguing pieces of ephemera and rusty worn objects I can.  

Most I have collected over months and in many cases over many years and they wait patiently until they find a home in a piece of art work.  I often wonder about my chosen way of work, but it is the only method that flows and feels right to me.  There are projects I plan in detail ahead, but more often I have a general idea, a direction in which I head, and then I turn myself over to the journey, for it is in the experience of creating that ignites more and more creativity.  It takes a great deal of trust in the inner artist or what ever we might like to call that guiding force, but I have learned when I can do this my best work comes. For me if I plan too much ahead, I over think, I over critic and I let doubts creep in...if my conscious mind is more active than my sub-conscious mind.

Many non artists find this difficult to understand, and want to know what you are thinking when you do a piece of art, and how you do this or that.  I think it is a bit like how I cook.  I read tons of cookbooks and recipes, but when I enter the kitchen it is without books or recipes, for it is time to create.  If you have to stick to a recipe or a plan you have dedicated yourself to a limited range of outcomes and therefore pre-constrained your own creative results.  This way of work is not for everyone or every artist, it is my way, it is what I have found works for me and the only way I feel comfortable and right with doing art.  For me it is like the runners high, I enter a world of Zen like concentration, a world of intense concentration and a world where time stands still-one hour is one minute. or several hours pass by and it seems as if it I just blinked.  

The piece I am working on now is an assemblage for a members show for an art center I belong to.  The theme is Home.  I will take you through some of the process as I go through it and try to describe some of my choices and challenges as I proceed through each step.  Part of the challenge of this piece is  it must be shipped to another state, and it will be in at least three main sections in the central body and many small pieces on the outside surfaces.  It will also depend on the gallery that receives it to do some assembly, due to the fact it is less likely to be broken if shipped in three sections.  The other challenges are many different materials that call for differing adhesives and methods of attachment, to achieve as much stability and durability as one can.  I am an artist who, if a work sells, is concerned about the quality and longevity of the work I sell.  So as we begin I will start to photograph stage by stage to take you along this trip of creation and struggle with me.  I hope you will enjoy the journey as we enter this world of the artistic process.  

STEP ONE: CHAOS 

                     There is no order at this stage only an idea and the gathering of interesting elements. This first stage for those who love order, is most disturbing.  Some people thrive on order and a need to plan ahead, the idea of letting go is too frightening to conceive, it is the jump from a high dive into a cold pool that is not even in site! But it is in the letting go that the beginning of creation happens.

When We Develop as Artist We Take Risks

Monica/Growth as an Artist

Success takes us being open to risks

It is never comfortable to take risks. Growth in life and art is not always easy. It is scary. We question ourselves: we will we succeed, will we fail, will we make fools of ourselves? For artists who have been working for a while the fears may be different. It may be, will people buy my work if I try a new style, can I risk experimenting and still have galleries carry my work, will my patrons still support me if I change media and style?

I write this pinpointing one individual in my world who went from being an art historian to being an artist. Monica is from Peru. She came to the United States to work at the Dali Museum in Florida, as an assistant education director. She had done some art in Peru, but now she wanted to do more and learn about creating her own pottery and hand made glass art. At first it was frustration and trial and error. But step by step with support of classmates, friends and family Monica took those steps that we all must take if we want to succeed. She overcame obstacles one by one:centering clay, learning about glazes and scraffito, taking classes in glass fusion, and so much more. With a patient tenacity Monica grew, day by day, month by month. She sits across from me in clay and glass class, that is how I know.

I am a teacher and understand the learning process well. Observing this amazing process always seems like a mini miracle. It is like a seed being planted, being watered , and growing into a bud, then a flower.

Monica now has been in her first craft show, and has been accepted to two others! It is wonderful to see such growth in an artist and a person.

I think the true miracle is that this process happens all over the world to thousands of people who want to become artists and to artists who want to grow in their own art. It is risk taking, not one time, but setting your mind that it will take a lot of time.

Dedicate yourself to a section of time that you will do every thing possible to perfect your art or craft and enter shows or apply for galleries. It is not about a one time process, it is about continuous effort, intent, and patience. Have faith (or if you prefer confidence and belief) something will happen. It is a journey, but one that requires that you take risks and learn form them. I wish you all a good journey and success.

Check out Monica's blog for updates on her journey as an artist. It is in the blogs I follow section column on the right of this page. barro y arena

Monica is on that journey, let us all wish her the best!