"Flight of Mercy"
Almost ready for take-off!
This is the question I began to explore in my last blog.
“Should I take advantage of auditioning classes at university, which I can now do as a senior citizen for I believe free, or at least a nominal price?”
So the article I referred to last time suggested that there are many successful artists who do not have formal higher education and are doing well. That was reassuring.
The writer continued with a section on what teachers need to keep in mind as they teach and another on what students must keep in mind as they study.
He reminded students to remember that after they have graduated from their studies not to let it go to their heads and remember that to be a thriving artist they must continue to be “students” for the rest of their lives. That “learning” is never over. I loved that, for I have learned with that every piece I do, I continue to experience challenges and continue to learn.
Because my own unique personal experiences my thoughts and feelings lead me to create pieces that are new to me. This then, as you can imagine, leads me into situations with my clay medium that I may never have encountered before. I remember as I was preparing for this last art show, I was very focused and creating very steadily for a period of time. I began to feel fatigued in the sense that I was always running into new barriers and challenges that needed to be thought out and resolved for the pieces to be completed on time. I realised then not only the energy it took, but that this was actually going to be a part of my creative life.
Right from the beginning there are challenges, like, how dose this feeling or emotion “look” in clay? Can I clarify it to the point of representation in three dimensional way? Can I manipulate the clay correctly for this particularly idea to be communicated? What have I seen or heard in my life that might give me some direction in what to create to represent this? Once I’ve decided on the physical image it might require, I need to think through the technical aspect of how the clay will have to be manipulated to bring the image into reality. The size, do I do it in pieces and put it together later? Drying times and engineering issues then arise...
Then there is the draughtsmanship of the elements to be represented. I need to challenge myself and the clay to make things look the way the image in my mind is seeing it.
As you can see in the piece pictured above, there are some similarities to another piece I’ve done before, this of course made things easier, but, as is normal with any new piece, it has new elements and so also has new challenges. In this case, representing feathers, wings, a feeling of flight, sleeves and (at this point still unresolved) how to represent a binding of rope falling away not only to feel “freedom” but to also represent “flight and motion” in the process.
I have broken down a process that on the one hand becomes so routine and natural, like walking or riding a bike, yet in each of these activities the terrain brings new challenges, and we need to think about how we will walk this mountain or ride over this next unique, never seen before surface.
Bottom line, I have come to the conclusion that in my unique situation, I will just continue creating. I have nothing against any courses and will if I need to, take shorter workshops on unique areas I feel I might need help on.
I am comfortable with my destiny of being a student for life. It is the only way to live.
“The Jews there were amazed and asked, “How did this man get such learning without having been taught?”
John 7:15
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