Another Week of Possibilities

Posted on by Sandy Webster

peonies from Andys

Finally back to normal here….well sort of. Last week was a fun filled and very packed workshop on Experimentation with Materials. Eight students trying everything as fast as I could show them and then trying to put it all into a lovely book of samples.  Here is a bit of their efforts.

contact print

Bonnie's bubbles and string

I am glad the class is over. It is exhausting preparing for the class and cleaning up my space here at home when it is finished and all the spare materials, tools and equipment are brought back to the studio. Some things I take of the walls and bring in to show them ideas after they have played with a technique. Like the one below using National Geographic images that have been collaged and then carefully gessoed in places to emphasize and add designs.

Sandy's nat geo with gesso lo res

Nothing terribly original here other than the arrangement and choice of colors and the drawing with gesso. Really anyone can do this and have something interesting to look at.  When I look at it I remember how much I liked the time involved with making so many marks with a toothpick and gesso to get fine lines….or maybe I used a tiny squeeze bottle. It seems that the bottle would have clogged, so if I do it again, the toothpick for sure.

This week I will read the text for a children’s book that a friend has written and asked me to illustrate. It sounds like fun and I hope I am up to the task. I would like to do it in graphite because it is about woodland critters and I did a limited edition of books titled, “When the  Woods Whispers” several years ago.  Here are some of the images from that tiny book…only 2″ x 2″ square.

deer rabbit owl

Of course the author may have a different idea. The challenge is the thing here and it is solitary work. Just me and my medium. No students, no hauling bits and pieces everywhere, no cleaning up. I am going to enjoy this next week.

But for today Art Group arrives in less than two hours and I need to get the studio ready for their work and all our ideas, thoughts and sharing that comes with that work.

Creativity Classes, Workshops and How To Books – Seriously?

Posted on by Sandy Webster

Have you noticed how many are selling books and workshops on how to be creative?

I found this definition in a Google Search for the definition of “creativity”. So if you focus on the words originality, individuality wouldn’t the influence of someone else’s points of view and direction negate these factors at least in part? And then, is the resulting work uniquely your own? Or some sort of vague type of collaboration? And if you wanted to be “creative” the next time does one have to find another book? Refer back to previous notes from a workshop on “How to be Creative”? Tune into someone else’s thought processes to get back into the “creative” zone? Take a refresher course?

cre·a·tiv·i·ty

ˌkrēāˈtivədē/

noun

  1. the use of the imagination or original ideas, especially in the production of an artistic work.
synonyms: inventiveness, imagination, innovation, innovativeness, originality, individuality

Steve Jobs is quoted as saying, “Creativity is connecting things.”

Isn’t that all one needs to do, just sit there with the materials you know how to manipulate and create what you want to say. Keep moving them around and see what happens. Come up with a unique expression and not something that looks very similar to everyone else’s work in a workshop. It seems that if we all worked this way there would be so much more out there to inspire the rest of us to keep using our own voice. And give us the confidence to carry on alone in our studios when we need to create another way of saying something that matters.

I wish all of us could do this. So many images of artists’ works look like so many others. We used to be more unique pre-internet, pre-workshops taught over and over, in places worldwide on how to “make this”. It is really hard to find the original and individual. And it is very easy to find the derivative.  My mistake here is thinking that all of us want to be unique in our artwork. Some have told me, “Sandy, please, most of us just want to make stuff.” And that may be true. We simply want to make stuff.

Later today I will start my week long workshop on teaching as many techniques as I can to a class of eight students that I hope will take their resulting samples books home to their own studios and find a way to use some of those techniques to create something original and individual. Find their own “creativity” without relying one someone else’s directions.

Experimentation with Materials cover page lo res

Hard and Soft

Posted on by Sandy Webster

HardnessI love these hard things all placed in a hard stone bowl. They feel nice and cool in the hands but more often than not my hands will ache with the weight of them. Age. Age is making decisions before I even get to put in my own thoughts on the matter.  It is time to make decisions as to what I will (or can) do with my hands.

Yesterday I spent the day placing prints in frames, polishing the glass and covering the backs, making hangers where needed. Here are white line prints and the finally finished linoleum crow print.

framed white line

framed crows

Maybe I can sell them now. At least they are ready to go somewhere besides sit here in the studio reminding me that maybe it is time to stop making. But then what? Just keep things smaller, easier and softer. Make work that feels good to the touch and is easily packed away. Maybe I should write another story. That is only an accumulation of papers, papers and words. Poetry is good. Maybe poetry inspired by the photos I take and then zero in on the reason I took them. Like this.

feather rocks

 

Or this.

denim and pipe and wood

But what I will most likely do is just go into the studio this morning, clean up all the mess I made yesterday and the day before and start over. It won’t be poetry or writing. I need cloudy, foggy cool days to get that done right. And it is lovely outside. Not a good day for writing but a good day for a walk. If I don’t get sidetracked in the studio with another something to make I might just do that.

But I am likely to make something. Draw something. I might even sew something. Just the thought of soft cloth and the hum of the sewing machine is appealing. Hand stitching. That would be nice. Or weaving shifu threads on the loom.

For now a hot herbal tea and a good think before going back into the studio.

softness

 

Non-Acceptance Letters aka “Rejection” Notices

Posted on by Sandy Webster

Fatal Shore leaves close up

To use the word “rejection” seems a bit harsh, so we will call them non-acceptance letters. This week I received three. One was from an artist book exhibit here in the states that I could not remember entering and the other two were from major exhibitions in Australia. Like the other several hundred recipients of the same letters, I was sorry to receive a turn down of what seemed perfect entries for that country; especially the Waterhouse Natural Science Art Prize. I only entered one of the three relating Robert Hughes’ book, Fatal Shore, to the effects of global warming on that country. From several pages of the text I cut Eucalyptus leaf shapes, colored them with the watercolors made from the soils of Australia, and then burned them. I filled a dust bin made using museum board and placed it on a pedestal of the same material (both covered with Nepalese hand made paper).

Like most pieces I make using the hand-made watercolors, the memories of place and time return with every brush stroke. There is a good deal of emotional investment in these works because of a deep fondness for the country. Here is a view of the entire piece which stands about 20″ tall and is perhaps 13″ at its widest point. I must say that touching the leaves, running my fingers through them is, simply put, a wonderful experience. I am touching the land and the words that best describe a country and its origins. Here is the full view of the piece.

Fatal Shore Dustbin lo res

Using the same book I made two more pieces. These were entered into the Stanthorpe Regional Art Festival exhibit and neither made the cut. The one below started with shaping a section of the book into the exact shape of a wooden boat that I found at an antique shop. This was done on a band saw. Then it was sanded and the pages manipulated to expose the title page of the book and simulate waves. Finally it was burned all over using a burning tool, a slow tedious process getting the “scorched” look that I was after.

Fatal Shore boat side view

 

Fatal Shore Boat lo res

And finally the third in the series; and actually the one I made first. Here I removed the dust jacket of the book and glued the cover section to the exact size wooden book cover I made with pine boards. I had to use a torch to get the look I wanted but still not burn it up in the process. I wanted the “book” to be slightly open so that another band saw section could be seen inside manipulated into the shape of a wave.

Fatal Shore full view lo res

Fatal Shore back view lo res

Fatal Shore front detail lo res

Above the wave is an illustration of Norfolk Island taken from Hughes’ book and pasted to the inside back cover. Outside the book are burned wave-like pieces of wood, a rusted padlock (for the convicts, of course), an old pitted piece of metal and a very old rowlock attached to the back of the book. All of this is anchored down with screws and adhesives to a raft-like piece of burned pine. This “raft” is screwed to a wooden wave, also burned, underneath.

Needless to say there is very little of this book left. Mostly it is just the illustrations I removed from the center of the book before sawing into it. And naturally, I can’t seem to just toss them into the bin. Someday I might use them.

But what I have learned is that I need to stop making these pieces about Australia while living in the States. There are no homes for them here and when I do find a place for them in Australia, it is costly to send them over. I am very grateful that so much of this work is in National and State libraries and museums there and now these pieces need a home as well.

Any suggestions are most welcome.