My stint as a visiting artist at Hartwick College earlier this year was nothing like I expected yet everything I could have wanted. Being placed somewhat unexpectedly in the role of educator alongside the familiar one of puppet-builder proved both challenging and rewarding in a myriad of ways I could have never anticipated. It is an old axiom that the teacher learns more than the students. I found this to be very true. One of the most surprising aspects of teaching for me was the way it confronts you in a very real and tangible way with what you know.
Since the end of my residence, I have been slowly trying to compile observations about living the creative life in a series of essays. I am attempting to confront the realities of the creative process in as pragmatic and rational manner as I can. I do this partly to record my own ideas in a coherent form, but mostly out of a sense of gratitude to my former students and colleagues. It is my fervent hope that these writings can help others along their journey. To this end, I will endeavor to speak in the broadest possible terms, using the word "Artist" in it's most general sense.
On a personal note to all those I associated with during my Residency: I apologize for those moments when I could be cranky irrational and overly demanding. The only defense I have to offer is that I felt that I could relentlessly demand excellence from you because time and again you proved capable of it.
I am extremely proud of the work we did together!
I am extremely proud of the work we did together!
"Here are my Principles, and if you don't like them...well, I have others!"
-Groucho Marx
The Secret of Creating Great Art
There is a moment that every
working creative dreads. It is that moment when an enthusiastic and
appreciative person asks “How do you do that?” They don't mean
how was one specific project accomplished. They want to know how to
PAINT, How to WRITE, How to ACT! It as if the artist could, by some
magical act of beneficence tell them a simple universal truth that
would part the veil and magically welcome the questioner into the
sacred order. Any answer that can be given is going to come as a
terrible letdown. It will ring false or trite in the ears of the
audience. They come to you seeking to unlock Truth and Beauty and are
forced to make due with cliches like “Write what you know”.
No artist can tell you what you
want to learn in a few short sentences. They can give you a few
pointers, certainly they can draw you a map, but you need to embark
on your own voyage. The process is always going to be your greatest
teacher. I have been fortunate enough to have had the guidance of
many wonderful instructors, both in a formal and casual capacity, and
have found their insights of inestimable value. At the end of the
day, however, I must admit it was the wood that taught me the most
about how to carve.
I have discovered that there is,after all, a great and universal truth to the creative process that can be stated simply and succinctly. Here it is-At long last revealed the secret that every successful artist knows! I should warn you, it's terribly disappointing the first time you learn it
The secret to creating great artwork is
simply this: Make bad art.
Behind every masterpiece painted lies
a graveyard of terrible drawings. Every soaring violin composition
reached it's heights on a scaffold of hours worth of scratchy
shrieked notes. That beautiful inspiring passage from your favorite
writer is only possible because of pages and pages of poisonous
prose. Those dancers that float effortlessly across the stage have
fallen more times then you can count
This is another one of those stories we tell ourselves as artists: Some people are just “born with it”. They are naturally talented, and so opportunity falls in their laps. They are blessed by the gods with something divine that makes them more that the rest of us.
That's true. It's called a work ethic.
This is another one of those stories we tell ourselves as artists: Some people are just “born with it”. They are naturally talented, and so opportunity falls in their laps. They are blessed by the gods with something divine that makes them more that the rest of us.
That's true. It's called a work ethic.
Don't get me wrong, Natural talent is
real. There are people who are more musically inclined, more
graceful, more visually oriented from birth. I have met these people.
This is an excellent start. It opens the door for them but rest
assured they have to climb the mountain just like anyone else.
Here's what really happens: A young
person shows some aptitude for a task. They are praised by their
friends and family, and so they continue to try. With a little more
effort and a little more positive reinforcement, they realize that
they really enjoy doing this more than anything else. Because they
are doing what they love, they embrace it. They work hard and never
notice the effort because they enjoy every minute. Obstacles become
challenges. The desire for praise turns inward. Instead of wanting
the praise of parents, the young artist wants to be the best, to say
something original. Parents worry about these new found obsessions
and start to encourage their child to do pursue other interests.
Peers may even mock the young artist for their strange new obsession,
but by now none of this matters as much as the passion. Like any
other addiction, it takes hold of the person's being and begins to
define them. As the process of learning the craft gets more
difficult, the artist becomes less and less capable of extracting
themselves until they can barely imagine doing or being anything
else. I know this to be so because it is my story, along with
thousands of others.
The special trait that artists have
that you believe you don't isn't talent. It's passion and
determination. Successful creative people are simply those who
continued to work. Stop telling yourself that you aren't “Born with
it” or whatever other convenient excuse you are hiding behind.
Nobody wants to hear how you can't even draw a stick figure. That's a
cop-out. If you truly want to draw, pick up a pad of paper and fill
it in. Once you've finished that one, move on to the next. Make your
mistakes like everyone else, and learn from them. Don't expect to get
it right the first time. You won't. Keep trying. Each attempt
teaches you something new. Remember, you are honing a skill. It's a
lifelong process.
I agree with this completely. Hard work trumps "talent" every time. One of the best things I've read about this is in Malcolm Gladwell's Outliers. He wrote about a 10,000 hour rule; the theory is that if you do something for 10,000 hours you will be proficient in that skill. It comes down to at least three hours a day for ten years. This theory's been contested, but I like to believe it's true.
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