Over the last few days I’ve ranted about what this piece might say about me as an artist, a technician, a person, a creative, etc… I still don’t think it says something about me… Let me rephrase that; it doesn’t say everything about me, and only a little about me right now! I made it with the intention of being true to my practice of exploration and a desire to learn. I get stressed about these sort of scholastic projects because I feel they seek technical perfection over personal expression. I cannot say this perception is a truth; I can say my resistance to being evaluated by some arbitrary rubric causes me anxiety!
My intention is to play with methods and materials and see what I can make with them. If I make for the sake of making, I am authentically trusting my instincts to so so and that brings me great joy. I know the piece is good, if I’ve fully given into my instincts. When I am pre-occupied with external evaluators I enjoy the process and outcome much less.
For this piece, I can say that some of it exceeded my expectations, in regards to my intention to make something organic, Wabi-Sabi (as I understand it). Something that I might be able to use in the next phase of this project (to re-upholster an old bench). The truth is that I see it much more as a wall hanging. I might even try to paint a free-hand version of it… maybe. What I love the most about this piece are all the technical errors and how they give the whole work a Street Art feel to it. Maybe I’ll do the commando art thing and hang it in the public someplace to see what happens. Maybe I’ll just hang it in my garden and let Mother Nature contribute to it as she sees fit. It feels both finished and unfinished for me. I feel it needs to travel and find its next contributor. Godspeed to you, go travel and gather more experience. Maybe, that is why it feels so like a Street Art piece… it begs the contributions of anonymous experience and voices. It needs your voice.
Add your voice to it! What does it say about you?
The New Renaissance Mindset 