Recently in Art Category

This should feel like a three times annual procedure by now. Finish all of my course work and then wait patiently, or not so patiently, for instructors to enter grades. This semester is a little different though, and I can't put my finger on why. I am usually so very hyper and waiting for grades is almost like an Olympic sport, but this semester it is like I am waiting for fates to decide if I have done well enough or not to get an A in a particular course, while other courses the anticipated grade is much clearer. I am calm, but almost so calm that I am depressed. I don't want the semester to be over, I want there to be more to it. I have enjoyed my courses so much this semester that it is just sad that they are over. The spring semester will start soon enough I suppose, but what am I supposed to do now? I have been filling my days and evenings (or late nights, early mornings and afternoons) with doing classwork or with avoiding particular assignments that I felt particularly procrastinistic (or procrastinatory, neither are real words, but oh well) about.

I have been avoiding art a lot this semester, probably because I have been busy doing other things, but now it seems a little strange to just jump back to them. It has gotten cold outside now, which makes ceramics a pain for me, as I have no good indoor wash-up facility for it. Drawing seems too time consuming and requires me being patient with myself as I find my hand again. Photography... while always easy to do and fun, its been freaking cold this week.

I'm noticing a pattern here, my excuse for everything seems to be that it is cold outside. Perhaps I'm suffering from a bit of seasonal affective disorder since winter seems to have hit so suddenly?

Bare walls above toilets bother me. Why must taking a piss be such a boring experience? It would be nice if there were no bare walls above toilets, but what would you place above a toilet? What type of art suits such a space? It is such an intimate space, a space of privacy. I believe it should be something thought provoking, but with incredible simplicity. The bland walls bother me, I am going to seek out something appropriate to place in that barren space.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gskAeWgEExk

For a literature assignment I had to analyze a few music videos, including this one. We discussed what may be conveyed with the music itself and then what the complete video says.

http://www.ryneksztuki.lodz.pl/sebastian_kularski1.htm

It would seem that strange art is common among the Kularski clan.

Last night I ran the first bisque kiln that I have run in about six months. I felt so strange programming the kiln and loading and everything. Luckily it all came back to me and the 8 pieces I fired made it through with no problems. I am starting to believe I need to find a way to get a bigger kiln, soon, since it is going to take me about 4 days of firing to fire 2 days worth of work... hardly efficient. Also, each of those pieces has to go back through for a glaze load, and that will be even more spread out in time. I had forgotten how absolutely tiny that kiln is.

It seems like every artist has a primary specialization. They are sculptors, painters, graphic artists, ceramists or a variety of other titles...anyone simply called "artist" is usually a painter, or is a lazy person who smokes too much pot. I don't know what my specialization would be. I have been in ceramics the longest, but I'm not sure how much I am married to it in the long run. I enjoy almost any art form I start just as much as ceramics, although, with things like photography and drawing I am not as easily able to venture out into a self-guided attempt as much as I am with ceramics. So where does the decision start? When does an artist declare their "primary medium"?

Most semesters I know what studios I want to take, it is just so obvious to me. For Fall 2008 it is a little more challenging. I was originally presented with a very slim assortment of studio courses to take...primarily I was left with Sculpture 1. Now, through courses being added and instructors agreeing to special arrangements I have options of Sculpture 1, Ceramics Studio (self-paced project course), and Photography Studio (instructor-lead exploration, resembling Digital Photo II). As I have discussed previously, taking 3 studio courses is insane, if there are any other courses present on my schedule, and for fall 2008, there are. I will have to narrow down to 1 or 2 studios.

This morning I was running over Google News, looking at things that appeal to me, and I came across an article about a 94 year old potter in California. It is inspiring to think that it is possible to go into a career that one loves so much and still be able to do it at that age. Mr. Heino was not influenced by the sculptural ceramics movement, instead he has stayed true to functional ware. He is quite an inspiration.

Otto Heino  - Master Potter

Earlier this evening I was reviewing the contents of my "Inspiration" folder. It is a little folder that resides on my personal share on my server. The folder contains images I have collected for a while, most of which are very personal to me. The images represent my artistic and aesthetic interests. The folder contains a lot of pictures of muscular men, vases, bowls, and a variety of others I have collected over time. This folder is strange in that it reflects who I am at any given moment. I change moods and feelings so much, but this folder is always a strong collection of how I feel and whats on my mind over a longer period of time.

I started this folder several years ago when I first met Ms. Joan Tweedy, my first ceramics instructor. She told several of us who she felt were destined to enter ceramics as more than just an academic interest that we should begin collecting pictures of things that excited us and made us want to create. She stated to use walls for "active" interests and a box for "collecting". I took this a little more metaphorically and began collecting imagery in a folder on the server. I have used this folder off-and-on through my artistic adventures.

I started this entry with the title "Being Gay and An Artist", because a lot of the images in the folder are naked or half naked men, or little things from fetish interests I have. I looked at the folder and sort of had to giggle about how weird I have been about my aesthetic interests that have mixed with my erotic interests, because when those interests are shared, it comes down to aesthetics. I like it because its pretty! I have avoided including some aspects of the Inspiration in my work because I don't want to be a gay artist, I want to be an artist who is also gay. When looking at the things I have focused on in the folder, most of the stuff seems really harmless, even if I were straight. The picture of chain, or the picture of a bicep could be integrated into something without risking anything. There is even a great symbolism that can be pulled from the picture of a tan muscled guy who is bound tightly in white rope.

If I am to become a serious artist, I think I must review my Inspiration folder and take it seriously, every last byte of information there is precious. Things I care about are there, they aren't in some random still life.