It wasn’t until college when I realized I needed to give reason for my art. Well, reason beyond “because I wanted to.” I liked that Sousanis discussed his process and why he feels that ‘yes’ is an appropriate answer to whether pictures or words come first. I find it pretty unrealistic to expect every artist to give reasons for their work, especially in college. I felt forced every single critique to give a deep, thought-provoking reason for why my art exists, when in reality I just created because I love doing just that. I think artist statements should be optional, but I do like reading them when they exist. I liked reading and seeing Sousanis’ dissertation because I feel he’s pushing boundaries and allowing art to be a form of expression just like writing. A few years ago I was told by my professor that my art didn’t mean anything because I couldn’t explain why I was making it. Then I sold it to Prince.
Category Archives: Reading Reflections
Scratching-JB
I really enjoyed this article, and the references that Thorpe used. Although I did not relate to some, one that I found particularly awesome was the “zen and the art of the motorcycle mechanic” which is currently in my living room, per my boyfriend, not me. The one example from the book discussed a professor who gave a very open prompt to a student. Now this particular student had always had a hard time thinking outside the box and after several open attempts to get her to think like an artist, he finally asked her to start to describe a building “starting from top brick” She commented on the fact that once she went to the building and sat across the street at a burger joint that she finally was able to write, and much more than she would have thought.
I guess what I liked the most was the idea that creativity happens all the time, and although I do not believe that creativity has a set formula, but that anything and everything can be an inspiration. One thing that she suggests that I can definitely agree with is the idea that we need to be alway practicing. Just like a well trained athlete we need to constantly be working on our craft. Like a musician who always practices or sketchbook or whatever tool we use, always helps us move forward, and to create new ideas.
Scratching is the main point of this article, and something that seems simple but has some layers. Thorpe suggests that small scratches give way to big ideas. That these scratches help us work our way through the murkiness of our thoughts. Big ideas lead to our artwork, but the scratching is what always gets us there. She picks the perfect word to describe this, and I really love her ideas about not working out the same idea again. That we must always move forward, never back.
Tywla Thorpe- Scratching
This article was intriguing but also inspiring, it gave me new ideas to ponder. Thorpe refers to “scratching” as digging through ideas, isn’t this the same thing as brainstorming. Don’t artists use their sketchbooks as a form of preliminary scratching and planning? I know I do! Mozart became inspired by listening to birds while he was inventing musical motifs- aren’t musicians scratching in similar ways as artists?
Thorpe claims that scratching is like improvising- she is right, “scratching can look like borrowing or appropriating which is essential to creativity”. Currently with my studio class, I am working on designing (or figuring out) a way to introduce the art of “altered books” to students. This idea is very complex and I am trying to propose the idea in a way where they are intrigued enough to “scratch” the surface for their own ideas. I am proposing that they work with the ideas of multi-media and supplied images to carry out their theme of the their chosen book. (You should see some of the titles, Moby Dick, secrets of the seas, the face of rural america )… and ease them into the idea of “borrowing” the images and appropriating ideas from the texts and titles. In a sense, we are scratching for ideas!
Good ideas do lead to big ideas as Thorpe suggests, she refers to the process as waiting for a thunderbolt to strike! She also suggest that we should be in shape, as a practicing artist we could become rusty if not practicing. I must admit, I am feeling rusty these days. I have not truly had the time to be devoted to a work I really enjoy creating- I feel as I am rusty. I am always carrying a sketchbook however, almost like a journal, to jot down feelings, ideas, sketches, brainstorms…that all hopefully will lead mt the direction of BIG IDEAS in the classroom. 
In our time there are many artists who do something because it is new; they see their value and their justification in this newness. They are deceiving themselves; novelty is seldom the essential. This has to do with one thing only; making a subject better from its intrinsic nature.” Henri de Toulouse Lautrec
Above- Altered Book examples- as a way to scratch and improvise ideas!
Nick Sousanis on process
Here’s a new reading and assignment: both visually and verbally, how can you document and reflect on your creative process?
nick on entropy
Drawing Response to Twyla Thorp
Scratching out the creativity of color. Literal meets figurative response to the reading.
Melissa Mizerak ARS 512 Twyla Thorp Reading Response
Twyla Thorp, The Creative Habit: Learn it and Use it for Life
The first thing that came to mind after reading the small section in Thorp’s book The Creative Habit: Learn it and use it for life was to look up more about her. Inferring that she was a choreographer from her writing, I wanted to find out more about what she worked on and is currently creating. “Reading fat,” as she calls it is something that I find myself unconsciously doing when I have found something of interest—to learn more about that something. I found this to be very interesting because if you have the interest then the desire to learn more is naturally there. I believe this to be true for my students as well. When finding something of interest, you are naturally curious and want to seek out more information until you ease the scratch; until something else sparks your interest and causes you to scratch for more.
Thorp’s description of scratching was beautifully poignant. I took to her description instantly, and was somewhat jealous of how she found one word that could affectively describe the process we all take in finding our next creative focus. Her lists of areas to find inspiration to scratch, such as books, nature, mentors, and her rules of managing them I enjoyed greatly. I instantly related it to advice I was given when I was sick in Ghana. Never scratch the same place twice, be in shape, and maintain the white hot pitch. I instantly internalized it as a survival tool, categorizing it next to my Ghana life survival tips.
The Creative Habit: Scratching (response due October 17)
I’ve posted a new reading from choreographer and dancer Twyla Tharp’s book, “The Creative Habit.” Please excuse the first page, which came out too light but still worth reading.
The Creative Habit: Scratching
Its great to see some new artwork on your blogs! And good job personalizing them, they are looking much more interesting.
Please make sure to follow each other (you can do this via the dashboard-> my class->student blogs)
Burton Response
I found this article to be a blast to the past for me. I learned a lot about the development of children’s art making when I was in the my undergraduate studies at the College of Saint Rose in Albany. One thing that really resonated with me within this article was how important it is for students to be creative and to have the liberty to express who they are within their artwork. I had an art history professor who wouldn’t let us doodle in class because he felt like it was an art form and that if we were creating art, we weren’t listening.
What really intrigued with all of the information that is presented within the high school section. I’m used to seeing inappropriate little doodles (especially from boys) all over school property. Burton suggested that they are working through the material and through visual language to work out the ambiguity of the world and of their bodies, and their lives. For my SLO test I had to give students an array of materials and the objective was to visually display an emotion of mood within their one day artwork. I had a lot of generic responses. However, I had a lot of students create really thought provoking art works. One in particular was from a muslim students who depicted “feeling controlled” you could tell that she didn’t to discuss why she felt the way she did, but she was able to depict it visually in order to get a message across. The article made me think of this situation. Older children use their artwork to work out or dig deeper into ideas and feeling that they normally would not discuss.
This, from burton perspective is because they are entering a mode that is similar to scribble play or drawing that kids would do in their adolescence. This reminds me of frobel and his toys that would have students working out complex problems through play. The development that Burton described was very much like this process. Students should, and be allotted time to create art work that is expressive, creative, thought provoking, and meaningful to their development and their life.
Burton’s Presence of Life in Art response- Lindsay W.
Burton discusses the different phases/steps of development in children and how each step affects their art-making. One particular point I found most important is her emphasis on fostering student’s expression of personal experience with their own imagination. By doing so, art could remain a vital part of the student’s education and life. Of course, with the current push for standardized-learning, it can sometimes seem impossible to actually do so. In this way, I feel that it is just important to push for adults to consider the freedom of art-making and show them how art-making does not have to necessarily follow specific rules and regulations, but instead can allow for great opportunities through the freedom of art-making.
For my own artistic response to Burton, I went back to some of my own artwork growing up and sought to re-create it. Though I knew it would be difficult, it was a lot harder than I initially thought it would be. Especially in the beginning, I was having constant doubts in my head and having feelings of second-guessing, though as it went on, I grew more comfortable. I’d like to say right now that though I understand many people have issue with doing direct copies/replicas of other artworks, I find that doing direct copies actually can provide many good learning opportunities, especially when it comes to figuring out specific art-making techniques originally utilized. Many times as I was working, I stopped and thought about the logic behind how the originally image was made and contemplated on what my original thought process may have been. I found the whole process very reflective and allowed me to also consider how I can often feel limited by myself when I am making art.
Recreations (left) of the older works (right)
“It took me four years to paint like Raphael, but a life time to paint like a child”- Pablo Picasso
Melissa Mizerak’s Response to Burton’s Presence of Life in Art
Judith Burton discusses the need to focus on the personal expression of youth and adolescents in art making rather than directed art techniques and outcomes. In her article, “The integrity of personal, experience, or the presence of life in art,” she explains the developmental stage of youth and adolescents, and breaks down the thought process during art making for these age groups. Her article also discusses how fostering youths’ expression of personal experience with imagination can cultivate better perspectives toward the arts, be it: visual, written, auditory, or performative. If art education was directed in such a manner, then much of the youth would not find it to be pointless but pertinent.
Burton’s essay arouses many questions for me. Many focusing around Rolling’s Analytic form of Arts Based Research (ABR). The main overarching question was how do you foster Analytic self-expression with youth when administration and parents’ perceptions are similar to Burton’s statement that, “in the western world, grown-ups were not so comfortable with the works that denied acceptable standards of beauty or realism in the art of the children however young,” (p 13)? I have a tendency to think that art education is run the way it is currently in public education settings because many districts’ administration view art education this way (this bias only coming from the perspective of my current district where I am employed). The overall arching theme of education currently is statistic and data based research. Administration in my district has a tendency to only support the arts if we can focus it in this direction—which I believe is discipline based arts. Burton also made me question my current teaching because I do fit into the realms she describes as ineffective. I would love to implement strategies that focus on youths’ imaginative creative self, but the few times that I have tried, my students didn’t take interest. I fail at the implementation. I have started several lessons with my students where it has been working through materials. They stop about half way through a thirty-minute class and ask if we can start the real lesson. How do you carry on lessons that are self-explorative in theme? What if the overarching theme you introduce for some direction and scaffolding doesn’t fit? To be honest, I find frustration in these articles because, yes, these ideas are beautiful, and I do agree with them to a certain extent; but, how do you affectively approach implementing said ideas? In a bias, bold statement of my own narrowly formulated opinion, I feel these theoretical ideas seem untested in a variety of environments. I feel that these practices are implemented in settings that have income and support flexibility in the teaching atmosphere.