It could be that an image has an identity, or integrity, of its own; that it shares itself with us as the painting goes along, like Michaelangelo "freeing" a sculpture from a stone. It is when we say, "I want it to look like thus and so," that creating it becomes a struggle. Imposing one's will on an emerging artwork just doesn't work very well. When it's finished, the piece is overembellished and exhausted. These are the remains of war: bits and pieces lying around that are perhaps in tact, having missed the devastation somehow.... but in a dismal context.
Maybe we should communicate with the image in front of us that is trying to be born, to proclaim itself, and help it do so. Then it wouldn't be a struggle at all. So much of life demands that we abandon our notions of domination, and listen to the voices around and within us. Maybe imagemaking is the same. Once more, our challenge is to listen and work with rather than over.
I don't think I'll be able to live long enough to learn all the things life wants to teach me.
PW
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Discussions about art and what makes it happen.
Upon further Reflection on my Father
About Me
- Priscilla Wallace
- My first attempt to enter the world of fine art was through academic painting at the University of Texas at Austin. I learned what painting was, and, disappointingly, that I couldn’t do it. I left painting as one would leave a failed marriage. It was some years later that I approached making art through making crafts. Since then, I have come to regard fine crafts as fine art: The difference between the two exist on a theoretical level only, because a line separating them cannot be drawn—at least, not for me. In a world made of both “art” and “craft” I have found my home. My artwork seems to best be called “Crafted Paintings.” Still mindful of the principles of design, they are part collage, part mixed media painting, part constructions. They are likely to run off in any of these directions, or others, as the spirit moves them. That spirit expands most successfully when it is beautiful, whimsical, colorful, and rich. These pieces celebrate life in one aspect of it or another, and they seek to create joy in the heart of the viewer. View my art at www.artbycollage.com
Places currenly showing Priscilla's Art
- Mountain Micro Systems (828-438-9456)
- Hair and Nails Unlimited (828-433-0894)
- Valdese Heritage Arts Center (828-874-1849)
- Urban Artware (336-722-2345)
- Full Circle Arts (828-322-7545)
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2 comments:
YES, yes, I have come to understand this, also. Intellectually. that is. I am still rarely able to put my "knowing" into practice. No doubt this means that I don't yet "know it in my bones." I Releasing the midwife to a creative act seems so much harder than pandering to the surgeon. But remember, there are no "mid-husbands" We can still strive to become good midwives.
Katherine
The notion of "midwife" is a good one, extending the metaphor.
Thanks for reading and talking!
PW
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