chantico | (no subject)

Sometimes I feel starved for want of discussion, mostly about art, and Art. It's strange to consider that I am in the middle of an incredibly creative social circle, and yet none of them draw/paint/sculpt/have any sort of investiture in the Fine Arts at all, or even any of the concepts of them. I'm at a stage in my work that I want to discuss, and I *need* to have valuable feedback from peers about my stuff. Sure . . . I can show people my illustrations, my pictures, and they can say "This is great!" or, if they have a good eye, "Well, something looks off . . . maybe this?"

But I can't get feedback about composition, or color interaction, or anatomy-- and I certainly can't get feedback about theme or influence or expression.

And even if I could bring this up with peopel around my, it's such a touchy subject . . . for all of the respect fringe creative projects get (gaming being a prime example), Art and the discussion there of is mostly just made fun of. I don't know . . . I doesn't help when at the slightest mention of Art the room erupts in guffaws. It's really fucking frustrating, because I want to be able to point out to people that the things they are laughing at really do have merit . . . but I don't have the words or the courage to speak them anyway.

I dunno. I guess . . . I guess my art at this stage isn't as much about the physical improvment and more about expression of ideas. And right now, I feel incredibly blocked up about expressing *anything*, whether through art, writing, or talking to people. I'm tired of being quiet but I have no one to talk to to break that. It's why I'm updating this more. Maybe it will help me be able to speak up some-- even if there isn't anyone to listen.

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I LOVE talking art. I need to talk art, and Art, more. I don't want to let the critical analysis skills and the things I learned so far fall away from me too much because I'm not using them often enough. I have a BA in Art History, which means I had to take enough studio art classes to be the equivalent of a studio art minor. I'm not the most talented artist, and I can't draw from my imagination at ALL...but I think the lack of ability to draw from imagination might work well with your desire for conversation. I can ask you how you come up with the ideas, how you make them transition from mind to media. This will prompt you to consider it and express it, which might open new ideas or realizations so you can better your abilities. Make sense?

If you want critiques or support of your works, I'd be interested in seeing them sometime. Art history classes did give me a fair bit of analysis technique.

And I imagine it would be very frustrating to not have any expressionism/conceptual theory courses. Although, I'm not sure how they could go about teaching such a thing. It seems like something that has to be developed for each artist...but I could be wrong.

Hrmm...would more art history courses help? I know that we spent significant amounts of time going into why artists painted in the style they did, or what theories and principles motivated them. Learning about Dadaism was a lot of fun, and it enables me to make some arguments for modern art (which really does get a lot of negative critiques).

Wow, I totally forgot that you went to school for Art History. You want to do restorations ideally, right?

I actually have already finished my Art History minor, and will be going for it as a double major since I have another year in school anyway. That's actually why I feel I have a broader interest in art than just the representational I've been taught. I want to incorporate mythology, symbology, pyschology, a billion other ologies, and I'm not allowed in any of my classes. It's very frustrating!

Thanks a bunch, and I'd totally love to chat with you sometime.

you're not ALLOWED to incorporate "ologies"?!?!?! What kind of crack are your teachers on? I know that courses on anatomy drawing and such are pretty straight forward in purpose, but a color or design theory class should allow you to incorporate a couple of "ologies" in my opinion. *sigh* Its sad when teachers impose their theories/beliefs/opinions on how art should look and what it should show on their students. I had an infuriating teacher in high school who would give bad grades if you didn't create things the way he thought they should be made, he even went so far as to work on students' works "for" them to "improve" them without their consent. I hate that man to this day.

And yes, I want to go into art conservation as a career. Someday. But I need a masters degree in the field, but in order to get into the graduate programs I have to have experience, but in order to get experience I have to have the degree. Its a retarded cycle, and difficult to break into when one isn't willing/able to live as a poor artist. Right now I have a job that pays bills, lets me live a good life, and pay off my minor debts. After that is settled I'll see about being a starving artist.

Yeah . . . as I stated above, IU's Fine Arts program for painting and drawing is structly representational. So, like, I could . . . if I could show it by setting up a proper still life. You get more freedom if you go for a BFA, which of course is two extra years and a whole lot more money, or if you are in the grad program. But all undergrad stuff is hardcore observational.

Funnily enough, it's my anatomy teacher who is loosest about it-- not in her class, but the reason she offers it is so that we can do non-observational art and make it accurate.