(no subject)

[chantico]

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.

Comments

[nekomata.livejournal.com]

Dude, what happened to the FA school? Back in my day (ZOMG, less than 3 years ago...) the only art we ever made fun of was Modern Art. And we had tons great discussions while working on projects. I don't know if it's different because I focused in 3-D media and photography, or what.

If you ever want critique, just ask me. I can't draw worth fuck, but I understand color theory and I know how things should look.

[tooth-and-claw.livejournal.com]

The painting and drawing programs at IU focus almost entirely on the representational and teach nothing about the other, less material aspects of making art-- and I really mean that. There is only ONE, count em, ONE class in the entire painting/drawing cirriculum that is non-observational.

I have no problem at all with representational artwork, because it can be beautiful, life drawing skills are *so* necessary, and it's very important to have a solid base on which to draw from when doing art-- but I'm disturbed by the fact that even the upper level classes absolutely ignore any of the theory behind it, or how to but our base skills to use. There are no classes on abstract painting, or illustration, or expressionism, or, well, *anything*.

[nekomata.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I can see that. I have a big problem with the way they teach the representational classes, anyway. I hated the fact that I took two semesters of oil painting in which the medium was -never- explained. We weren't allowed to paint what we wanted, but instead we were stuck doing the repetitive "nude(s) with a bunch of ugly junk". I learned absolutley nothing about pigment, or when and how to change consistency.

The basic drawing class was the same, we were never really taught shape theory; just expected to sit down and draw whatever still life was set up. Since I have depth perception issues these classes did nothing more than frustrate me.

However, with Textile design, Jewelry Smithing and Photography we were taugh everything from the bottom up. The assignments were more free-form and generally alot more fun. You could do almost anything you wanted as long as it fit the gradng criteria.

[tooth-and-claw.livejournal.com]

My teacher in painting is thankfully better than that. We still have the "nudes with ugly shit", but at least we've gotten a basic education on the medium, how to mix it, what different varnishes and add-ins do, etc.

I wish I could afford either Jewelry Smithing or Photography, but Oil painting is painful enough.

[nekomata.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I know hardly anything useful about the medium. I learned that white contains lead and turpenoid makes me want to vomit.

Oil painting actually cost more for me than Jewelry. The big thing with Jewelry is to know in advance that you should order from Rio Grande. They have good prices and you can split orders with others to save on quick shipping. Photography is also doable if you can borrow a camera and buy leftover supplies from those who took the class a previous semester. Oil painting left me with -nothing- useful. >_<

[tooth-and-claw.livejournal.com]

Good advice, thanks.