Artmaking

The Pretty Poopy Jar: Aesthetics in Action

Ugly Brown Lidded Ceramic Jar

 

We’ve been reading Kant’s Analytic of the Beautiful in my Beastly Beauty Philosophy Class. Not gonna lie, it’s tricky stuff and I’m glad I got this far in life before attempting it, because I have the fortitude of undaunted age to hang it on. The best part of getting through Kant is that he delivers: there’s a big fat nougatty nugget of truth as a reward for swimming in that 18th century wordalicious deep end and here it is:

Beauty is SUBJECTIVE!!!!!

The hell you say, because you, in your Kant-free state, already knew it: Eye of the Beholder and all that. And, sometimes bad is bad too. But how do you tell? And why should you care to? Can you change your mind? What if it’s just as vital to say what’s NOT beautiful? Is that a truer root of taste and discernment? Does any other opinion besides your own really count? Let’s discuss with a visual.

Read More >

Share this:

Drink Up!

Yellow envelope with Cheers Stamp and One Pie Pumpkin Can Cup

 

Here it comes, the Yuletide season, the holder of both our dreams and our culminations. SO many cultures have important festivals right now. I think I read there were 29 of them between November 1 and sometime in early January. You know, regardless of the occasion, it’s a pretty sure thing that there will be a lot of eating and maybe even more drinking. Coffee, tea, hot cocoa. Eggnog, mulled wine, mead. You might want a few special cups. Some for you and some to share or give. I’ve got a great idea for how you can find some unique handmade ones from where you are right now.Read More >

Share this:

Stuckism: An International Non-Movement

graphic of 20th - 21st century art movements
Graphic courtesy of A Modern Blog by kchaloux.blogspot.com

 

Knowing me as you all do now, you might think I made up Stuckism, especially when I’m bemoaning creative blocks.  I did not.  It’s legit, though. See that turquoise circle down there on the lower right, sticking out beyond all those played-out Post-modernisms? It’s in the vanguard, but taking aim over its shoulder at Art’s 20th Century Pompous Bad Guys: “Against conceptualism, hedonism and the cult of the ego-artist,” proclaims the subhead on their Twenty Point Manifesto from 1999.   I like Stuckism, it’s cheeky and makes more than a few savory points I can relate to. It may also have saved my artistic soul.  So let’s cherry pick and see how the thoughts of some grumpy British painters apply to a philosophical American ceramicista.

Read More >

Share this:

A Tasty Roomful of Monas

 

Four framed hi contrast ceramic tiles of Mona Lisa's face.

 

Mamma Mia!  Here’s a new one: What if a bunch of artists got together for a group show made up entirely of personal renditions of Leonardo Da Vinci’s Mona Lisa? All media welcome. Could be a rollick and I said, “Sì Sì.”

Read More >

Share this:

Defectology and PTCS

 

Nina's Adventures Cartoon Panel
Nina’s Adventures by Nina Paley 7-1-92

For this discussion, PTCS means “Post Traumatic Critique Syndrome” and Defectology, means focusing on lack and limitation.

 

A Story

I can still see my Beginning Painting instructor’s bushy 70s walrus mustache motating as he critiqued – no, outright criticized – my certainly awful attempt at the current assignment: paint a self-portrait as a famous person. On a 3’x4′ canvas I had modeled a full-bodied gesture of Greek-robed, barefooted Isadora Duncan in mid-bound and was having trouble putting my features onto it at all convincingly. I particularly remember the mustache’s emphatic contract/expand curl as he sneered the word “dumpy” in slow motion. “IS-a-dora DUN-can WAS NOT DUM-PEE! ” he intoned as he was actually looking down his nose at me.

Thing is, this guy worked hard in his critiques at tearing apart the whole line-up of our work. I was not singled out here, but by the time he got to me I was seething. At the sight of that slo-mo sneering ‘stache, I blinked. Out of hot shame and powerlessness, I sputtered back with all I had: my born fightin’ Ulster-Scot sense of justice and fairplay. “We already know our work is bad!!!!!” I yelped,  “Why don’t you help us see what’s good about it???? Or at least suggest what we could try to make it better????”

I wish I could tell you what happened afterwards, or even the rest of the semester, but soon after that episode I had an emergency appendectomy and took an Incomplete. Within the year allowed to remedy the INC, I returned to his office with several other paintings I had done without the torment of his criticism. I got a B. Not sure it’s a direct consequence, but I have never taken another painting class.

Read More >

Share this:

Influences Orbiting Around the Rare Earth Exhibit

 

Three ceramic sculptures of incinerator, gas can and communication device
Ceramic Works by Karen Hansen (foreground) and Liz Crain (middle and background)

 

One great thing about a National Ceramics Exhibit in the neighborhood is there are bound to be several invitees who one might know personally. Or even have studied with. The Rare Earth Exhibit at Cabrillo Gallery is about half way through its run and, since I walk by it twice a week going to my Beastly Beauty Philosophy class, I usually pop in for another gander. To see what I didn’t see. To notice what I didn’t notice. To appreciate not only the anointed company my work is keeping in general, but to acknowledge my connections to the meaningful work of five women I have either studied with and/or feel a tribal closeness to. I am sharing photos of a portion of their work on display and thanking them for the ways they have touched me.

Read More >

Share this: