HOW TO WRITE LIKE AN ARTIST : A SEMINAR CLASS
Writing is an act to which artists submit with considerable trepidation. Many may feel that it is the opposite of any activity fulfilled within visual means, that it is an indirect and less perfect model for expressing themselves, and that it naturally detracts from the act of creativity. But it would be impossible for artists to have ever discovered art, and developed their understanding of it, without having confronted it in textbooks, exhibition catalogues, and art magazines. Perhaps they first saw pictures in some nameless library book, but later came the words. Always there are the two things: the pictures and the words. These two forms of expression are indelibly connected to one another, yet it takes a certain kind of person to choose one versus the other.
What is most important is that a visual artist, despite his or her inherent biases, may choose to see how writing can help them in their process of creativity. Though they may take this fact for granted because it is so internalized, everything that they do as an artist relies upon words, first as thoughts, then as a description of the materials and process which contribute toward the making of the work; during the work, contemplating every movement, and afterwards, offering context and commentary on the success or failure of the overall effort. The purpose of this seminar is to develop the skills necessary to add an extra layer of self-critique to the artist’s process, which will allow them to better communicate with people outside their specific discipline. We may not all share an understanding in art, but we all share language, whether spoken or written. Art needs words to speak for it, and who better than the artist?
A successful statement is a matter of approach. What does it mean to have a statement? When we hear this expression it may make us think about a press conference, a speech, or a manifesto. There is an element of each of these classes of utterance that applies to what the artist does, even if they are achieved differently.
The history of art is a history of ideas, in which intellectual engagement plays a large part. The popular disenfranchisement with the idea of making a statement comes from somewhere else, perhaps from the legacy of Abstract Expressionism, and its echoed relevance in the art magazines, that implicitly states how the mark is more important than the word. It was followed by ever more difficult and hermetic forms of art that appreciated a specialized form of criticism only the magazines could offer.
Yet also the fact is that much of the talk I experience in artist related circles expresses not what is happening in art, or even in their art but in popular culture, the mainstream press, and the social and political issues of the day. There is an institutionally biased view that caricatures artists and makes them not want to fulfill roles such as they may have had in the past.
IF YOU'RE INTERESTED IN THIS SEMINAR, IT CAN BE DONE IN PERSON OR VIA ZOOM/FACETIME. INQUIRE AS TO SCHEDULES AND FEES. SEE THE CONTACT PAGE.