Weird Ideas, with a capital "I".
Crazy quilted pieces with with paper stitched to them and images emblazoned...antique junk pieced together to make new things... jewelry with silk and silver and old rusty things...
There was nothing out there like it at the time... it was a fusion of art techniques and hardcore crafting. I tried to create what was in my head with what I had and I failed.
Not being able to find the supplies I wanted was frustrating. Not having any extra money to blow on experiments with expensive art supplies was even worse. All the books available were tired art techniques of watercolors and the like. Additionally, without the connection of the Internet (still in it's infancy) I had no clue there were others out there thinking the same. I let the ideas subside after a few dismal attempts.
Three years ago I discovered Art Fest and the world of Alternative Art. I felt like I was breathing again!
It was all the Weird I had been thinking of years ago with a huge Plus; fully realized and wrapped up in a funky bow ready for me to enjoy.
The downside, I am now coming to discover, is that it's all been "done". In the decade it took me to "discover" my community they had all been hard at work developing techniques, creating process and exploring supplies.
So where do I fit in? Of course, "Be the best you can be!", and a bunch of other cliches come to mind. There's the question of "personal style" etc. What would the world have missed if Picasso said "There's already so many people painting, I should just become a carpenter."
For today the grand pursuit will have to be just being the best Self I can. After all, everyone else is already taken.
1 comment:
I asked this question of a voice teacher, because as a bluegrasser, what could I possibly bring to the party? Talk about already being "done" before. Her answer really stuck with me, and that is that audiences respond to authenticity. Even if it's a 100 year old song that everyone knows the words to, that was immortalized forever by a superstar, if you're authentic, the audience will respond. I think that's true with visual art. If the piece is composed with an authenticity to it, your audience will respond.
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