Get Started, The Journey is the Destination

I think many of the students in my Art IV and Art V classes are feeling the pressure of creating art that is of deep personal meaning. Not everyone can easily think introspectively, and I want each of you to realize that I don't expect that every single work of art created by you will have a deep personal meaning to you. Sometimes, it's just nice to get started and see where the work takes you. Having written that, I still want to mention a couple of things about how to make your work meaningful.

Creating art that makes sense to the artist takes careful consideration of the experiences that have shaped that artist. Art of the 21st century is very much about an expression of the artist's circumstances, and is most often celebrated when the artist is truthful in making his or her work. Not all art fits this description, as the range of art has too wide a definition to fit under such an umbrella. My goal for each of you in this course is that you at least attempt to tap into a realm of art that is made from your own experience, and that you try to make art that is a true reflection of your life. If you fill your work with life, it will strike a chord with its audience that will be understood, even if the imagery and subject is foreign to the viewer.

I realize that I am asking much from you this year. This type of thinking and creating is not often required of high schoolers, yet I do not think it is out of reach for the students this program. I have read the ideas that you all have in your essays, I have seen the creativity at work in my classroom, and I have complete confidence that each of you is capable to be successful in making meaningful art.

Idea Spotting :: A Summary

Idea Spotting by Sam Harrison

Having trouble coming up with your next great idea? In his new book, “IdeaSpotting,” creativity guru Sam Harrison encourages designers to quit looking inward and to explore the world around them for creative inspiration.

Here, he offers some exercises to help you get started.How many times have you heard someone say that there are no new ideas? While that may not be exactly true, you can learn a lot by “borrowing” ideas from the world around you. Are we condoning plagiarism? No way. Serendipitous inspiration? Absolutely.

Though his stories often pertain to businesses, art directors, inventors, and designers, the manner in which the ideas were attained is directly relative to an artist's work. It takes the ability to spot ideas in order to make artwork that speaks clearly to a 21st century audience. The ideas in this book will help you attain your best ideas for the art that makes the most sense for you to be making.

Explore the Masters for Material

When artist Willem de Kooning came to America in the 1920s, he met a young painter named Arshile Gorky. Lacking formal training, Gorky learned classical techniques by trying to re-create masterpieces. De Kooning was impressed and borrowed the process. Years later, de Kooning talked of using Rubens in his own work, fusing classical and modern into a new form. What masters of innovation do you admire? Edison or Einstein? Curie or Carver? Picasso or Pavlov? Dalí or Disney?List idea masters you admire. Explore their lives, methods and ideas. See what can you can borrow.

Observe and Take Note

Ideas have short shelf lives. We find them one second, forget them the next. That’s why it’s smart to capture ideas and insights at the scene of the crime. Book them before they flee. Take notes.Leonardo da Vinci is arguably history’s most famous note-taker. His notebooks overflowed with sketches and notes on nature, art, architecture. Thomas Edison loaded thousands of notebooks with insights and diagrams. And today’s creative people are equally diligent about recording thoughts and ideas.Canadian designer Bruce Mau says, “The single most necessary device for me is a notebook. I just plow through notebooks.” Gail Anderson, Rolling Stone alumna and current SpotCo art director, calls herself a note-taker and language observer. “I love making notes about type I’ve seen on store signs or on sides of buildings,” she says. Note-taking gives the creative process time to breathe, says Erin Whelan, Real Simple art director. “I love recording really out-there ideas,” she says. “It’s so great to start at crazy places and then reach middle-ground, smart solutions.” Eva Maddox, principal of Perkins + Will, has a journal in hand when she travels, but not for writing. “I draw,” she says. “I draw at least one picture in my journal each day.”Capture ideas while they last. Ideas often show up as snippets of conversation, views through windows, books on tables. They linger for a moment, then they’re gone. Take verbal and visual notes

Open Your Mind

Hallmark Cards, for example, finds inspiration by opening its doors to outside influences. “We value getting our people out of cubes and into cities,” says Scott Orazem, director of design studios. Hallmark designers, writers and photographers regularly tour metro areas for creative exploration. “These trips are purely for renewal and inspiration,” says Mark Spencer, program director.On a Chicago tour, participants explored museums and architecture, art fairs and shops. They dined at new restaurants and hit shows at Steppenwolf Theater. In Washington, a Hallmark group studied history and politics, theater and art. And the Santa Fe tour covered art colonies and Native American culture. “People return with broad knowledge and strong inspiration,” Spencer says. “For example, one designer created beautiful gift wrap inspired by theater costumes she admired in Chicago.”In addition to going out into the world, Hallmark brings the world in. A gallery in its Kansas City, MO, headquarters hosts 10 shows a year. Recent shows focused on watercolors, embroidered fabric, antique furniture and a 19th-century photographic process. “Each show runs four weeks,” Spencer says. “People from throughout the company visit for inspiration.”Hallmark also conducts an in-house lecture series, pulling in creative experts to share their work and experiences. Recent guests include poets, book designers and poster printers. “We seek ways to open our minds,” Orazem says. “We engage with people outside our world to exchange ideas.”What are you doing to open doors and minds?

Pick up the Trash

More and more people find ideas in found objects. “Right now I have little bars of soap piled all around my workspace,” says Kristy Moore, art director at Martha Stewart Living. “I get inspired by the packaging, the soft colors, the way words are stamped and etched in the surfaces.” San Francisco-based designer Bill Cahan gathers sidewalk stuff while walking to work: an apple core, a cabinet lock, a wood scrap. He piles these found objects in his studio and sifts through them for inspiration. And SpotCo’s Gail Anderson finds ideas in salt-and-pepper shakers and bottle caps gathered through the years. “I’ve also swiped typography from old matchbooks, tobacco tins and crate labels,” she says.Designers often use found objects as creative materials. A lamp shade made from Styrofoam cups. Another made from plastic stir sticks. A dividing curtain made from discarded tea bags. Joe Duffy, founder of Duffy & Partners, embeds found objects into portraits—oak leaves found on a tree-lined street in Paris, a tribal headdress found in Thailand. Any random object can be inspiring.See what you can find—and use—today.

Stay Where You Are

Sometimes you need to move. And sometimes you just need to stay still.Charles Pajeau sat in his living room and, for the first time, really watched his children build small bridges with their collection of pencils and thread spools. Soon afterwards, Pajeau invented Tinkertoys.Italian designer Antonio Citterio was enjoying movie night at home with his wife and two children. He suddenly noticed they were seated in a straight line, like passengers on a crowded plane. This gave Citterio the idea for a new family-seating concept for B&B Italia, a semi-circular sofa shaped somewhat like a banana.Because she was pregnant, Spanish designer Patricia Urquiola was paying extra attention to baby dresses. Inspired by the smocking on one little girl’s frock, she used the stitching to design her Smock chair for Moroso furniture.Dan Groggin, an unknown New York City actor, received a nun’s habit from a friend as a joke. Groggin put the habit on an old mannequin and posed it around his apartment—washing dishes, vacuuming and performing other household chores. One day, while watching guests laugh at the mannequin, Groggin spotted an idea. Grabbing a pad, he began creating the play “Nunsense,” filled with silly songs and skits. “Nunsense” and its sequels have grossed more than $300 million in ticket sales and earned Groggin more than $7 million.Sit and explore where you are. What’s happening right in front of your eyes?

Use What Works

Many of you created some very successful work over the summer. Ideally, you can take the ideas from your summer projects that made sense, and apply what you learned in making those successful projects while you are creating the work for the first nine week period.

Our critique session went pretty well, but there was still a number of students who seemed to lack the focus necessary for a successful critique. I also noticed some timid comments and some unsure explanations for why the work was made. One of my goals for each of you, beyond your creating high quality art, is that you are able to confidently discuss art. Take the critiques seriously, and don't be afraid to give your classmates the feedback they deserve. We will all learn much faster if we are honest with one another about what we create.

Take the time to brainstorm the ways in which you can take ideas from your most successful projects from the summer, and combine those ideas with the given theme for the nine week period. It makes great sense to start with something that has already been seen as "successful" by your peers.

Place :: Art V Theme

Just as I have done for the Art IV students, I'd like to ask a couple of questions about the theme for the Art V students. Your theme is "Place", but what the heck does that actually mean? Begin with your own definition. Start with associations.... what are the first things that you can conjure in reference to this word? Here is a list of questions that might get you started......

1. How can you make your art, using this theme, that has a deeply personal connection to your own experience? I ask this question, because art created from one's own experience is often very honest. Honesty is what you should seek in your work.

2. Can you create a work of art that isn't a literal translation of the word "Place"? Write down all of the literal translations that you can think of, and discard those ideas.

3. Do you have to make a painting, print, or drawing to make something that can be considered "Art"?

4. Name 15 places that you have visited and to which you would like to return. Maybe you will find something in that list that makes sense to your own art making.

5. What places bring you peace, anxiety, anger, joy, fear, and sadness? Emotions can be great fuel for honest art.

6. How can you make a political statement in terms of the word "Place". Make a list of ideas, and brainstorm the true possibilities of those ideas. Really develop the ideas in your visual journal until it makes perfect sense to you. Once it makes perfect sense, ask yourself ten more questions about it.

7. Can you think of a place that has iconic associations? What are those icons, and how can you utilize those in your work that makes a statement about the place from which you derived those icons.

This type of questioning will produce sophisticated ideas about your own work. Get in the habit of approaching your work in this manner and your work will improve at a rapid pace. I also suggest brainstorming beyond your own ability to fabricate the work. Though you will have to actually make four works of art by the given critique date, it's always a good idea to think even bigger than just this class. Imagine your work in the Museum of Modern Art... how would you display the work? How could you take over a large gallery space using the ideas that you conjure for the work that you are actually producing for me.

You have been assigned to study the work of Richard Serra, and Christo | Jeanne-Claude. I highly doubt that Jean-Claude and Christo think in small terms when they are conjuring their artistic projects. Try to imagine the brainstorming process by which Richard Serra achieves his final ideas about his work. These are artists who depend on "Place" for their work, but they certainly weren't limiting their ideas to the traditional idea of "art in a gallery".

Surface :: Art IV Theme

How does one define the word "Surface" in relation to art making? That question is the most essential question to answer in terms of your own work for this nine-week period. In addition to answering that question, you should also contemplate the following list of questions:

1. What are the first things you think of when you hear or read the word "surface"? Make a list of those things, and then make associations to the things listed. See where those associations take you, and try to spot an idea in that list that might become a series of artworks.

2. How can you make art that both emphasizes surface, and makes a statement about your own life experience?

3. Does artwork that emphasizes surface have to be a painting? Does it have to have a thick rough texture?

4. How can you make a work of art, or a series of artworks that deny surface?

As you think of other questions that might be useful in this Socratic blog entry, send them my way and I'll post them. Remember, always question your own work in an effort to bring sense to it. The more questions you ask yourself, the more answers your work will produce.