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Tuesday, August 13, 2013

Creating "Art"

Last month, I entered some jewelry pieces in a local juried art gallery show. It was kind of a big step for me - I've had my work in gift galleries before but never anyplace "serious." And since submitting the pieces involved creating around a "theme" and preparing an artist's statement, it was WAY out of the box for me. So I thought I'd share some of the process with you!

The theme of the show is "Texas Heat." If you aren't from Texas, perhaps this Colby Jones cartoon will help you understand a little bit about our climate.


(Side note: It was not quite 100 degrees here yesterday; the day before it was 108. I actually said to someone on my way to a meeting that I was glad it was "so much cooler." Not kidding.)

The first challenge was to create a piece or series of pieces that could relate to Texas Heat. Since I am currently obsessed with enamels, I decided to torch-fire some forged panels of copper in a series meant to evoke the progression of the immediate after-math of a fire through the regrowth that happens months or years later. Here is a really bad photo of those panels.


The "immediate aftermath of devastation" is on the left; the "inevitable rebirth" is on the right.

I was pleased with how these turned out - the torch firing left some charred edges that I didn't stone away because they played into the theme. And I loved the colors - this photo doesn't show it well, but I used a mixture of transparent and opaque enamels so that the reds seem to float in the green, sort of like flowers sometimes seem to float in a sea of grass.

Then I was stuck with trying to figure out how to set them - I had to be careful not to bend them and crack the enamel. After some trial and error, I designed slot and tab bezels for the ends and prong set the panels into the resulting cradle. Here are a few shots of my process:

Preparing to test the slot and tab idea.

Tabs dry-fitted into their custom sawn slots with a bead of paste solder ready for firing.

One of the textured backplates with the sawed slot.
You'll have to use your imagination, because I completely forgot to take photos of the prong portion of the adventure. (Enter dream sequence music here!)

Ta-da! The completed pieces.


So there I was, happy with how the pieces turned out... and I had to write an artist's statement. Wait, that's not quite right. I had to write TWO artist's statements: one for my overall approach to my work and one for the pieces or series I was submitting.

And "I make jewelry because I like pretty things" wasn't going to cut it.

I'm going to be painfully and transparently honest here: I loathe artist statements. Loathe. With all due respect to people who think artist statements are important and meaningful, they often wind up sounding - to me - like badly-written and very pretentious wine descriptions. ("A faint oaky bite marries perfectly with the long-legged whisper of citrus that tantalizes the..." What??!) But I had a glass or two of wine, girded my intellectually-deficient loins, and dove on in.

Four excruciating hours later, here's what I came up with:
While fire can wreak havoc and bring destruction, it is also the age-old natural agent of necessary growth and change. Stands of timber and open stretches of prairie alike benefit from being "burned off", so that old dead growth is cleared away and returned to the earth as ash to nourish future growth.  This series of necklaces is a reflection of the effects of the extreme heat of the Texas environment, and – taken together – is meant to evoke a sense of the immediate aftermath of a fire or drought through the inevitable period of recovery, rebirth, and regrowth.    
Not a whisper of citrus or an oaky bite to be found, my friends.

Here's the truth: this was a really good exercise for me. It was painful at times, and I have way (WAY) more hours in these pieces and the entry process than I can ever hope to recoup, even if I'm fortunate enough to sell one or more of these pieces. But it forced me to do several important things:
  • I was working against a rock-solid submission deadline. Deadlines are a good thing for me.
  • I had to think hard about what I was creating and how it fit into a pre-determined theme.
  • I had to figure out why I was creating these pieces and why they spoke to me and then figure out a way to describe that in a way other people could relate to.
  • I had to problem-solve a new type of construction (to me) without ever having learned it from someone else. I really like problem-solving.
So in spite of the fact that I felt hugely self-conscious and inadequate in making and describing these pieces, I'm grateful for having forced myself through the process. I have no idea if this makes them "art" or not, or makes them any more "art" than the work I normally do, but I can tell you that these pieces have greater meaning to me.

It doesn't hurt that I found out yesterday three of the four were accepted into the show!

::happy dance::

So are you pushing yourself to work outside your comfort zone? If you're not, identify some places where you can push the envelope a little - you never know what might come of it! 

Until next time -


21 comments:

  1. Fabulous Francesca!! Those pieces are gorgeous! I can't imagine doing all that to submit my work, probably will never happen and I'm ok with that for now.

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    1. Thanks, Kristi - I was really nervous but I felt like I needed to stretch myself. Interestingly, the jurors didn't select the first piece in the series - guess they weren't all that into the "devastation" part of the message!! LOL!!

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  2. Completely impressed! Fabulous enamel work, and great job on that artist statement!

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  3. Congratulations Francesca. I completely understand your feelings about artist statements. I understand and respect those that have them but I laughed at your comparison to the pretentious wine descriptions. I get it! I was asked to write an artist statement a few weeks ago, I still haven't done it. I hope your pieces will sell. They are very beautiful.
    ~Ema
    http://www.emakdesigns.com/blog

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    1. Thank you, Ema - go ahead and dive into that artist statement. It won't be as painful as you fear, and you might learn something about why your art speaks to you. :-)

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  4. beautiful pieces, on enameling & bezel settings level. I have a confession, when I needed to supply an artist statement to a family friend opening a gallery I waited so long she did it for me , :0, it's really good, too... have you seen the cartoon of the corn on the cob sitting in his chair talking to the popped corn on the cob coming in from outside? very texas hot funny

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    1. Thanks, Boot-C - the corn cartoon is one of my faves!

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  5. I so love this creative endeavor Francesca! Your design process was just fascinating. Those pieces turned out beautiful, and I think you did a great job on the 'statement' Will you be attending the show? If possible, I'd love to see pics of your work at the show!

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    1. Thank you, Shirley - actually, I'm going to miss the opening reception because I'll be on my way to the Metal Retreat, so I'll have to gt my husband to take photos for me. I'll be sure to share them!

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  6. As a professional/art school grad artist - I know them inside and out. Statements that is... but accessible and pretentious. The kicker is - often the pretentious statements go with pretentious art. Art that is insular and not easily consumable.

    The gist of the statement - and I think you did well, Francesca - is to relate to the viewer information that you the artist feels they need to view the art in context. Here it was the element of fires in weather/heat... When people view your pieces they will respond to them first visually and second intellectually as they have entered a discussion with you via your AS.

    Simply saying you make pretty things is selling you and your work short. The thoughts, inspirations, influences are all there... it just can be so hard to find the right words.

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    1. Thanks for the perspective, Jennifer - I think you're right about pretentious statements going hand-in-hand with pretentious art. To be completely honest, I think part of the challenge is that I had never really dug down to figure out why jewelry making is important to me or to explore what influences were at work in my pieces. "I like it" was lazy on my part - and this process was mind-expanding, so I'm glad I did it. :-)

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  7. We are enjoying a wonderful cold spell today of 92F and loving every minute of it! I love your 'panels' and the finished pendants. Very lovely.
    The statements are tough, but even tougher for me is trying to describe myself. Never have I been able to just label what I do or what it is that I want to accomplish or have accomplished. It all seems a bit snobbish and self centered... how do you describe yourself without sounding... egotistical?

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    1. Exactly. It all just feels very pretentious to me. Apart from the statement I wrote for the series, I had to write one about my overall approach to my work. I wound up coming up with a statement for my work that I could live with - it felt honest and sounded like me and it didn't make me want to flinch when I read it. But it wasn't easy!! (You can read about it over on my blog: http://francescawatson.com/2013/08/art-and-artists-statements/

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  8. This is a great post. So interesting to hear all about your process both in making the pieces (which are lovely) and entering/writing the statement. Congratulations on being accepted into the show!

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  9. Lovely art with a lovely story: I can relate to the pain of figuring out the 'artist statement' and your article is now pushing me to try the exercise this skill :) I simply love your pendants - and how you described the process so nicely!

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    1. Thanks, Alicia - you won't be sorry. It's worth the effort to really understand why you're creating the way you are.

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  10. These turned out gorgeous. I love the enamel colors and how you created the bezel/prong combination. And Congratulations on being accepted into the Show.
    I've not had to write an artist statement yet, and I know I would spend hours like you did. I also agree with the whole AS idea. Yes, it's nice to read the artist's explanation just as long it it's not a story book. Guess I somewhat feel the same way about naming pieces. I either like a piece or not, would wear it or not. Of interest to me is who made any artist beads and the quality of the overall components and workmanship.
    Thanks for sharing ~ it does make you think about why and what you do at a deeper level.

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  11. Francesca, these pieces are stunning and I can totally see the theme and what you are conveying though each one and the series as a whole. Your statement is elegant and not at all pretentious. Congrats on the acceptance. It was well deserved!

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