I Was Here

Imagine a sixty year old man, facing you, with his hands draped over the curve of a cane, sitting down on a wooden museum bench posing for a picture.

Interviewer: "Whats your largest remaining goal in life?"
Man: "I'd love to teach a course in art history."
Interviewer: "So what would you say is the purpose of art?"
Man: "Well, art is a means of expression, of course. But it's also a means of record. If you look at the earliest artists, their art was a way for them to say: 'I was here."

Our legacy and our "mark" is defined by the impression we leave upon people, and the interpersonal connections forged with time. The relationships we take the time to form in person are much more lasting than an instant connection on Facebook.

The beauty of art is that after we're gone, we can still impress upon people ideas and we can still connect with them. This is true of paintings and books. Recipients of art form own interpretations. But the artists have the right to say, "we were here."

Love // Christelle

P.S. That first quote is from Humans of New York, which you absolutely have to visit. It was my primary source of procrastination through finals week.

Good artists copy, great artists steal

Austin Kleon who is best known for his black out poems

"You make everyone else everyone else"

was on NPR's "Forum" last Tuesday advertising his new book "Show Your Work!"

He went over these ten points, but he also talked about marketing other people's work. It's a great way to get connected and to stay humble. People can start turning into human spam if they do nothing but flaunt their own work, but if you acknowledge other great work, and acknowledge that you're part of something greater, people will respond. 

Also, he said to remember that your art is not you, it's something that you made. People often refer to their work as their baby, but like any child, you're going to have to let her go and do her own thing.

He also wrote Steal Like an Artist which I stole from my dad :)

Proof that I own the book :)

He says there is no real original work anymore. His black out word idea can be traced back to the seventeenth century! "It comes down to exposing yourself to the best things that humans have done"

That's why classical academic painters replicate works from the masters. They've figured out the secrets of the craft, it's your responsibility to learn them. Most creative work is a conglomerate of the best ideas, churned out by one individual.

This guy's got good stuff to say, check him out.

A quick update: 

I'm almost done with my painting :) I spent eight hours at the studio last night adding color, Darin's going to help me with some final tweaking, we're going to glaze in the hair, finish glazing the whole painting, then it's DONE! I'm so stoked!!! Here's a preview:

Love // Christelle