Blog Post ONE
What do you do?
I am an artist who creates work pertaining to theories and concepts that interest me. I first encounter these ideas through everyday or life experiences of my own- otherwise suggested as the human experience. I use art as a medium to further explore or digest an experience. Various mediums are significant in my practice and are used to express different concepts and ideas in different forms (i.e. paintings, small metals, sculpture, etc.). For example, jewelry (small metals) has an implied connection to the body, and therefore a connection to it’s (implied) wearer. Sculpture is often created at a large scale and meant to be examined from all angles, while paintings are relatively flat and usually admired for the details within them. The conceptual nature of mediums and how they can be used to further influence the subject matter I have chosen to explore are significant within my practice. A question I often am faced with is what makes a piece art? , especially when displaying my jewelry. Hearing the word jewelry in the context of fine art or art in general can be confusing as it is usually an everyday commodity mass produced and available to the public, while fine art can be assumed to be the opposite. My jewelry as well as the other pieces I produce through my practice are considered art due to the uniqueness and irreproducible nature of the design as well as the selected concept and subject matter the piece is exploring.
What does it mean for you to practice?
For me, to practice is a continuation of research, creation, asking questions and finding ways to better understand the world as it exists around us, as well as how it existed historically throughout time. When I am practicing as an artist I am researching new ideas, concepts and techniques to better educate myself and find inspiration. In my day-to-day life this can look like visiting a museum and studying works of art visually, sitting in a library reading historical, research based, or informational texts; walking around a park or city and observing the environment, architecture, and people as well as their interactions. To practice is to also understand myself on a deeper level, exploring my own human experiences within myself as well as with others. Later in my process as a practicing artist these ideas, concepts and techniques are used for inspiration and applied to a design for a physical piece of work. Once a piece is created to the point of a realized completion or feeling of effectively conveying it’s purpose of creation, the cycle of practice has reached its end and repeats itself from the beginning once again. While there is a cyclical nature of my own practice, there are often multiple cycles occurring in tandem with multiple projects and new inspiration constantly flowing. While some pieces created from my practice are less significant than others, they are all important to my progression and progress as an artist in modern-day society. With each piece created and artistic cycle completed, my work expands and matures in terms of techniques acquired, information learned, and new concepts to create meaningful work from. Through my artistic practice I am also curating myself as an individual, applying the new information learned and concepts explored to my personal life and ideologies I view the world with.
What changes when you imagine a professional practice?
Professional Practice through an institution or established career as an artist is a more structured practice, following tighter guidelines, and possibly assigned subject matter to research and create from. In my current practice I utilize resources and creation techniques I have learned through professional practices within an institution.
In another sense, the term professional practice can simply mean you have established yourself as an artist and the way in which you practice has been recognized at a level exceeding that of a casual practice or one designed to be “just for fun”.
I believe in order to construct a professional practice as an established artist one must create work that is meaningful- not only to the artist but to others within society. This happens when your work or yourself as an artist ask hard questions and invoke a further conversation through the work you create. While not every professional piece of work has to deal with deeper issues and all of the serious wrongs within the world around us, creating work that addresses issues in general is how we as artists can start the conversations for making a change. There are artists who create in order to invoke a viewers feelings, good or bad. In conjunction with the idea that a professional practice is one that produces work with meaning, it is seemingly implied that the work should also create feelings when viewed- good or bad.
