Publications and Buzzwords, Good or Bad?

There is an interesting question being discussed on the arttechniques Yahoo group today!

They've been wondering about how authentic one's work is if you look at and are influenced by what you see in popular magazines on mixed media art. A corollary of that discussion is the topic of using popular buzzwords on and in one's work, such as 'imagine', 'create', 'believe', and 'dream'.

So the question is how original can your work be if you are using the same techniques, colors, materials, and words in your work as many others use? Are you copying or are you creating an original? And is that ultimately good or bad?

You know, classically trained artists used to be made to copy the masters until they understood how to layer paint and portray a hand or a fold of fabric in the classical manner. The Impressionists/Fauvists killed that when they went off in their own direction and painted a representation of the light and color they observed at any given time instead of trying to produce a set scene where the reds were just red and the blues were just blue, unaffected by the surroundings or time of day. Still, it isn’t a bad way to learn. It survived for centuries. In fact, it has been around longer than the free expression we have now. You weren't an artist then until you had mastered the techniques and could create pieces similar to the style and quality of established masters.

They used the same techniques, but added their personal styles so that we know the difference between a Leonardo and a Botticelli. Every artist sees the same thing differently and uses the same techniques in perhaps imperceptibly different ways, but with a myriad of combinations, there's room for everyone to express their own vision and be every bit as much of an artist as the next person. How original they are is up to them. It is possible to choose to omit things that have been used too much by others or to use the shapes, lines, colors, space, etc. that appeals to each individual artist.

Creation is a process of making a series of choices. Originality depends on making choices based on what the artist wants to do, not based on fashion or what one is supposed to choose.

As for words, while I agree that some words (dream, believe, imagine, create, etc.) are very much the worse for wear and overuse these days, as one person pointed out, who knows how much these people’s lives suck or why they don’t have the confidence to use a word of their own choosing – or even of their own devise as Shakespeare did! I really applaud another's decision to find words to describe the feelings she wants to convey regardless of what stamps are available or what is fashionable to use.

Personally, I have always eschewed the art establishment because of the fakeness I perceived there (and still do). They have a zillion buzz words that just bug me to death. I concentrate my dislike there because usually it’s mastery of the rhetoric that provides the entry to their little world. You can be one of the cognoscenti just by using the right buzzword at the right time! Right now, I really dislike “informed” as in, “Her work is informed by the waste of resources and the pollution in our environment,” explaining why someone uses green and brown to paint on nappy liners! Excuse me for preferring emotions and minds channeled through talent.

I don’t like what’s trendy and never have. I don’t want boundaries. I don't like to see other artists restrained by boundaries. And I don’t care whether or not other people like my work unless I happen to be giving it to them as a gift.

What I love about mixed media art is that it can include all the media I love in one work. A dark piece can have a light, delicate corner. Like Karen, I can choose my own words because I have way too many sets of alphabet stamps. Or I can print them on my computer with a colored background of my choice or my own design. I can print it, print over it, transfer it, shrink it, layer it, enlarge it, stencil it, or put it on there any way I can think of, or feel like, even if it is stapling it there or sticking it on with a wad of used gum! We have a large range of tools and media available with broad freedom to create our own visions of beauty today. We are so fortunate to be who we are, where we are, and when we are!

What’s my point? I suppose it is an encouragement to all of us to create our own visions of art, beauty, or an emotional statement without regard to the opinions of others. Let’s be original and genuine! But if you have to copy what’s gone before or what you see in a book or magazine to feel comfortable on your way to that level of creativity, that’s okay. Use the work of others as an inspiration. And even if you copy it, maybe especially if you copy it, you will notice what it is that makes this one your's and not their's. If you do find yourself producing a carbon copy of someone else's work, make a decision to step out and change something. Then two somethings. Then three. Before you know it, you'll find yourself with an original on your hands, an original expression of you!.

When you go to a workshop and the teacher says to paste the butterfly in the upper right hand corner and you think a snail would look better in the middle of the bottom of the page instead, it's okay to fight for your right to express yourself instead of meekly going along. It’s okay to put it where they said to, but it’s even MORE alright to put it wherever you like! Sometimes going through the motions is better than doing nothing at all. And sometimes you have to step off the edge of comfort and do it your own way.

I’ve spent two years collecting all sorts of wonderful toys. Now it is up to me to either use them to make pretty things designed by others or to be creative and expressive in inventing creations of my own. One way, I might have fun making pretty things. But choosing the second way will provide a deeper, richer experience for me and my audience alike.

So yes, one's work may be original even if one uses the same techniques, colors, materials, and words as used by others if one uses it in one's own way. Is that copying or is it creating? That depends entirely on the choices one makes and the order in which the choices are made. Is the failure to be original ultimately good or bad? I really don't think it is either. It is simply what it is, original or not. My pink is lighter or more vibrant than someone else's. I don't have enough gold left, so I mix in yellow ochre instead.

One cannot fail to have influences. Every tiny thing that affects us, each minute observation is an influence. Even the absence of outside influences has an influence on us. We may be starved for creative fuel or be fed by the need to create and fill the void.

Ultimately, my lovelies, it is up to each of us to choose that which gives us fulfillment and pleasure. In the end, it's okay to just be whoever you are that day.