- Kelly wanted to know more about artistic symbolism ~ who paints it and why?
- Reagan wants to learn more technical skills and says, like a lot of us, that she sometimes doesn’t ‘get’ art ~ it either appeals to her or it doesn’t.
- Shan wants to know more about the ‘behind the scenes’ of a community art project, the challenges that come with doing a large project (like the ‘oh crap ~ have a bitten off more than I can chew?!’) and if being a full time artist is always a good thing.
Kelly ~ I’d say that most, if not all artists, use symbolism to a varying degree ~ even those who, like me, use it more on an unconscious level than intentionally. There have only been a few occasions in my personal work where I’ve intentionally wanted to paint a symbol to reference a specific idea or topic. For example, in most of my mixed media artworks, I’ve just sat down and picked up a colour I felt like using, which then spurred me to match it with a piece of colourful fabric or lace. The rest of the artwork unfolds in this way for me. I guess you could say that the colour and the texture of the materials could symbolise how I’m feeling or my emotions, but I don’t really think about that ~ I just respond to what feels like the next exciting step as I progress through the artwork.
Reagan ~ I’ve thought about doing online art classes for a while now but I really think that a person-to-person learning environment is the way to go. Lots of artists run classes on loads of different and innovative topics. Some are structured and skills based, others are process based and all about connecting with your creativity and having fun. I’ve enrolled in heaps over the years and I always come out having learnt something new to integrate into my practice. I think either way, it’s important to attend a class with the intention of having fun with the process rather than creating a masterpiece on the day. You can always play with the ideas you’ve learnt later on!
I also don't 'get' a lot of art myself but I don’t think you always have to! I think it's a real skill to be able to 'read' art but even then I think it's only your projection of what you think the person is portraying in their work. Like Kelly’s query about symbolism, an artwork will have different meaning to different people based on their own past experiences and associations with colours, textures and objects. But I think essentially art is about creating a dialogue, and sometimes I realise that the art I don’t ‘get’ has me pondering and wondering and reeling me in more than the artwork I find attractive and pleasing!
Shan ~ I actually documented the whole process of a community art project I undertook earlier this year called ‘River Stories’. If you want to check it out I’ve uploaded info and pics of the project from start to finish. You can find them all here
In terms of biting off more than I can chew with large projects, I can honestly say I think that EVERY time I start a new community art project! I can be HUGELY overwhelming for an artist to be given a blank wall, for example, and be required to incorporate a large amount of content derived from community consultations and other people’s ideas, and to know you’ve done it justice. I usually begin the project with a mixture of excitement and self doubt, because although I’ve done loads of community projects before, every new project is different in content, style and even the surroundings it links in with. Some of the challenges include time management (working out how long it takes and factoring in time when it rains or floods like during the river stories mural!), structural issues (such as working high up on scaffolding, working on uneven wall spaces and even pest problems such as redback spiders on outdoor mural spaces), and trying to please everyone on a community art project. As you can imagine, there are lots of different people involved and loads of ideas about how a project should look and what should be included in a community art project, so I need to be very upfront at the start with everyone and let them know that every suggestion may not come to fruition but that every morsel of input is an important part of the overall evolution of the project. There are loads of ways community members can feel valued during a project and that might include putting forward ideas, designs, admin roles, asking questions that spur on discussion or even organising a sausage sizzle for the project launch.
Lastly, I LOVE my work and my practice – but – it can sometimes be difficult because I never switch off my creativity. Sometimes I’m doing up to 10 different creative projects at a time so I can work massive hours and not necessarily get paid for it all because a lot of admin goes into maintain a website, a blog, a community art business, a facebook fan page and not to mention find time for my own art, husband, family, friends and health! It’s certainly a juggling act, but as I go along I’m learning new tips and tricks and also learning to say no to things that are outside of my scope of interest.
Anyway, that’s enough from me. I hope these answers have been helpful to not only Kelly, Reagan and Shan but other people out there interested in creativity!
