Skip to main content

More thoughts on changing directions in your work

The other evening, I went to the opening of Will Gorlitz's exhibition at the Macdonald Stewart Art Centre in Guelph, Ontario. Gorlitz is a Professor in the Studio Art Program in the Department of Fine Art and Music at the University of Guelph and a veteran Canadian figurative painter who "sets out to unsettle our vision", says Richard Rhodes, editor of Canadian Art magazine. See a brief video tour of a 2008 Gorlitz exhibition.

I found it interesting to hear him talk briefly about his work at the opening. In my last couple of blog posts, I wrote some thoughts about changing directions in my artwork and asked how to recognize when we need to change directions or how to stay true to our own intuition. Will mentioned that when he graduated from art college, that he had noticed how it seemed an important thing for an artist to find their path and to stick with it. He decided right then to challenge that 'convention', and try to make many different bodies of work.

When this retrospective was offered to him, he said that he wondered how they would hang so many different bodies of work. But after the show was hung and he stood looking at it, he realized that there was a connection between the various works.

It makes me wonder if we have a certain mark or way of making artwork that is ours, even if the bodies of work seem unconnected. And looking back at our work over time, if we simply make art long enough, do the connections become more apparent?
Labels:

Comments

  1. Anne Fraker StudioSeptember 29, 2009 at 9:50 AM

    Hi Janice,
    All week I’ve been thinking of your last 2 posts. The timing is uncanny; I’ve just read a post by Keith bond, about jumping train.
    http://sz0010.ev.mail.comcast.net/zimbra/mail#3
    You might enjoy it as well.
    I also paint in themes. Mine has been about trees, the woody parts, such as bare branches, roots and tree trunks. Why do I paint that particular theme? Because I’m constantly drawn to them; Not only do I like them visually, but in them I find symbolic meanings, like parables. I admit that other motifs also want to emerge within my series, and I’m eager to introduce them, and see where my work will take me.
    I’ve jumped from themes to themes before, but it made my work look disconnected. For now, at this point of my journey I rather ease from one thing to another, by combining metaphors. I believe eventually this route will lead me to new series. I'm curious to see what they may be, but for now, I'm not in a hurry.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Janice Mason SteevesSeptember 30, 2009 at 11:25 AM

    HI Anne,
    Thanks for your thoughtful comment. Do you think it's possible to hurry an idea?...mine seem to come in their own sweet time.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Susan BuretOctober 1, 2009 at 8:45 PM

    I think that sometimes when making 'new work' there is suddenly a sense of deja vu. Most of my work is abstract but still I find the same marks and shapes recurring and when this happens I feel that I am making strong works.
    As to hurrying an idea, I am guilty. I often jump in boots and all and, for me, it doesn't work. It tends to happen when I am feeling that what I am doing is not exciting. I think it's a sign of immaturity and wish I didn't do it as I always look back at it as time wasted.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Meet the Owners of a Scottish Castle

Anne Tristine Nguyen, Ali Orr Ewing, their children, Ava, Atticus and  their dog, Harriet Beecher Stowe. Dunskey Estate, Portpatrick, Scotland Anne Tristine Nguyen and her husband, Alistair Orr Ewing are the owners of Dunskey Estate near Portpatrick, Scotland where I will teach a painting workshop in September. Dunskey is a splendid Edwardian castle on 2000 acres of ocean-front land with miles of walking trails. As well as daily workshop sessions in the studio on the top floor of the castle, our small group of artists will enjoy breathtaking hikes, superb accommodation and fabulous meals.  Not having met owners of a castle before, I asked Anne if I could interview her to hear a little of their background story and that of the castle. Can you tell me a little of your personal story and that of your husband, Alistair Orr Ewing? Anne emigrated to America when she was ten years old, but it was at an art gallery in Saigon, her birthplace, where s...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Importance of Silence in Art

Gathering Light 60x60"  Oil on canvas © 2014 Janice Mason Steeves  Michael David Rosenberg, the musician known as Passenger, sings, "See all I need is a whisper in a world that only shouts." In the workshops I teach, I find that one of the most common problems with paintings is that they shout. Most have too much going on: too many small shapes, too much texture, extremes of colour, too many lines, too much, too much. One thing I say most often as I walk around the classroom working with students individually, is 'make bigger shapes'.  But not only bigger shapes. Quiet shapes.  Where can your eye go and rest in the painting? That isn't a consideration in much of contemporary painting or much of contemporary life.  Ours is a noisy world both visually and auditorily.  Ours is a world that shouts.  People are afraid of silence. I wrote a blog post  3 years ago about planning a retreat in my own home, where I shut off the computer ...
1 comment
Read more

Liminal Time

 The word liminal comes from the Latin, limen meaning threshold. an in-between place, a place of transition, a time of waiting and not knowing. Dawn and dusk are considered liminal places. Crepuscular animals, like foxes and coyotes are most active at this time of day, a time that is considered a magical time in Celtic spirituality and to Indigenous people which is perhaps the origin of their designation as tricksters.   As I write this, the northern hemisphere has just passed the vernal equinox, where day and night are of equal length.We are in a liminal space between winter and spring right now, unsure if we will have one more storm or snowfall before spring finally settles in. We're also in a liminal place as we live through this pandemic with the  anxiety and discomfort of not  knowing. A  time of great transition for the entire world, wondering what we've learned from this and what lessons we'll carry forward.     Author and Fr...
Post a Comment
Read more