asshole.
Now waaaaaaait I don’t think he’s such an asshole at all. I can completely relate to what he’s saying. Several years ago, he had a really great idea, and he started to go with it. And he made two albums. And then he realized that he had committed to something that would literally take up the rest of his career, and no artist wants to get stuck working on a single project for their entire life. Even if he worked at the outrageous rate of an album per year, that is fifty years. And at that speed, they would be total crap. I seriously don’t think he’s saying that it was a joke on his fans or anything, but more like the fact that he thought he could really do it was absurd. The questions he’s asking are valid. It really sounds like he’s having an existential crisis, which is something I appreciate more than if he just kept making progressively shittier music because he was tired of what he was doing. At least now his fans know what’s going on.
Anyone who creates anything can’t tell me they haven’t had this exact same dilema at least once in their lives.
thebackdoor: observe, collect, document, analyze, compare, notice patterns.
My friend Terran sent this to me, and it's funny because it's TRUE:
DRILL PRESS:
A tall upright machine useful for suddenly snatching flat metal bar stock out of your hands so that it smacks you in the chest and flings your beer across the room, denting the freshly-painted project which you had carefully set in the corner where nothing could get to it.
WIRE WHEEL:
Cleans paint off bolts and then throws them somewhere under the workbench with the speed of light. Also removes fingerprints and hard-earned calluses from fingers in about the time it takes you to say, “Oh, shit!”
SKILL SAW:
A portable cutting tool used to make studs too short.
PLIERS:
Used to round off bolt heads. Sometimes used in the creation of blood-blisters.
BELT SANDER:
An electric sanding tool commonly used to convert minor touch-up jobs into major refinishing jobs.
HACKSAW:
One of a family of cutting tools built on the Ouija board principle… It transforms human energy into a crooked, unpredictable motion, and the more you attempt to influence its course, the more dismal your future becomes.
VISE-GRIPS:
Generally used after pliers to completely round off bolt heads. If nothing else is available, they can also be used to transfer intense welding heat to the palm of your hand.
OXYACETYLENE TORCH:
Used almost entirely for lighting various flammable objects in your shop on fire. Also handy for igniting the grease inside the wheel hub out of which you want to remove a bearing race..
TABLE SAW:
A large stationary power tool commonly used to launch wood projectiles for testing wall integrity.
HYDRAULIC FLOOR JACK:
Used for lowering an automobile to the ground after you have installed your new brake shoes, trapping the jack handle firmly under the bumper.
BAND SAW:
A large stationary power saw primarily used by most shops to cut good aluminum sheet into smaller pieces that more easily fit into the trash can after you cut on the inside of the line instead of the outside edge.
TWO-TON ENGINE HOIST:
A tool for testing the maximum tensile strength of everything you forgot to disconnect.
PHILLIPS SCREWDRIVER:
Normally used to stab the vacuum seals under lids or for opening old-style paper-and-tin oil cans and splashing oil on your shirt; but can also be used, as the name implies, to strip out Phillips screw heads.
STRAIGHT SCREWDRIVER:
A tool for opening paint cans. Sometimes used to convert common slotted screws into non-removable screws and butchering your palms.
PRY BAR:
A tool used to crumple the metal surrounding that clip or bracket you needed to remove in order to replace a 50 cent part.
HOSE CUTTER:
A tool used to make hoses too short.
HAMMER:
Originally employed as a weapon of war, the hammer nowadays is used as a kind of divining rod to locate the most expensive parts adjacent the object we are trying to hit.
UTILITY KNIFE:
Used to open and slice through the contents of cardboard cartons delivered to your front door; works particularly well on contents such as seats, vinyl records, liquids in plastic bottles, collector magazines, refund checks, and rubber or plastic parts. Especially useful for slicing work clothes, but only while in use.
Son of a bitch TOOL:
Any handy tool that you grab and throw across the garage while yelling “Son of a bitch” at the top of your lungs. It is also, most often, the next tool that you will need.
I need to realize that I am not as incompetent as I think I am, especially when it’s 2am and I’m tired and frustrated and tempted to give it all up.
We had the critique for this project I’ve been bemoaning for the past few days. And it went well. The prof said he “really appreciated the care taken in the construction of the layers” and he thought my “use of media and techniques was successful” or some artspeak like that. I pointed out a few things that I would have done differently or reasons why certain aspects seemed wrong to me, but one girl was like, “No, I think that actually translates really well” and someone else said that the way they paper laid on the board “added another type of effect and made you curious as to how it was created”.
All in all it went very well. And I learned that a) I’m not completely inept and b) critiques are at least 85% BS and c) art school critique stereotypes are completely and shamelessly true.
ganoskin: Recently a fascinating thread has been circulating that someone started by asking a simple question. What do people who make and/or sell jewelry call themselves?
You might think we’d know this seemingly simple answer but it sparked a debate that is going on several days now.
The consensus seems to be that we are JEWELERS…and that a person is a JEWELER is they sell jewelry, even if they don’t know much about making it. However that doesn’t make a person necessarily a BENCH JEWELER who must apparently know how to do repairs as well as make jewelry.
And, a person can be a GOLDSMITH even if they never work with gold. A goldsmith, we learned, is any person who makes small objects of precious metals, usually for personal adornment. It was also said that a GOLDSMITH must see the big picture; creating from initial conception through completion.
A SILVERSMITH on the other hand, is a person who works on larger hollowware; things like candleholders, knifes, forks, spoons, plates etc…
Some call themselves METALSMITHS, however, one person mentioned that she has been contacted to make wrought iron and shoe horses…not exactly the same thing!
Given that I rarely work with gold, I hardly feel that “goldsmith” works for me, though it sure sounds nice! I previously thought a better term for me was either “metalsmith” or “silversmith” but I learned that neither of those are right at all!
So, I have decided I am a JEWELER. I like the ring to that as well, although as a “jeweler” I have so much still to learn from far more accomplished jewelers. At one of my classes, I noticed a man wearing an apron that said “Jeweler In Training”. Maybe that’s me!
I’ve been wondering this same thing for the past few days. I feel like a jeweler is someone who works at De Beers or Zales… which is not at all the direction I’m headed. I don’t think goldsmith or silversmith are terms the general population understands (one doesn’t work purely in gold or silver; the name refers to the wares and process as the article described). I think I have accepted the title metalsmith for myself. It seems to be very all-encompassing, since not only do I work with nonferrous and precious metals, but at some point I’d like to pick up iron and steel and work larger. Plus, you know, Metalsmith magazine, produced by the Society of North American Goldsmiths? It works for me.
I'm going to be in school forever.
Yes. Yes I am. Because I can’t stop thinking about sculpture as a minor, or sculpture as a second degree while I work on my MFA. But DEFINITELY NOT THINKING ABOUT SWITCHING MY MAJOR AGAIN FOR THE SIXTH TIME.
I mean, I’m basically doing sculpture. And it’s easier to go from tiny to big, rather than big to tiny.
BUT I REALLY WANT TO DO SOMETHING GIGANTIC.
i know i love my life. i know i do. i know i love what i do.
rrose-cestlavie: this is the mantra i’ve been repeating in my head on a loop for the past 3+ weeks. i don’t remember ever being this continuously stressed before. it never ends. i know that i do love my life, i just really wish i wasn’t breaking down in the studio at 4 am because my mold (that’s due tomorrow) broke for the second time and i still have a paper to write and reading to do and there’s only 4 hours until i have to wake up and face tomorrow and the three fucking mock tours i have to give.
and and and and and and and and and and and and and
my life is all “and”s now.
nickelsandimes: baby girl. we got this. DONTFREAKOUT. we’ll see each other three times tomorrow when you come i for your mocks, i’ll probably be sitting at the front desk crying if my day keeps going anything like it started. uuasdoahdiohwoad;gugfau;sd/jd i hope this is funny sometime later in life.
Both of you: I’m sending you ART SCHOOL HUGS. <3<3<3<3<3
You have to roll up your sleeves and be a stonecutter before you can become a sculptor - command of craft always precedes art: apprentice, journeyman, master.
“Command of craft always precedes art.”
A studio is a sanctuary where the artist should be every day as long as possible. That is where the artist belongs-it is the highest priority. The longer one is there, the greater the chance for boredom. Out of boredom comes play; out of play comes art (not without a great amount of failure).
-John Baldessari
notational: I agree especially with his boredom->play->art equation. I’m reflecting a lot upon this after viewing the Richard Carlyon retrospective.
rrose-cestlavie: i was just trying to schedule in some studio time this weekend. this is good motivation to get out of bed tomorrow and make the time.
Good advice to start off the quarter.
chwistina: i geek out for this shit hardcore. i miss physics so much, sometimes i question why i went the art route. then i remember how much cooler it is.helloadam: art is cool when you’re young, but when you’re dirt poor your entire life like me and physics kids like josh laskin are living it up you might regret the choice.
i wish i was capable of doing anything other than art. actually i can hardly do art. i don’t even know what “art” is, actually. fuck what am i going to do with my life fuck i am going to be poor my whole life. where am i going to live?
Wow, I know what you mean. Today at work, I was wondering what my life would look like if I had followed through with the whole neuropsych plan. I don’t think art is cooler than neuropsych, or physics, or whatever else. I don’t have regrets, but sometimes I wonder.
“i wish i was capable of doing anything other than art. actually i can hardly do art. i don’t even know what “art” is, actually.” Hi, it’s like you’re in my brain.
"i'm an artist."
samflower: //snipped convos for dashboard’s sake//
anotherdamnartist: Sacrifice, sacrifice, sacrifice. As an ARTIST, because yes, I call myself an ARTIST, because I am that “artsy” girl, and that obnoxious kind of person who has maybe just a little too much pride and might come off snippity when it comes to my photography, I say that I would do ANYTHING to continue my art.
Just YESTERDAY I spent 3,000 on buying a macbook to enhance my digital photos, a printer to print them and aperature softward pre-installed for the best I can do.
I have a PLETHURA of supplies, but thats due to Micheal’s security system being so sadly poor. I break the rules to continue things I love to do, and to me, that is okay even if it’s the “wrong” thing, or “bad” in other’s eyes. I’m passionate about what I do.
samflower: I would just “like” this, but I want other people to see Sam’s crazy passion for what she does, so it gets a reblog.
I’ll admit, I’m not willing to go as far as stealing, or getting a job I hate to earn more, or sacrificing things that I love more than art (there are many things I do love more). I’m just not to that point yet, and maybe I won’t ever be. That’s okay with me, just like it’s okay with you.
And when I say I hate the word “artsy”, I mean people who think of themselves as more than they should, or flaunt it around like they’re the greatest thing since VanfreakingGogh, but have no skill, effort, or hard work to show for it. I know and work with a LOTLOTLOT of these types, and they make me nauseous. Trust me, you ain’t artsy, you go the whole way and be an artist.
HAHAHAHA. I’m sorry, but are you serious?? Stealing paintbrushes or silk flowers or whatever from your local craft supply sore does not make you an artist, it makes you a CRAZY PERSON. Although some might say the two are indistinguishable.
I gave up trying to figure out when I was supposed to become an artist a long time ago. Is it the first time I make something I’m proud of? Is it when I become the next Damien Hirst (vom)? Is it when I can throw a can of paint against a wall and BS someone into thinking it has some kind of existential meaning? Whatever. I don’t care for the label anymore. I do what I do, and I’ll do it until I’m tired of doing it, and then maybe I’ll do something else.
travors: Via punta della dogana museum in venice
If you like to call yourself an artist and you’re too lazy or untalented to do something creative, just shock people instead.
You’ve totally summed it all up.
100 layer cake - moodbaords
Here’s the thing: I love moodboards. In theory.
In practice, however, they are nightmare devices designed by professors and employers to make the artist’s life HELL.
This overfed, over-monied art world, Saltz explained, was a self-replicating machine: people think that “the art market is so smart that it only buys the best work…[but in reality]…the art market is so dumb that it buys anything other people are buying.” This has led to the dominance of very few styles and of four artists in particular: Damien Hirst, Jeff Koons, Takashi Murakami, and Richard Prince, of whom Saltz proceeded to offer up his frank opinions. “Hirst’s art,” he said, “looked good with people around it. In an empty gallery, not so much.” “Surface is what Jeff [Koons] is about,” he said, and surface has never looked so deep. He admitted to loving Murakami’s early paintings, but is less enamored of his later creations. Prince, he suggested, “invented a dangerous idea and packaged himself for the corporate boardroom.” He posited that the major premise of Prince’s art was appropriation, and that it was “the idea that ate the art world.
