The basic question is; “Can a non artist create a true work of art?”. What goes into qualifying something as a good piece of art? One of my bucketlist items is to actually create a true work of art. I have very little artistic talent. I struggle with creating an image in my head that I want to replicate, I can only come up with vague concepts.
I am pretty good about seeing something in existing forms that I would like to modify and then building on it. I am considering carving, skulpting from metal, molding from clay etc but have not selected a medium.
What suggestions could I get on how to approach this starting with a concept? What mindset do I need to become focused?
Something that really bothers me is that when I do start to concieve of something I really like a lazy side of me shuts it down as being too complicated and I don’t seem to be able to get past that. I am too concerned with deadlines to complete something and have a hard time shaking that.
I am trying to get in touch with the way I aporoach jobs and problems in real life stituations and somehow connecting that with my art, I am very creative when it comes to dealing with real life issues whether it be mechanical, business, social etc.etc.
Anyone can create art - an ‘artist’ just has it down to, well, an art.
Myself - when I have to create stuff (I share a common thread to your description) I find I just have to ‘get started’ - and let things happen from there.
I like the just get started theme. One thing that seems to be comming too mind is a representation that no one but me could possibly recognize. I tend to become obsessed with things for years at a time sometimes going into decades. So even though I am 66 years old it wouldn’t take all that many symbols to represent pretty much everything that has defined me. I have a vision of how I can tie all of these things together into a scene with a really cool theme who only I would recognize.
Just postiung the thread has got my wheels turning.
An artist is a person who creates art. Asking “can a non-artist create art” is like asking “can an unemployed person have a job”. All you have to do to be an artist is make art. Oh, sure - some will say that to be a true artist you need to dedicate your life/be tortured/be obsessed - that the person who has an office job and paints on the side isn’t a real artist. Personally, I think the name for those people is “snobs”. Plenty of incredible writers have written their masterpieces while working a totally different job on the side to make ends meet. If you want to create, go ahead and just do it - if you get discouraged because it’s too complex, start with something a little easier and work your way up to whatever dream project you have in mind. Rome wasn’t built in a day, you know?
To get motivated, I think you should stop thinking of making a piece of art as a bucket list goal - something to do just so you’ve done it and can check it off. Look inside of yourself and see what you have to give to the world. It might sound cheesy, but art’s a very personal thing. Whatever makes you ridiculous excited whenever you think about it is probably the right thing.
This is so weird, as soon as I posted the thread my whole train of thought shifted into an artistic mode in preperation for what I thought might be some kind of attack. All of a sudden a concept that has been stairing me in the face for the past 50 years became clear as a bell and turned around 180 degrees from how I had been seeing it. Writing it is! I can commission the painting for the cover of the book.
There is something that I’ve stumbled across several times about a ceramics class. The teacher divided the class into 2 groups, said that one group would be graded on quality, and the other group on quantity. Which group had the higher quality items in the end? The quantity group.
Find a medium/process that you like, and make something. Then make something again. Then something a little different. Then keep making. First you will hone your techniques, and then at some point along the process you need to learn how to critique your own art. Write critiques for each of your pieces. Learn from them and make more.
An amateur artist will buy a sketchbook, and turn each page into a formal, pretty picture.
A professional artist will buy a sketchbook, and fill each page, from edge to edge, with doodles on top of doodles on top of doodles. And also doodle on the margins of every piece of paper that crosses his path.
An amateur photographer will spend hours fiddling with the lighting, and the composition, and the pose. Then he will snap two or three good pictures.
A professional photographer will spend hours fiddling with the lighting, and the composition, and the pose. Then he will snap two or three dozen pictures, and throw out all but the two or three best.
“Talent” is the practice you do on your own, before you start formal training.
I’m excited whenever a “non-artist” (as they label themselves) creates art. Almost always what they manage to create when they’ve put their mind to it is above and beyond anything they thought they could do. It’s exhilarating when art “just works”. It’s terrible when it doesn’t. If you end up running into a roadblock and start getting frustrated - “I want to do this, but it never seems to work! It isn’t doing what I want!” then take a break. Just quit for the day. Have some coffee, look at the sunset, watch a movie, read a book, pet the cat, go to bed. Try again tomorrow. Usually a fresh face and a new day will give you a new perspective on what you were trying to do, and it’ll come easier. Sometimes you just have to start over. You’ve seen what you tried, saw it didn’t work, and now you just need to start over instead of trying to correct what you have.
Just starting something - anything - is often enough to build your interest upon. So I’d say just start. Just make something in a field you’re interested in. Something simple and straightforward that you can finish within a week, and then see if you want to keep going.
Lots of things are–or can be–art. I think most people produce some sort of art in their lives, though they may never think of it as such. Have you ever told a story that made people laugh? Made a speech that got people excited? Sung a song that inspired people to sing along? Those are art, too.
When it comes to art, you don’t have to make something well to make something good (though it usually helps). The important thing is that it speaks to people–that it evokes the feelings and ideas you wanted to share.
Dude - you make record-breaking bows and arrows*!! You have the ability to craft in spades!
Arguably, some of the bows you make are probably works of art…ultimately, art is the mastery of craft. Art can happen randomly, but artists master the craft of it in order to reproduce their process.
So - can you use your bows as a form of art? Or: can you think about the process of craft that you apply to making your bows, and see how you can apply that same discipline of process to your art?
The bow and arrows have been a mixed blessing. They have given me some self confidence but at the same time the obsession with them has effectively removed me from most everything else. I have a metaphorical story I am working on where the archer hunts and kills the great badger with a bow and arrow. The badger is the demon of obsession.
