Dev elop i n g Ar t an istic Voic e The
“Scroll Work” 2015 25”x10” Plastic, Ink, Acrylic
Che ls Univ ea DeL eon ersi ARE ty of Fl orid D 69 a 33
High School 2008
Unconventional Beginnings Unlike a lot of art educators I know, I did not grow up with an awareness of an artistic identity. My family pushed academic education, and while I liked to draw and color it never crossed my mind that becoming an artist was an acceptable career path. I continuously impressed a vast number of adults with my dedication to reading and my grand aspirations of being a zoologist or a brain surgeon. If I think back to my own early artistic development, I only remember sporadic spurts of artistic awareness: a first prize award for my kindergarten painting of grapes, a horrendously tedious pointillism project in third grade, and being skilled at realistic renderings in middle school. Despite these points of importance, I never really took my ability to draw seriously. I considered drawing a way to impress the adults around me as Winner (1993) describes. Winner (1993) argues that artistically gifted children develop in one of two ways: advanced ability to demonstrate realism and use art as visual language. I was the former, I utilized art as another facet from which I could gain praise from adults. When I took an art class in my senior year of high school it was a moment of rediscovery. I had forgotten how well I could draw and how easily it came to me. My art teacher, although a lovely individual, considered drawing images out of magazines with a grid to be the most exciting lesson plan she offered. I did this with ease and was quickly working on second level work in my first level class, which consisted of copying images with a grid in oil pastel and paint. At this time I realized my own artistic talent, I still did not consider art an acceptable career path. I was going to be the first in my family to graduate high school, and the first to go to college. I had already been accepted to the University of Georgia and I had received enough in scholarships to attend without any personal expense. My family was deliriously excited about my achievements but didn't really inquire about what I planned with my college education. As I worked through high school it became evident that all my major role models were my teachers and, whether I admitted it or not, I knew that I was meant to be a teacher. When I arrived at college I had decided to be a social studies education major. This didn’t last long. Even though I have a life long love of history I missed the creative process and I missed working with my hands. I quickly changed my major to art education. When I did this my aim was to teach art, but I have always struggled at defining my own artistic identity.
“Altered Boxes” 2010 18”x24” Wood Block Print
“Model with Stick” 2009 18”x24” Ink Wash “Flattened Tornado” 2010 72”x32” Charcoal and Ink
Development of an Artistic Voice Attending the University of Georgia’s art school as an amazing experience, but looking back I realized that most of my classes where rooted in skill development rather than concept development. My drawings usually have emerged from small sketches I do without thinking too much. When it comes time to make a new piece I look at my sketch book and combine some of the compositional ideas into one piece. While looking back at my own work from college I realized that my love of pure black and white developed in my earlier classes rather than in one pivotal moment in class. To me, black and white in drawing is the most undiluted way to draw. It’s simple and crisp. In my print making class I usually reverted to black and white prints that ,over time, were less and less objective. I even started making line based drawings in my intermediate class that demonstrated principles in my drawing that would become most important later. My intermediate drawing class emphasized the growth in scale rather than concept, but here is where I developed a love of drawings rich in layers and mark making. Although these drawings were always rooted in realism they were extremely pivotal in the later development of my artistic voice. Until my senior advanced drawing class no professor had ever really questioned me about myself as an artist. What did I like to make? Why did I want to make what I did? These were and still are very difficult questions for me to answer. My professor, I think, realized this and promptly set me to work on my own development. At the time I thought her methods were nonsensical and useless, but looking back I realize she was perhaps the most influential person in the development of my own artistic identity. I was set to work developing ink doodles I frequently made in my free time. These small ink drawings were the result of a media exploration I did in the intermediate drawing class. Because she recognized that there was something methodical about my production of these drawings she set me to work making bigger and bigger pieces. Before I knew it I was filling huge compositional spaces and using ladders to layer ink onto itself and white acrylic paint to compose non-objective landscapes that sometimes reached twelve to 10 feet tall. This was the first time I ever absorbed myself in my art work. Much like the “flow” Goleman and Kauffman (1992) describe, I experienced moments of clear fluidity in my work where creation was all consuming and was able to work with my full artistic capacities.
Creating the Rules While working I often enter into a state best described by Eisner’s (1978) idea of art making for satisfaction. While Eisner was referring to children in particular, I connect with the idea that my own mark making is for pure enjoyment and satisfaction even in these advanced stages of my own artistic production. Feeling the paint brush or stick on the paper and watching the line of ink move across the paper or panel is engaging just because the ability to create marks is extremely satisfying. My drawings began as these satisfying small doodles that have evolved into a theme that defines my artistic voice. My media and methods allow for me to make many marks and mistakes because they are so easily erased or incorporated into the composition. When I’m working I enter into an almost meditative state where each mark is either meticulously and purposefully placed or randomly and automatically applied. Sometimes my work is produced quickly and others times it can take months before I’m satisfied with a composition. To me the time it takes to create a work is inconsequential as long as the finished result is a successful composition. While continuing to make these large pieces I developed a rhythmic set of rules that defines my work. These rules end up becoming like a puzzle I have to solve to achieve the best composition for each piece, but also serve as a way to minimize my marks to the most important in creating a successful composition. I usually begin with determining the background color of the piece: black or white? After determining the base I move on to adding layers of marks. After adding a layer of marks made with ink and a brush, I decide what parts were the most successful. Any marks or areas of the piece I don't find in harmony with the most successful part are removed by adding a layer of white acrylic. This happens again and again until the composition is successful and had a translucent quality. Depth has become another important component in my work. While my earlier pieces are rather two dimensionally flat, others focus on drawing the viewer into the piece to see the layers visually push off the paper.
“Untitled” 2012 96”x60” Ink and Acrylic on Paper
“Untitled” 2014 38”x18” Ink and Acrylic on Panel
Current Practices. Today as an educator I have less time to make my own art work, and spend the majority of my free time developing project samples for my students. However, because I’ve mostly taught three-dimensional classes my art work has taken on a somewhat three dimensional quality. The availability of work space is also the cause of changes in my current work. Because I do not have access to a large studio as I did in college I have had to adapt to working in my small apartment. Working in such small spaces has changed the scale of my pieces but has forced me into altering my work in other ways. I’ve grown from creating marks solely with ink and acrylic and have attempted to create three dimensional marks through the manipulation of my drawings. I have been drawn to basket weavings and other textile art forms that have also been captured in my latest drawings. Incorporating these mediums has allowed me to increase the three-dimensionality of my work, but each piece is still rooted in the same techniques that created my past works.
“Woven Braid” 2015 17”x10” Plastic, Ink, and Acrylic
“Untitled Weave” 2015 18”x24” Ink and Acrylic
“Untitled Bars” 2015 18”x24” Ink and Acrylic
“Drips” 2011 18”x24” Ink and Acrylic on Paper
“In Progress: Untitled” 2012 96”x60” Ink and Acrylic on Paper
“Eclipse” 2011 36”x48” Ink and Acrylic on Paper
Conclusion Even though I have often struggled, I can say that I’ve made significant strides towards the journey to find my own artistic voice and vision. While sometimes I find it a bit intimidating that my work has no basis in deep social meanings or cultural context, I am becoming more comfortable with the idea that my art is my own visual experience that demonstrates my own artistic growth and perception. As Ivashkevich (2006) has stated, art is a result of your own experiences and learning; my own artistic growth is evident of this. If you look at my art work chronologically you will notice the distinct stylistic changes that occur based on the time in my art education. The end result of my education is a conglomerate of techniques that combine to make harmonious compositions that demonstrate my artistic growth. Each of my art education experiences including my experience teaching art has resulted in my artistic identity today and each art work I have made has resulted in the techniques, media, and methodologies I utilize in my work.
References Eisner, E. (1978). What do children learn when they paint? Art Education, 31(3), 6-10. Goleman, D., & Kauffman, P. (1992, March 1). The Art of Creativity. Psychology Today. Ivahkevich, O. (2006). Drawing in children’s lives. In J. Fineberg (Ed.), When we were young: Perspectives on the art of the child (pp. 45-59).Los Angeles: University of California Press.
Winner, E. (1993). Exceptional artistic development: The role of visual thinking. Journal of Aesthetic Education, 27(4), 31-44