C ultivating
R eality
Wendy Richmond
Originally published in Communication Arts September/October Interactive Annual 2003
cost-cutting measures and not ous problem solving. People also Here’s how I define a successwilling to risk new ideas. It is choose this profession because ful business meeting: I learn the goals that my client wants to ac- they are passionate about explor- important, I would say essential, to maintain a personal creative ing their own creative vision. complish. We agree upon those practice. A creative practice proAnd therein lies the contradicgoals, and we lay out a path to achieve them. I leave with clear tion: on one hand you want to in- vides nourishment and develops expectations of steps and param- vestigate your own passion and a personal sense of visual power. I’m not advocating being more discover personally compelling eters including tasks, deadlines, directions. But you also want to of an “artist” in your design work. budgets and responsibilities. There are many differences do the opposite: Here’s how I define a successful between commercial art and concentrate on the client’s needs day in the studio: I arrive with fine art, and we get into trouble and develop the best solution some vague concept of what I when we mix them up. What I to his or her specific problem. want to create. I begin to work am advocating is developing an When it works, the result is a and find that the materials have awareness of your own creative combination of both: a unique, a different plan for me, and I process, and doing this separatepersonally compelling design take their cue. Each step evolves ly, through your own art making. that addresses and solves the from the previous one, and I By engaging in a process that is needs of the client. am surprised as I work. When very different from commercial In last issue’s Design Culture I leave, I have made something work, you have the column (“Developing a Creative very different from what I had opportunity to discover what Practice”), I spoke about ways expected. you feel is powerful, authentic Many visual designers love their to maintain your own creativity and compelling. during these lean times, when profession because it involves clients are sticking to reliable clear communication and rigor
Cultivating a state of not knowing I’m uncomfortable with unknowns. However, the more I allow some uncertainty in my life, the more I am rewarded with unusual, and often positive, results. I’m basically trying to replace fear with curiosity, which then becomes excitement about learning something new. When I have certain limitations like a tight deadline and particular obligations to a product, I’m reluctant to attempt a risky solution. But when I’m working on a personal project, I feel that I have an obligation to enter unknown territory. In some cases it’s conceptual, where I experiment with the subject of my photography. It’s uncomfortable because it’s usually unsuccessful
99% of the time, and out of all that work I only get 1% new work. But when I don’t explore that territory at all, I have 0% new work. Another aspect of not knowing is a technical one. It’s scary to do work where you don’t know the materials or the technology. I have held off buying a digital camera. I justify my hesitation by saying that the price is too high or the resolution is too low, but the real reason may be that I’m afraid that there’s too much new to learn.
replace fear with curiosity.
I know how to use my film camera and I’m comfortable with it. But when I replace the fear with curiosity, I think, what are the aspects that will allow me to grow? How will it change the way I take pictures? How will it change the way I see?
Removing editors In every project, whether it is art or design, there are clients, bosses, teachers and colleagues, all of whom will tell you their opinions. We may be oppressed by them or uplifted by them, but there’s little doubt that they affect us. And when we listen to them, we are not listening to the work itself. One of
the greatest values in the process of art making (and most difficult to achieve) is the dialogue that goes on within the work itself. I know it sounds corny, but there are many examples of artists articulating their need to listen to what the work wants to do and how it wants to progress. You know the story of Michelangelo when he sculpted The Dying Slave: he was reacting to the block of marble, and felt that there was a form inside and he just needed to free it. Many fiction writers say that they don’t determine what their characters will do; the characters tell the writer what they will do. Finding the authenticity in your work involves getting rid of encrusted layers of opinions, styles and accomplishments (yours and others). And by the way, the most recalcitrant editor of all is probably you.
listen to what the work wants to do. During an interview for one of his exhibitions, the painter Philip Guston spoke, metaphorically, about what it’s like in the studio: “You’re in your studio and it’s filled with all these people: friends, teachers, family, curators, art critics and so on. One by one they leave, then you’re alone. And then yes, finally, you leave, too.” The point is that there are many people in your head telling you what the work means, encouraging you or discouraging
you, bringing their baggage. You need them to leave the room. And then, even more important, you have to leave, too. The conversation, the influence, and the momentum is within the work: one step leads to another, one mark informs the next.
Most artists I know produce a huge volume of work in order to have just a few pieces to show. Every new piece contains information about the direction they should take. Producing a lot is a way of reaching a destination.
pay attention to the voyage of getting there. Quantity equals quality In the book Art & Fear: Observations on the Perils (and Rewards) of Artmaking (The Image Continuum Press), David Bayles and Ted Orland describe a ceramics teacher who, at the beginning of the semester, split the class in two. One half was told they would be graded on the quantity of work: the more a student produced, the higher the grade. The second group would be graded on quality; to get an “A,” a student only needed to produce one pot, but it had to be perfect. It turned out that at the end of the semester, the works of highest quality were all produced by the students in the “quantity” group. That group was constantly learning and improving, while the other group “sat theorizing about perfection” and did not progress in their actual work.
Reaching your goals In school and in business, the physical goals for work are clear: the critique, the portfolio, the product on the shelf, the magazine ad, the annual report and so on. There is another way of thinking about the goals for your work, and that is to pay attention to the voyage—the process—of getting there. By working on your own creative vision, you will add a deeper understanding of your own interests, an increased technical aptitude, and a distinctive voice. Along with your student and professional work, these are all, in literal and figurative ways, the places where your work belongs. © 2003 W. Richmond