Good Empty Advice

Use your own path, thoughts, and words.  This is the advice that I would give to artists struggling to write an artist statement or lacking ideas for blank white surfaces surrounding them.  It sounds as if I'm giving empty advice, however it hints at what it is meant to be an artist, and what is expected with the label of "artist".

K.Booth, An ink drawing in progress. 2012

So many times when teaching, students would ask on the first day of a project, "What should I make?"  They were seeking a direct answer, but I never gave them one.  It wasn't because I didn't care, or didn't want to help them.  I did want to help them, but the best way for me to help was to ask them questions.  It depended upon the assignment what questions I would ask in order to activate their minds towards a brainstorming session.  Simple questions of what was important to them often lead them to their own conclusion.  The conclusion often resonated with them so much that it lead to great focus, motivation, and fantastic results.  Why?  Because it had meaning to them.  Suddenly a truck was not just a truck made out of pencil lines, but stood for their Uncle Bob's shop and how they loved to visit that place and aspired to learn more about machinary.  They would go beyond what they thought they could, and began to believe in their own voice and what they could accomplish.

The truth is that no one else can give you the answers, and it is your responsiblity to come up with your solutions.  Other people may be helpful guides, but their answers are probably not be your own.  Each of us already knows what to do, we just need to retreive it.  Listen to your thoughts and concerns.  One way to do this is to journal.  I'm not saying you need entries like, "Dear Diary, Today I went to work and scraped gum off of the floor.  When I came home I ate spaghetti.  Love, Krystal"  Although, yes, even really good ideas can come from the mundane, but I'm talking about recording your thoughts of what's important to you or what drives you crazy.  Has any new information opened up your imagination?  Record it!  What's important in your daily life?  What are you seeking?  The list of questions you could ask yourself goes on and on.  Don't rely on yourself to think that you'll remember your answers - you probably won't.  Time changes perspectives and answers.  Write it down so you can come back to it later to reflect, choose what to build upon, and then work your tail off.

After the work, artists are struck with the responsibility of composing an artist statement.  (I just heard artists cringing around the world).  However, if we change our attitudes about them, there is much to gain.  We are lucky to have yet another way to express our work to the viewer.  Seize that opportunity and use it!  I have seen advice in which artists will tell each other to copy from another's statement or a variety of statements and then make it your own.  I would like to slap these "advisors" across the face...or just tell them them kindly that we are all better than that.

It is okay to read others' statements to get a better idea of what is expected and how they used this to further engage the viewer with their visual work.  However, I have found that sometimes the artist statement is wrongly treated as an artist biography.  It is not a bio, and the work should be the primary focus of exploring the hows and whys of the work.  Some biographical elements may come in, but only if they serve the work.  The work is the focus. 

The simple solution is to journal about the work, or review the writings that you wrote before and while creating it.  It can be a challenge sifting through the information and thoughts, but these writings will help you get at the main ideas.  You are more knowledgeable of the intent of your work than anyone else.  The answers will not be found in someone else's artist statement, and quite honestly, your more creative than that.  Stop selling yourself short.

There are plenty of sources that can help one compose an artist statement.  The one that has helped me the most is a book by Ariane Goodwin titled Writing the Artist Statement: Revealing the True Spirit of Your Work (Infinity Publishing, 2002, ISBN:  0-7414-0843-0). 

I realize that this is a loooong entry, but I felt this post as a necessary one.  Artists go through periods of inactivity and difficulty with ideas, and this is normal.  Struggle with converting visual ideas into nice, less-than-one-page statements is normal.  All of this is just a part of the overall picture, but I don't think originality needs to be willingly sacrificed by copying others statements or ideas for a blank canvas.  The cliches of "all artists steal", and "everything has been done before", should not prevent us from trying to find our own voices and trying to do what we were put here to do.  The responsibility comes with the label.