Eye of the Beholder
Jan. 14th, 2009 09:32 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
puppetmaker(Side note: Now when I hear the word Beholder, the image that comes to mind first is the one in the Monster Manual from the first AD&D manual. Welcome to my slightly warped mind.)
I was having some wacky dreams last night. One of them got me to thinking. I was a judge in an art show that was primarily pictures and statues of dragons. There was some beautiful work and some that I really didn't get. I got into an argument with two of the other judges about this one piece that I thought was beautiful in its execution and I marveled at what went into creating the piece but they just couldn't see it. They wanted to give the prize to a piece that was nice but I had seen its like at what seemed like a million conventions and it always seems to get the prize when there are other pieces that are so much more interesting to me. One of the judges said to me as a defense of their vote, "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder" and then a Beholder showed up behind her (I think it was another piece of art in the show) and I woke up.
I don't remember who first said I don't know what art is but I know what I like but I have heard a lot of people say it while they are looking at something that they just don't get or that they really understand. I know my likes and dislikes of art are subjective. I like Magritte, Calder, Picasso, Da Vinci, and Rodan to name a few. When I was a kid, my parents took me to a lot of art shows and museums. At the time I didn't understand why they did that, but now I do and appreciate what I saw when I was a child.
I am starting to take Caroline to museums and show her various forms of art because she loves to draw and I want her to see what is out there. Caroline and I go to art shows at conventions and look at the pictures together. She comments on what she likes and doesn't like. Unicorns are a winner. Dragons are good as long as they aren't scary. She can recognize various characters from TV series that she has seen. And she is sorting out what she likes or doesn't like about a piece of art. It is interesting to see her thought process on it. On a number of occasions, she had told me how she would change it to suit her. Which got me to look at the pieces differently.
I know that not everyone "gets" what I do. I am happy when someone does but I don't expect it. I make puppets and some people don't see puppets as art but rather a craft or a tool. I didn't really think of them as art until I saw the museum at the Center for Puppetry Arts and I could see how they could be viewed from an artistic point of view. As I worked at the museum, I learned a lot about creating shows and how to set them up for the audience so they can understand what is being presented to them.
Right now I am working on a project that is totally out of my comfort zone. I am doing it to expand what I can do as an artist. It is making me take a hard look at what I have done and what I want to do. Depending on how it turns out, I hope to be showing it to a much wider audience that I ever have before. Some of those who see it will get it and others won't. I may even expand some viewers' horizons and change how they see art. Or I could totally crash and burn with this project, but I want to take the chance.
I am grateful that I feel comfortable using the word art to describe my work.
I was having some wacky dreams last night. One of them got me to thinking. I was a judge in an art show that was primarily pictures and statues of dragons. There was some beautiful work and some that I really didn't get. I got into an argument with two of the other judges about this one piece that I thought was beautiful in its execution and I marveled at what went into creating the piece but they just couldn't see it. They wanted to give the prize to a piece that was nice but I had seen its like at what seemed like a million conventions and it always seems to get the prize when there are other pieces that are so much more interesting to me. One of the judges said to me as a defense of their vote, "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder" and then a Beholder showed up behind her (I think it was another piece of art in the show) and I woke up.
I don't remember who first said I don't know what art is but I know what I like but I have heard a lot of people say it while they are looking at something that they just don't get or that they really understand. I know my likes and dislikes of art are subjective. I like Magritte, Calder, Picasso, Da Vinci, and Rodan to name a few. When I was a kid, my parents took me to a lot of art shows and museums. At the time I didn't understand why they did that, but now I do and appreciate what I saw when I was a child.
I am starting to take Caroline to museums and show her various forms of art because she loves to draw and I want her to see what is out there. Caroline and I go to art shows at conventions and look at the pictures together. She comments on what she likes and doesn't like. Unicorns are a winner. Dragons are good as long as they aren't scary. She can recognize various characters from TV series that she has seen. And she is sorting out what she likes or doesn't like about a piece of art. It is interesting to see her thought process on it. On a number of occasions, she had told me how she would change it to suit her. Which got me to look at the pieces differently.
I know that not everyone "gets" what I do. I am happy when someone does but I don't expect it. I make puppets and some people don't see puppets as art but rather a craft or a tool. I didn't really think of them as art until I saw the museum at the Center for Puppetry Arts and I could see how they could be viewed from an artistic point of view. As I worked at the museum, I learned a lot about creating shows and how to set them up for the audience so they can understand what is being presented to them.
Right now I am working on a project that is totally out of my comfort zone. I am doing it to expand what I can do as an artist. It is making me take a hard look at what I have done and what I want to do. Depending on how it turns out, I hope to be showing it to a much wider audience that I ever have before. Some of those who see it will get it and others won't. I may even expand some viewers' horizons and change how they see art. Or I could totally crash and burn with this project, but I want to take the chance.
I am grateful that I feel comfortable using the word art to describe my work.
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no subject
Date: 2009-01-14 04:33 pm (UTC)That is the awesomest dream I have ever read in all my days. :)
no subject
Date: 2009-01-14 04:41 pm (UTC)That was one of my more normal ones really.
It just got me to thinking.
no subject
Date: 2009-01-14 05:48 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-01-14 06:18 pm (UTC)I love art.
no subject
Date: 2009-01-14 06:03 pm (UTC)I see the one from the D&D Cartoon:)
no subject
Date: 2009-01-14 06:17 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-01-14 07:18 pm (UTC)The surest way for weird DVD's to get made for real is for me to invest effort into making DVDs from boot legs I have.
So Tiny Toons and FreakaZoid fans? You're welcome:D
no subject
Date: 2009-01-14 08:51 pm (UTC)I think any truly creative craft is art.
And what you do is a perfect example of that.
Oh and *HUG*.
no subject
Date: 2009-01-15 02:46 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-01-15 02:53 pm (UTC):)
no subject
Date: 2009-01-15 02:47 pm (UTC)Interesting. I hadn't thought of it that way but I think you have something there. Hmmmmmm.
Thanks!
no subject
Date: 2009-01-14 11:21 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-01-15 02:49 pm (UTC)I so agree. That is why I tackle things that I am unsure of so I can learn new skills that I then use in my other projects.