Notes From the Field

I am fascinated by the first few chapters this book which I mentioned in my last post, Writing on the Wall, by Tom Standage. While my curiosity was first piqued by the article on commonplace books on the author's website (the discussion of which I will run across further in the book, no doubt), I find this book is, not surprisingly, about the history of writing, communication and the book itself as well as the relationships to the social media culture today. As many of the long-time readers of this blog will know, I am fascinated by the book and by the written word, as the running thread that connects us to our history, but also the book as physical object and container. Much of my work is based on the rhythms set up by words on a page, the pattern evoking a conjured past and homage to the written word. 

My commonplace book pages are now making up for lost time, as I have been filling them of late with passages from various books, including this one. I read today about the role of writing in the Greco-Roman world, about how letters (as in correspondence) were copied by scribes and were shared freely and widely...they were the social media of the day. Before the codex, the book form as we know it today, writing was done on scrolls and eventually papyrus. There was a very limited circulation, not surprisingly, because everything had to be copied by hand. The scribes were often slaves, but held a very special knowledge and their work was highly valued. 

I'm curious to find out more about the changing role of the scribe in history. Often when I spend  time making my "pseudo-writing" of my drawings, creating the pattern of a written text, I think of myself as a scribe copying some lost text, passing the knowledge along, saving it for the unknowable future. 

Another link I found fascinating was the description of these early texts and the early books as a river of text.  The Romans didn't use punctuation, paragraphs or spaces between words (something we take for granted, no doubt), so early "published" books, even in scroll form, were described as a river of text and required a fair amount of practice in order to make sense of the writing. I love that metaphor of the river. It strikes home with me as I have been making drawings that echo the flow of water.  For me, the current of the river represents a layered understanding....it is the Missouri River that I see every day from my window, but it is also the ongoing flow of history, the written word carried by the current down through the ages.

The Art of Wonder, Suite 2 no.1

The Art of Wonder, Suite 2 no.2

The Art of Wonder, Suite 2 no.3

The pieces above are the first pieces from the second suite of drawings from the Art of Wonder series. Maybe you can see the flow of the river that forms the underlying pattern....oh, and there in no.3....the dots create the pattern and rhythm of words on a page. It shows up all the time in my work.

I am intrigued with the social media nature of earlier history and the parallels drawn with our own culture. Yet, I do worry that in this digital age we rely less and less on the written word to document our lives. What is it we are leaving behind that will give the future historians the full picture of the lives we lived in the early decades of the 21st century? As amazing as it is, the digital world is entirely too intangible....much is lost. Plato expressed essentially the same thing in his distrust of the written word over the oral communication that was then prevalent. He thought people would forget how to remember and too much would be lost. There are always gains as well as losses. 

I'll be listing the drawings, including the ones above, from the second suite of drawings in the Art of Wonder in my Etsy shop in the next couple of days...stay tuned! 

Notes From the Field

I'm planning to do a weekly post on Wednesdays that will go by the title Notes From the Field....or, perhaps Field Notes. It occurs to me that this is a way to share insights, questions and my latest pondering related to all things art....or life, as really they are one and the same!

Today, strangely, I seem to be full of energy and though I am not quite sure why, I am pleased to welcome such a forward momentum. Spent the morning in the studio....reordering and straightening, painting white acrylic on sheets of handmade paper in preparation for a new month (and new format) of daily drawings and drawing meditative lines in white ink on a couple drawings in progress, among other tasks. Always, the undercurrent is a steady observation...of myself engaged in the activity, the thoughts that run through, the connections made and the fluctuation in temperament depending on the flow. It is kind of interesting to be simultaneously the observer and the observed.

My field notes today focus on a kind of inner resolution to an ongoing open-ended question that, as artists, we all probably wrestle with. That question is...who is your audience? I've always kind of recoiled from that question, but as one who is trying to engage in the marketplace and sell my work to lovers of art, I'm supposed to ask that question. My husband is a faculty member of printmaking in a university art department comprised of undergraduate and graduate students and this question is asked of the students all the time, as they learn to find their own voice as artists. Sometimes, I think it holds them back.

My answer to this question, "who is your audience?" is me. I've thought this all along, but I think I felt that it was the wrong answer to that test question and so maybe I never allowed myself to say it. But I think that if you are a fine artist, making one-of-a-kind works of art that explore the landscape of ideas, the meaning of making or living in the world already saturated with images....I think the answer has to be you are the first audience. I say this because if it is otherwise, you may not reach a level of authenticity that is yours alone....you may not be making the work that only you can make. Of course, in the end I am more than gratified when others respond to my work or even fall in love with it enough to want to live with a piece. But I must be the one to first love the work. The work and the making of it must satisfy the yearning, the longing to express, if only for a moment. And this lifelong journey, which I suppose sounds as if it borders on narcissism, is really a generous gift to the world.

And now, I must extend a heartfelt thank you to a much admired artist and fellow blogger, Kaija, whose recent post I read this morning on her blog, Paperiaarre. I'm quite sure that her words, describing the fact that she likes (and sometimes falls in love) with her own work or she wouldn't be making it, allowed me to fully inhabit my view that we must like and even love our own work and not be ashamed to admit it. We are the first audience. I know that for me, I must make the work that I make and I always go off course when trying to meet some unknown audience approval. Whether or not they respond to my work, people respond to authenticity and we all will appreciate different works. And the other thing is.....it's a big, wide world with enough room for everyone, so while we can share techniques and learn from each other, we are freely encouraged to be ourselves in the process of creation!

"Bloodlines"

And now a bit of sharing some work from long ago! This is a piece I made about 10 years ago, shortly after moving to South Dakota from Florida. I was in the process of reading a lot about the westward expansion and the displacement of the Native Americans, as I found myself on the land that was at the heart of that period of our nation's history. It was also a time when I discovered that my ancestors on both sides had lived in this part of the country for generations (since the mid 1700s on my father's side), that my bloodline ran deep on this land and those two stories may have been more intertwined than I realized. I found that here in South Dakota I was sitting in the middle of the circle of my ancestors. I like this piece....I made it for me and I am still in love with this piece 10 years later. 

Thanks for reading my observations....more Notes From the Field next week!