Articulation?
I’ve been thinking about how artists speak about their works. To be honest, I think the art world has become very presumptuos about how much they have to say, and they don’t stop to think if they really have much worth saying. Of course, I am talking about a small segment of artists, but it seems to be the goal and the pinnacle of an artists work. The idealized starving artist is a mark of prestige, with white galleries, and rich people strolling around looking at the works while drinking champagne.
Can’t say I don’t want it, except for maybe the white walls, but there’s just this whole air of trying too damn hard to mean something. Grandose statements about art. Big wall o’ texts next to paintings to explain the meaning. Splattered and unfocused paint smears that may have a visual appeal but in no way carry any of the meaning that the artist was trying for. Empty colors and marks with a grand idea tacked on.
So I’m being a bit of a downer. Its just been bothering me for a while. I feel like Modern Art is the Zombie who’s brains have rotted out and is still shambling around to infect the living artists with its rot.
Or, less insultingly, Modern Art had its time, but that time has past. Please get past the College student equerries you dang art world!
Glazes
I didn’t realize how familiar I had grown with my glazes back at Dew Claw Studios. I mean, I really knew them. That familiarity and with all the handy test tiles around, I could predict what any of them would do to a great degree of success.
Now I’m back at the drawing board with some new glazes. It is SO frustraiting. I used to roll my eyes at people complaining about how glazes were unpredictable. I knew and accepted that unpredictability, I’d gotten over it, and so I got better results.
That was only in the beggining it turns out. Now I want my predictability back. Alas, I’m really just going to have experemint the hell out of the glazes. As a result, I’m really thinking about trying to teach a glazing class. Get a bunch of people together to teach them glazing techniques and get them to practice and focus on glazing. Maybe help some hobbiests feel more comfortable with glazing all while doing my own experiments and getting paid for it. :p
The cold of doom
Wow. I had a great birthday, and then… bam. Cold. Respiratory cold to boot. I couldn’t breath, slept all day, except when I MADE myself get up and go to the studio. Of course, I then had to drive there because I couldn’t bike. Biking lead to something akin to an asthma attack. Ergh. So that was a week of sleeping 18+ hours a day.
Blergh. And I needed to be making jellyfish for the gallery. *sighs*
On the upside, because I drove my ass out to the studio I did get a firing in. I should have some Jellies coming out of the kiln today. 
And I’m going to go spend my birthday present from my M-In-Law at the ceramic supply store. Yeay!
