Woohoo!

A few weeks ago my ceramics instructor Heath Papa suggested I take a look at artshow.com. It's a great resource for artists featuring tutorials, original art for sale, ways to promote your art, etc. They also list upcoming art shows and provide links to the shows official pages. It's a super convenient way to find shows because they are listed by the entry due dates.

My teacher suggested I go to the site because he saw an upcoming show that I might want to enter and the deadline for entries was the very next day!

So I entered it that day and I just got an email from them telling me I am going to be in it!

I sent them pictures of three of my recent works and they liked this one the best. I know i already shared some pictures of it in another blog post recently, but here is the piece they selected for their show

I titled it "Seeing Heaven."
The cloth over her face makes one wonder what she's expecting to reach or where she's going if she can't even see. My title answers that question. It also illustrates the way heaven is for us in this life. The only view we humans generally get of heaven is all in our minds eye, however, whether we see it or not, our striving to reach it is what elevates us as people. It was a fun and challenging piece to make and I'm glad it's going somewhere people can see it.

America's ClayFest III begins April 17th and runs through May 30th. My piece will be in the student show which is being hosted by the Art League of Lincoln at their Art Center Gallery in downtown Lincoln, California. Here's a link to their website. http://www.americasclayfest.org/

This acceptance means that next month I will have artwork in three exhibitions all at the same time. My senior exhibition hosted in the North Plaza Gallery at Dixie State University, and the Student Exhibition here at Dixie State's Sear's Gallery in St. George, UT, both start on the same day as the show in Lincoln, CA. Exciting isn't it!

That's all for now

-Kenneth

We are the Borg

Tonight I attended a little slide show and a critique with a visiting artist, Seth Green. He is a ceramic artist originally from Cedar City Utah who now is an Assistant Professor of Art at Morehead State University in Morehead, KY. The Title of this blog and the picture above relate to something he said tonight during our critique.

He said something to the effect that as artists first we imitate, then we assimilate, then we innovate. Meaning, first I see something I like and I copy it. Eventually, I've observed lots of other art and I incorporate elements from all of my inspirations into the way I work and the art I produce. Finally, I come up with my own original methods and a style that is recognizably my own. 

It got me thinking. According to this measure, where am I? 

The title of the post answers that question, right? For the most part, right now I'm in the assimilate stage. I say "for the most part" because I feel that in some things I must be innovating. (I should note that I'm actually not sure whether the last word was innovate or create or something else entirely, but I'm just gonna go with this line of thinking) However, if you were to place a bunch of pictures of my biggest inspirations next to my work you would see related styles and ideas. 

I think Philippe Faraut's figurative sculptures are beautiful and I would love to be able to render a face as cleanly and beautifully as he does.

                       Faraut                                                Obviously not

However, although I have two of his books and have studied his techniques and am grateful for the things I've learned, I don't want to come out with the exact same kind of work he's known for.  I have other inspirations like Bruno Lucchesi who makes really soft looking figures in wet clay 

LucchesiSome other guy

but I don't want to copy him either. I need to take what knowledge I can from wherever I can get it and assimilate into my work.

I believe that if an artist stops absorbing new ideas he or she will stagnate. So no matter how innovative or creative we are we've got to always be learning, going through the process over and over, imitating, assimilating, and innovating, and while we innovate in one area maybe we are imitating in another but constantly assimilating the new things we come across. That's how we grow. And I don't think this flies in the face of Seth Green who said we do them in an order. I think this is really how he meant it.

Well, that's probably enough words for one night. 

Until Next Time

-Locutus..  I mean, uh, -Kenneth

If you don't get the Star Trek references I'm sorry. I just watched the episode where Picard is assimilated into the Borg collective no more than five days ago.