Art and Fear - part one - You are not alone

My last two posts have been so different from my normal, perky blogging style. I'm so sorry you had to suffer for it.

I just started reading "Art and Fear" by David Bayles and Ted Orland and it is amazing.

It is one Ah ha! moment after another. I am only 20 pages in to the book and I am ready to buy copies for all my artist friends so that they can experience this book.

The crankiness that I have been experiencing recently (and blogging about - see The Psychology of Collaboration and Casting a wide net) is all about self-doubt. The "Art and Fear" book tells me that I am not alone in this self-doubt, and that it probably never will go away. I just need to work with it.

Usually, I just avoid blogging (and contact with other people in general) when I am feeling confused or unsure of myself. However, I am beginning to realize that even these lows are part of my artistic journey, and that is what my blog is about. So I will question myself and hopefully, you will know that your are not alone on this either.

So from this low, I tell you my good news - Two of my newest encaustic pieces got into the juried San Diego State University Student Award Exhibition XII.

I am thrilled because these works are very new, and I think some of my best work. The irony is that is NOT my "student work." This is the work that I do outside of my assignments, although I do bring them into my sculpture class for critique sometimes.

One of the pieces is the 30x30x2" untitled encaustic painting from the Gatherings series which is in the blog post below. The other is called Collection (Fibrous Waximus) and is a wall installation fiber and encaustic sculpture. I need a good installation shot for the blog and I will get you one next week.

The show opens on March 15, 2010 at the San Diego State University Everett Gee Jackson Gallery and Flor y Canto Gallery, and is up until March 24, 2010 until 3 pm. I hope that if you are in the area, you can check it out.

Back to my art and fear - I am working through this.

Yesterday, I was working in some wax and nothing was feeling right, so I took out some boards and started drawing on them with charcoal. A few hours later, I had a triptych that is complete. Usually, I spend a long time thinking about my work, and making it, but it hardly ever feels done that quickly. These feel done and I am shocked! Am I learning to accept the inspiration? Maybe... no, scratch that - YES. That is just fear talking.

And until that inner critic decides to take a vacation, I will continue to crank when I am feeling uninspried and unconnected. But I am working through it. And you will too...

Art and Fear... what is stopping you?
~Jaime Lyerly

Artist Question: Learn new skills or improve old ones

I have this undying need to ask questions of artists. 

Their process, their inspiration, their art marketing, their concepts, their education, their techniques, their opinions on the art world, their ability to balance, their artistic path and anything else that they will let me bother them with. 

So it only seems reasonable that I should be asking these same questions to my blogging and social networking audience. Therefore, I am going to start posing more questions and hope that some kind soul will take pity on me and answer them. 

With each answer, we all learn more about the artist and how they tick. So here is my first official Artist Question: 

As artists, is it better to learn new skills or improve old ones? 

With our limited time, how to you best utilize it? Is it better spent working in your chosen medium, or spent learning something new that you can connect later?

My example here, of course, comes from my own experience now. As a college art student, we are required (usually) to take studio courses outside of our chosen field. This is challenging and rewarding because it can show you a world outside of what you are already making and expose you to different instructors with new ways of working. You have a semester to learn these new skills, and even if it is painful, you can make it through.

This semester, I am taking Fiber Surface Design this semester and it includes embroidery. It is definitely not painful, and can be connected to most of my current work.

Learning traditional skills is rewarding, but I love how it can be applied to contemporary art issues. If you haven't seen this exhibit "Pricked: Extreme Embroidery" you must check it out. This is not your grandma's sampler.

But for me, embroidery is a new skill. It is time consuming.

Encaustic painting and beeswax sculptures are my chosen medium. It is also time consuming.


Three hours on a Saturday free. What do I do?


So artists, which do you chose? Learn new skills or improve existing ones? 

 Eagerly awaiting your response! ~ Jaime Lyerly