I am very much a 2-d artist. It is what I enjoy and what I feel I am good at. 3-d art has always thrown me in many directions.... I may like it or not, I may feel like I can do it, but then bomb in my efforts. Sometimes I understand it, and other times it is just jumble. I am slowly learning to broaden my horizons not only as an artist but as a viewer as well. The deeper that I dig into the world of art, the more I realize that it is indeed just that, a world.
"Scoping an audience": At some point in my artistic career, I want to be able to have an impact on all types of viewers, old, young, rich, poor, people who love art, and people who think it is a waste of time. I never really think about who my audience is going to be when creating something, except for the fact that it will be in a classroom full of peers and a judge. I think that this class will give me the freedom to open up and explore without the worry of wowing just that one particular audience.
"Sourcing Inspiration": This seems to be something that I am always struggling to find, though it just seems so simple. I find inspiration in my everyday life. My sister inspires me to work hard and overcome obstacles, my friend Ashley inspires me to expand myself religiously, and meeting people that have hardships inspire me to commit myself to serve my community more frequently....so why is it so hard for me to find inspiration that seems appropriate for my artwork?!?! I must actively seek different methods, whether they seems sane or not and figure out what drives me and what I want to get across in order to complete a piece of work and be satisfied with its intentions.
"Creating an artistic self": The role of "self". Hmm.... I think it is interesting how we can manipulate ourselves these days, whether it is digitally, cosmetically, or other. I guess I hadn't thought too much about it being conveyed in peoples artwork unless they are physically displaying themselves. It will be interesting for me to see how I change as a person, how often I change and what that changes in my artwork and lifestyle. It would be interesting to see myself develop into an absurdist and create things in 20 years that today I would laugh at. This should be fun...
"Expressing an artistic attitude": I want an attitude, I think it tends to relay something stronger even upon a glance. When reading through all of these pages, I didn't realize that there are so many emotions, motives, methods, etc. involved in art. Do people really go through and think about all of this when they are viewing or making art? It almost seems exhausting. Anyways, back to the point. It's like arguing, if you have an attitude, the point tends to get across a little more noticeably and it is more fun to see :)
"Choosing a mission": What exactly does an artist do these days?!? Sure they paint, take photos, illustrate...but they also paint farm animals and put them back in the fields. I love the fact that it can be considered art. I feel like often times, the hardest part is finding a mission and figuring out where to start. I love photography, so this semester on my own time, my goal is to find a "mission" for myself in this area, that will serve as a collection, and expand my subject matter. But I enjoy the freedom I have as an artist to dabble in anything and an area of life that I want to and be able to bring it back to just art.
"Measuring success": This was interesting for me to read about. Of course I agree that too much success can go to your head. Winning the lottery will make you greedy and you'll probably piss it all away, I get that. However as a student, I hope to be successful more times than not in anything that I do, and it almost seems to me that this book is saying to be less successful is better....interesting theory that I am looking forward to testing out and hopefully proving wrong.
