Your words arrive at an interesting time for me as I have been pondering this idea that art should speak for itself. I keep thinking about doing all these book events and how sometimes I want to say 'just read the book!' but knowing that's not enough. But hold this in contrast with poetry books and how poets are rarely asked to do Q&A's in the same style - they are asked to read their work at poetry events as if it speaks for itself and should be enough. But more than anything I think poets should talk more about their work as a way in to a medium that readers often feel 'scared of'. I am also thinking about a zine/pamphlet I am making, and how I am trying to write an introduction for it because I suppose it needs that pre-amble because my work doesn't speak for itself. These are all disjointed thoughts, but I appreciate your clarification that actually we DO need to speak for our work, and that's not a shameful thing, or a sign that somehow our work shouldn't need that and would be better for just sitting 'unspoken'. xx
Thanks Ruth for this thoughtful response. I think what made the penny drop for me was thinking of this in terms of inclusivity. Do we want to be welcoming or not? There's no inclusivity without mediation. We might have perhaps a lifetime's immersion in a craft or artform, and the community of practice around it. People from outside this circle need a bit of help, especially when work is a bit 'difficult' or cerebral or niche, when some effort or 'work' is required to fully 'get' it.
Poetry is a great example. Yes - I agree totally. I get so much more out of poetry when I know a bit more, either from doing some background work(reading) myself, or from what the poet says about the work. It's about building a denser web of connections in and around the work and those we share it with, guiding people deeper into that web with us.
I love a good poetry reading as much as anyone, but it's like when we go to a concert or a gig - when the musicians give a bit of chat, let the audience feel they know them a little, talk a bit about the music or the composer or their instruments, it enriches the whole experience.
My brother is a bit of a 60s/70s music nerd. He'll make me listen to a Beatles track and take apart the chord progression or melodic line to show me just how skilful they were. I come away with a much fuller appreciation and the next time I hear that song I'll stop what I'm doing and listen out for 'that' moment. I enjoy it much more as a result.
Talking and writing about our work should, I think, be joyous, and welcoming, sharing the deep pleasure and challenge we find in our work and our process, not just the 'end' results.
Thank you. I love your art and writing! Maybe Mattise could not write! We all see differently - lazily, too quickly, without much focus. Yet there is so, so much to be explored, to linger with and comprehend.
Thank you Cathie! Yes, we're all a bit guilty of inattention, aren't we....there are always so many distractions and other things jostling for our attention.
I really appreciate your thought processes here Samantha and I think this applies right across the arts, not just visual art. Think of what Simon Haissell is doing, accompanying so many of us through War and Peace and Wolf Hall. Finding ways of opening the door, inclusivity instead of exclusivity. And for what it’s worth, I love your first title.
You are so right Margaret! It’s obvious, now you point this out to me, that @Simon Haisell is doing a similar thing for big, intimidating novels, acting as a gateway and welcoming readers into their worlds. Thank you.
What a fabulous working title, I hope it stays. As someone who looks at paintings in galleries sometimes & flicks through prints I love that a name helps explain it. I overlook where the North Sea & Atlantic meet and this piece gives me a lovely feeling of familiarity
Hi Han, yes I still like the title too but sometimes it’s good to try something else for size and see how it changes things. We must be near neighbours! Are you near Lyness? I’m in Birsay, West Mainland
As long as I’ve known of your work, first via The Clearing and onward in reading The Life Boat, your work has been delightfully accessible by the fact of your explanations and displays of works in progress.
Far from a “creator” myself-other than confusion-you’ve known the space from which I respond to your works. Curiosity, admiration, and fascination. Not once have you asked me to “Go away” or simply block me. Knowing that makes it abundantly clear that writers or expressive artists seeking your tutelage would be in good hands.
Might it be 'Interstitial Light' being the light in the spaces; the light held within the net/framework whether that is within salt crystals or dew drops.
Thank you for a wonderfully rich and thoughtful post, and for the wonderful replies, too.
Some things I’m thinking about —
Isn’t a bit of an introduction always a kindness? The acknowledgment of people encountering people, rather than two unknowns colliding in a fog.
Who hasn’t worn a badge or sticker that says, HELLO, MY NAME IS.
I always appreciate an author’s or editor’s or translator’s note of introduction - a knock at my door, their invitation to share in something new.
There is an educational strategy called ‘scaffolding’. While I don’t fully understand all its nuances, it has to do with helping people learn right at the liminal space, the precious site where connections are made between what they know and what they don’t, and a new understanding is born.
Acorns do that, taking in nutrients from soil and air, and energy from sunlight, and making something new, accumulating all the while. At some point, we recognize a tree.
So much to wonder about and ponder; thank you all.
Thanks for adding these thoughts to the conversation Daniel - and that's such a good analogy to the world of teaching and learning. Learners need to relate new knowledge to what they already know and understand in order to make sense of it. In my days teaching in Universities we called that 'deep' or 'relational' learning. Nothing makes sense to us if it's not somehow woven into a web of understanding and knowledge we already have.
When someone comes to contemporary art, or perhaps poetry for the first time, if they don't have anything to connect it with it's going to seem pretty impenetrable and off-putting. They may even get cross and think they're being hoodwinked.
Thanks for making that link for me - that's a bit of relational learning going on for me right now!
Thank you for turning my inspiration dial up to 11. I ended up writing a whole meandering article!
There are times when art can speak for itself in a clear and deliberate sense. But much of the time, I think it depends on the personal situation of the audience member. One person may wish to engage in their own way without prompting, another person may want as much additional detail as possible, while yet another may like to dip in and out.
A strange, rarer flipside is when much of the audience feel included and want far more from the artist...But the artist won't offer crumbs. What you see is what you get. Not that it stops the fans from developing their own sleeve notes!
You’re so welcome Dan! I was waving your book about on our co-working zoom session this afternoon. I really appreciate your re-centring of human to human connection and relationship, building everything else out from that.
Your words arrive at an interesting time for me as I have been pondering this idea that art should speak for itself. I keep thinking about doing all these book events and how sometimes I want to say 'just read the book!' but knowing that's not enough. But hold this in contrast with poetry books and how poets are rarely asked to do Q&A's in the same style - they are asked to read their work at poetry events as if it speaks for itself and should be enough. But more than anything I think poets should talk more about their work as a way in to a medium that readers often feel 'scared of'. I am also thinking about a zine/pamphlet I am making, and how I am trying to write an introduction for it because I suppose it needs that pre-amble because my work doesn't speak for itself. These are all disjointed thoughts, but I appreciate your clarification that actually we DO need to speak for our work, and that's not a shameful thing, or a sign that somehow our work shouldn't need that and would be better for just sitting 'unspoken'. xx
Thanks Ruth for this thoughtful response. I think what made the penny drop for me was thinking of this in terms of inclusivity. Do we want to be welcoming or not? There's no inclusivity without mediation. We might have perhaps a lifetime's immersion in a craft or artform, and the community of practice around it. People from outside this circle need a bit of help, especially when work is a bit 'difficult' or cerebral or niche, when some effort or 'work' is required to fully 'get' it.
Poetry is a great example. Yes - I agree totally. I get so much more out of poetry when I know a bit more, either from doing some background work(reading) myself, or from what the poet says about the work. It's about building a denser web of connections in and around the work and those we share it with, guiding people deeper into that web with us.
I love a good poetry reading as much as anyone, but it's like when we go to a concert or a gig - when the musicians give a bit of chat, let the audience feel they know them a little, talk a bit about the music or the composer or their instruments, it enriches the whole experience.
My brother is a bit of a 60s/70s music nerd. He'll make me listen to a Beatles track and take apart the chord progression or melodic line to show me just how skilful they were. I come away with a much fuller appreciation and the next time I hear that song I'll stop what I'm doing and listen out for 'that' moment. I enjoy it much more as a result.
Talking and writing about our work should, I think, be joyous, and welcoming, sharing the deep pleasure and challenge we find in our work and our process, not just the 'end' results.
Thank you. I love your art and writing! Maybe Mattise could not write! We all see differently - lazily, too quickly, without much focus. Yet there is so, so much to be explored, to linger with and comprehend.
Thank you Cathie! Yes, we're all a bit guilty of inattention, aren't we....there are always so many distractions and other things jostling for our attention.
I really appreciate your thought processes here Samantha and I think this applies right across the arts, not just visual art. Think of what Simon Haissell is doing, accompanying so many of us through War and Peace and Wolf Hall. Finding ways of opening the door, inclusivity instead of exclusivity. And for what it’s worth, I love your first title.
You are so right Margaret! It’s obvious, now you point this out to me, that @Simon Haisell is doing a similar thing for big, intimidating novels, acting as a gateway and welcoming readers into their worlds. Thank you.
What a fabulous working title, I hope it stays. As someone who looks at paintings in galleries sometimes & flicks through prints I love that a name helps explain it. I overlook where the North Sea & Atlantic meet and this piece gives me a lovely feeling of familiarity
Hi Han, yes I still like the title too but sometimes it’s good to try something else for size and see how it changes things. We must be near neighbours! Are you near Lyness? I’m in Birsay, West Mainland
Yes I am! Overlooking Scapa Flow. And of course, I remember that now, that’s why I followed you!
I love Hoy. Rackwick is heaven.
So beautiful is't it? We've only been here 18 months so everything still feels very new and so many corners left to explore. Are you an Orcadian?
I am now! 😜
Ha ha ! Love it!!
Hi Samantha,
As long as I’ve known of your work, first via The Clearing and onward in reading The Life Boat, your work has been delightfully accessible by the fact of your explanations and displays of works in progress.
Far from a “creator” myself-other than confusion-you’ve known the space from which I respond to your works. Curiosity, admiration, and fascination. Not once have you asked me to “Go away” or simply block me. Knowing that makes it abundantly clear that writers or expressive artists seeking your tutelage would be in good hands.
All the best as Spring begins to imagine Summer.
Thank you for that shining endorsement Gary! Much appreciated.
Might it be 'Interstitial Light' being the light in the spaces; the light held within the net/framework whether that is within salt crystals or dew drops.
See you at 3.
A beautiful idea Linda!
Thank you for a wonderfully rich and thoughtful post, and for the wonderful replies, too.
Some things I’m thinking about —
Isn’t a bit of an introduction always a kindness? The acknowledgment of people encountering people, rather than two unknowns colliding in a fog.
Who hasn’t worn a badge or sticker that says, HELLO, MY NAME IS.
I always appreciate an author’s or editor’s or translator’s note of introduction - a knock at my door, their invitation to share in something new.
There is an educational strategy called ‘scaffolding’. While I don’t fully understand all its nuances, it has to do with helping people learn right at the liminal space, the precious site where connections are made between what they know and what they don’t, and a new understanding is born.
Acorns do that, taking in nutrients from soil and air, and energy from sunlight, and making something new, accumulating all the while. At some point, we recognize a tree.
So much to wonder about and ponder; thank you all.
Thanks for adding these thoughts to the conversation Daniel - and that's such a good analogy to the world of teaching and learning. Learners need to relate new knowledge to what they already know and understand in order to make sense of it. In my days teaching in Universities we called that 'deep' or 'relational' learning. Nothing makes sense to us if it's not somehow woven into a web of understanding and knowledge we already have.
When someone comes to contemporary art, or perhaps poetry for the first time, if they don't have anything to connect it with it's going to seem pretty impenetrable and off-putting. They may even get cross and think they're being hoodwinked.
Thanks for making that link for me - that's a bit of relational learning going on for me right now!
Thank you for turning my inspiration dial up to 11. I ended up writing a whole meandering article!
There are times when art can speak for itself in a clear and deliberate sense. But much of the time, I think it depends on the personal situation of the audience member. One person may wish to engage in their own way without prompting, another person may want as much additional detail as possible, while yet another may like to dip in and out.
A strange, rarer flipside is when much of the audience feel included and want far more from the artist...But the artist won't offer crumbs. What you see is what you get. Not that it stops the fans from developing their own sleeve notes!
Congratulations!
Thank you for the kind mention!
You’re so welcome Dan! I was waving your book about on our co-working zoom session this afternoon. I really appreciate your re-centring of human to human connection and relationship, building everything else out from that.
Awe!!!! Thank you!
Yes, storytelling is part of our work, Narelle, and you do it so well!