Eliciting a Response

August 27, 2018

I decided this week I would like to talk about work that speaks to me. Well, I don’t mean that I want to talk about me so much as use pieces that do speak to me as examples of what it means when a piece of artwork elicits a response from the viewer.

For various reasons, I ended up thinking and talking a lot about how we define art this past week. I have long felt that art should be defined as work that is made with expression and intention, with a goal of eliciting an intellectual or emotional response. Yes, I know a lot of people will say that it is the individual who should determine what art is to them but I would like to suggest that such a statement is not quite the right phrase. Each of us can determine what is good art or what is bad art—to that I absolutely agree. But shouldn’t a label such as “art” have a more specific definition than just whatever someone thinks is art, or just something that is made by hand, as the definition would seem to be nowadays?

I am guilty of this broad use as well so I’m not pointing fingers, I’m just a big proponent of using language to effectively communicate and I think it would be great if the English language had a well-defined use of the word “art” that allowed us to talk about work born of self-expression versus craftwork or artisan work created from skilled hands.

My definition also brings up the question of what does it mean to elicit a response? It is not as confined a concept as it might sound like so I thought I’d try to define that a little this week.

For a piece of work to elicit a response all it has to do is make the viewer stop and feel something, or stop and think. It could be something as simple as making them smile or as complex as questioning societal norms. It can be positive such as emitting a sense of peacefulness or negative such as work with a high shock value geared to make you appalled or angry. If the piece is made with intention, part of that intention will, consciously or unconsciously, be to communicate with the viewer, and if the artist is communicating then they are attempting to elicit a response. Good art accomplishes this. Bad art is too distracting in its failings to communicate or illicit anything of value.

This piece here feels like a very personal piece for Shannon Tabor who commented on her Instagram post of this that “I’m back to my roots in design with ‘Compass’. My Back To Basics study is over and I’m anxious to get all these design ideas out of my head and onto my clay!”

I can feel her excitement for this new work in the composition and surface treatment of this necklace. There is a buzzing kind of energy from the scratches and the asymmetrical placement of elements but there’s also a reservedness in the basic geometric shapes and the subdued and shaded palette. I found that I was drawn to the contrast between that reserved feeling and that feeling of excitement. It reminds me of that point in time right before things really take off in some exciting new venture, which I love, and so that must be what made me stop and spend time with this piece.

So, you see, Shannon may have been working on something specific to what she wanted to explore but the intention in her skilled design choices allowed me to connect with her emotion, or at least my sense of what her emotion must’ve been. That’s eliciting a response. And to me, that’s what makes it art.

See what else Shannon is up to by following her on Instagram or hopping over to her website.

Summer 2016 issue Cover … Movement!

16P2 Cover v4 web newsletterWe interrupt this week’s looking at the ground for inspiration to being you the latest cover of The Polymer Arts magazine!

This issue is not out yet, and although we would usually get this out to you by the end of May, it looks like it will be the first week of June, but we are moving along as quickly as we can while still ensuring you have wonderful quality content and beautiful pages to enjoy.

So, what do we have coming up for you in a few short weeks? Some truly energizing articles! As you can see, the theme is Movement, so we have really fun and dynamic articles for you including …

… Randee Ketzel  sharing her beautiful new faux bakelite in a flowing bracelet design.

… Lisa Pavelka shares secrets on using illusion and juxtaposition for dynamic and vibrant color.

… Loretta Lam gets you thinking about how to create visual movement in your compositions.

… I’m sharing  a mulit-piece kinetic earring and pendant tutorial set as well as a tutorial on creating balanced mobiles.

… my staff is going to give you some ideas on creating dangles as well as putting together truly wonderful PDF tutorials to sell.

… Shannon Tabor talks us through looking at the big picture to move your business forward.

… Tory Hughes has a fascinating discussion with long time polymer supporter Robert Liu of Ornament magazine.

… Anke Humpert has dug up secrets and plans in her interview with the amazing Georg Dinkel.

… and much more! Sheesh. I need to catch my breath!

While I’m catching my breath and polishing your next issue, enjoy this cover with this intense wall piece by Bonnie Bishoff and J.M Syron. It’s mesmerizing and wholly moving besides being completely enthralling just trying to figure out how it was made. If you need to get your subscription up to date, you can do so on the website at  www.thepolymerarts.com/Subscribe.html. I apologize, we don’t have single issue pre-sales yet, but I hope to have the site updated by next week so we can do that.

 

Inspirational Challenge of the Day: Pick up an old copy of The Polymer Arts (or any craft magazine or book) and spend some time with it on your work break, over coffee, or to wind down tonight. Our old magazines and books are a treasure trove of inspiration.  Find something you had wanted to try or find yourself wanting to try now, and do it. Make a goal of attempting of accomplishing a new technique, form, or approach by this weekend, no matter how busy you are.

_________________________________________

Like this blog? Lend your support with a purchase of The Polymer Arts magazine and visit our partners:

PCTV March 2016 Blog  Shades of Clay Sept 15 Blog  2Wards Blog May 2016

The Great Create Sept 15 blog  never knead -july-2015c-125  

_________________________________________

Richly Ruffled Bead

June 24, 2015

Ruffled+Bead+Technique shannon taborThe undulating line of a ruffle brings to mind waves and water, and in this intriguing piece, there seems to be a bit of sea-foam, too. Even though ruffled lines can have a lot of energy, they are usually soothing due to the lulling effect of the smooth up and down repetitions. This particular bead by Shannon Tabor leans towards a more energetic feel with its rich abundance of ruffling, but the blues and greens return us to a calm and contemplative place.

The very nice thing about this bead is that Shannon shares her technique for creating this lovely texture with us on her blog. It’s pretty straight forward, but the possibilities are broad. You don’t need to limit yourself to a donut shape; try this with the edge of any kind of flat or semi-flat shape. Are you up for getting ruffled this week?

 

If you like this blog, support The Polymer Arts projects with a subscription or an issue of The Polymer Arts magazine, as well as by supporting our advertising partners.

     TPA_McGuire_blog ad    sfxpaad-diffuse

Eliciting a Response

August 27, 2018
Posted in

I decided this week I would like to talk about work that speaks to me. Well, I don’t mean that I want to talk about me so much as use pieces that do speak to me as examples of what it means when a piece of artwork elicits a response from the viewer.

For various reasons, I ended up thinking and talking a lot about how we define art this past week. I have long felt that art should be defined as work that is made with expression and intention, with a goal of eliciting an intellectual or emotional response. Yes, I know a lot of people will say that it is the individual who should determine what art is to them but I would like to suggest that such a statement is not quite the right phrase. Each of us can determine what is good art or what is bad art—to that I absolutely agree. But shouldn’t a label such as “art” have a more specific definition than just whatever someone thinks is art, or just something that is made by hand, as the definition would seem to be nowadays?

I am guilty of this broad use as well so I’m not pointing fingers, I’m just a big proponent of using language to effectively communicate and I think it would be great if the English language had a well-defined use of the word “art” that allowed us to talk about work born of self-expression versus craftwork or artisan work created from skilled hands.

My definition also brings up the question of what does it mean to elicit a response? It is not as confined a concept as it might sound like so I thought I’d try to define that a little this week.

For a piece of work to elicit a response all it has to do is make the viewer stop and feel something, or stop and think. It could be something as simple as making them smile or as complex as questioning societal norms. It can be positive such as emitting a sense of peacefulness or negative such as work with a high shock value geared to make you appalled or angry. If the piece is made with intention, part of that intention will, consciously or unconsciously, be to communicate with the viewer, and if the artist is communicating then they are attempting to elicit a response. Good art accomplishes this. Bad art is too distracting in its failings to communicate or illicit anything of value.

This piece here feels like a very personal piece for Shannon Tabor who commented on her Instagram post of this that “I’m back to my roots in design with ‘Compass’. My Back To Basics study is over and I’m anxious to get all these design ideas out of my head and onto my clay!”

I can feel her excitement for this new work in the composition and surface treatment of this necklace. There is a buzzing kind of energy from the scratches and the asymmetrical placement of elements but there’s also a reservedness in the basic geometric shapes and the subdued and shaded palette. I found that I was drawn to the contrast between that reserved feeling and that feeling of excitement. It reminds me of that point in time right before things really take off in some exciting new venture, which I love, and so that must be what made me stop and spend time with this piece.

So, you see, Shannon may have been working on something specific to what she wanted to explore but the intention in her skilled design choices allowed me to connect with her emotion, or at least my sense of what her emotion must’ve been. That’s eliciting a response. And to me, that’s what makes it art.

See what else Shannon is up to by following her on Instagram or hopping over to her website.

Read More

Summer 2016 issue Cover … Movement!

May 18, 2016
Posted in ,

16P2 Cover v4 web newsletterWe interrupt this week’s looking at the ground for inspiration to being you the latest cover of The Polymer Arts magazine!

This issue is not out yet, and although we would usually get this out to you by the end of May, it looks like it will be the first week of June, but we are moving along as quickly as we can while still ensuring you have wonderful quality content and beautiful pages to enjoy.

So, what do we have coming up for you in a few short weeks? Some truly energizing articles! As you can see, the theme is Movement, so we have really fun and dynamic articles for you including …

… Randee Ketzel  sharing her beautiful new faux bakelite in a flowing bracelet design.

… Lisa Pavelka shares secrets on using illusion and juxtaposition for dynamic and vibrant color.

… Loretta Lam gets you thinking about how to create visual movement in your compositions.

… I’m sharing  a mulit-piece kinetic earring and pendant tutorial set as well as a tutorial on creating balanced mobiles.

… my staff is going to give you some ideas on creating dangles as well as putting together truly wonderful PDF tutorials to sell.

… Shannon Tabor talks us through looking at the big picture to move your business forward.

… Tory Hughes has a fascinating discussion with long time polymer supporter Robert Liu of Ornament magazine.

… Anke Humpert has dug up secrets and plans in her interview with the amazing Georg Dinkel.

… and much more! Sheesh. I need to catch my breath!

While I’m catching my breath and polishing your next issue, enjoy this cover with this intense wall piece by Bonnie Bishoff and J.M Syron. It’s mesmerizing and wholly moving besides being completely enthralling just trying to figure out how it was made. If you need to get your subscription up to date, you can do so on the website at  www.thepolymerarts.com/Subscribe.html. I apologize, we don’t have single issue pre-sales yet, but I hope to have the site updated by next week so we can do that.

 

Inspirational Challenge of the Day: Pick up an old copy of The Polymer Arts (or any craft magazine or book) and spend some time with it on your work break, over coffee, or to wind down tonight. Our old magazines and books are a treasure trove of inspiration.  Find something you had wanted to try or find yourself wanting to try now, and do it. Make a goal of attempting of accomplishing a new technique, form, or approach by this weekend, no matter how busy you are.

_________________________________________

Like this blog? Lend your support with a purchase of The Polymer Arts magazine and visit our partners:

PCTV March 2016 Blog  Shades of Clay Sept 15 Blog  2Wards Blog May 2016

The Great Create Sept 15 blog  never knead -july-2015c-125  

_________________________________________

Read More

Richly Ruffled Bead

June 24, 2015
Posted in

Ruffled+Bead+Technique shannon taborThe undulating line of a ruffle brings to mind waves and water, and in this intriguing piece, there seems to be a bit of sea-foam, too. Even though ruffled lines can have a lot of energy, they are usually soothing due to the lulling effect of the smooth up and down repetitions. This particular bead by Shannon Tabor leans towards a more energetic feel with its rich abundance of ruffling, but the blues and greens return us to a calm and contemplative place.

The very nice thing about this bead is that Shannon shares her technique for creating this lovely texture with us on her blog. It’s pretty straight forward, but the possibilities are broad. You don’t need to limit yourself to a donut shape; try this with the edge of any kind of flat or semi-flat shape. Are you up for getting ruffled this week?

 

If you like this blog, support The Polymer Arts projects with a subscription or an issue of The Polymer Arts magazine, as well as by supporting our advertising partners.

     TPA_McGuire_blog ad    sfxpaad-diffuse

Read More
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