{"id":16795,"date":"2020-01-05T02:30:33","date_gmt":"2020-01-05T10:30:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thepolymerarts.com\/blog\/?p=16795"},"modified":"2020-01-05T01:23:58","modified_gmt":"2020-01-05T09:23:58","slug":"go-big-or-go-personal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thepolymerarts.com\/blog\/go-big-or-go-personal\/","title":{"rendered":"Go Big or Go Personal"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>So, here we are. The new year has begun, and we have 12 months and nearly 52 weeks of possibilities before us. Will you be changing the way you work or challenging yourself this coming year?<\/p>\n

If you read last week\u2019s post, you know I have mixed feelings about New Year\u2019s resolutions, but I do believe in always having goals. Goals give you something to bounce out of bed for in the morning. Even small goals can get you up and going and keep you focused. However, this weekend I want to talk about making big goals, or particularly big projects.<\/p>\n

This will mean different things to different people but whether or not the idea of doing something challenging in size or scope appeals to you, I think it\u2019s just one of those things you should periodically ask yourself. Do I want to do something big, monumental, dramatic, or just drastically different? There is nothing wrong with saying no and just focusing on small, easily manageable projects. But I think you ought to ask the question just to be sure.<\/p>\n

Nearly a decade ago, I interviewed Gwen Pi\u00f1a who, at the time, was the most prolific polymer artist I knew of in our community, with over 600 accounts she regularly fulfilled orders for. (She has since retired from polymer.) With all that work, I was really surprised when she took me to a side room to show me her personal projects. These were rather tall dolls and other pieces made from found objects and polymer. These were her personal projects which she didn\u2019t always try to sell. Although they took time away from her primary wholesale work, she acknowledged that she needed that creative outlet to make her happy.<\/p>\n

I think that is an important consideration. Not everything you make has to sell. Actually, unless your livelihood depends upon it, nothing you make needs to be sold. Go ahead \u2013 create for the sake of creating! How freeing is that idea? I bring this up because, many times, our big personal projects are not something that is either easy to sell or easy for us to part with.<\/p>\n

So, setting aside the idea that everything you make has to support a business, let\u2019s talk about big personal projects you might consider taking on to feed your soul.<\/p>\n

A Big Way<\/strong><\/p>\n

Large, showy art pieces are often referred to as \u201cstatement\u201d pieces. Big necklaces, towering vases, and wildly colorful wall sculptures can all be considered statement pieces when they outshine the wearer or dominate the room they occupy.<\/p>\n

There is more latitude given for the functionality of craft art that is created as a statement piece. Awkward and uncomfortable collar necklaces, dangerously spiky brooches, and vases that are too monumental to hold any kind of flower arrangement are forgiven their lack of functionality in exchange for being a conversation piece or attention grabber. These can be great fun to create because you have fewer restrictions with that concern for functional construction set aside. If you\u2019re looking for a bit more freedom in your designs this year, this might be something to explore.<\/p>\n

But what if we change that definition of a statement piece and attach it to work that is primarily personal\u2014making that kind of work a personal statement piece, as in you have something to say. You may just want to share your aesthetic views, or you may have opinions about the state of the world, or you might aim to share the emotion of a personal experience. These are all expressions of the artist being taken from inside themselves and put out into the world. That\u2019s really at the core of what, arguably, defines something as a piece of art.<\/p>\n

So how about YOU get noticed for some \u201cbig\u201d piece of yours this year that is focused on expressing what you want to put out into the world? Being that this kind of project is more for you, you also get to define what a big project means to you. It could be literally large. It could also be small but so minutely thought out or detailed that it is big in terms of its process and scope. A big project could be based on a really delicate or difficult personal subject that you have previously found hard to share. It could also be a large collection of work instead of a single piece. Or a piece made up of a lot of smaller pieces. Do any of these ideas spark a fire in you?<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s look at just a few \u201cbig projects\u201d other artists have taken in polymer.<\/p>\n

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Thinking Big<\/strong><\/p>\n

Heather Campbell<\/a> goes big quite often. The piece of hers that opens this blog,\u00a0Trippin’ in Spain,<\/em> is 6 feet long! A handful of years ago, you might have seen the challenge she took on of making this insanely detailed polymer quilt called Keep Circling<\/em>. Much of the texture and pattern is created with the attachment of many small, but easily replicated accents and objects as can be seen in the detail shot.<\/p>\n

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This piece is both a great approach to creating big, beautiful artwork in polymer and a metaphor for how to take on a big project or any daunting goal. Just do one small thing at a time and, if you just keep at it, next thing you know, you have something huge and amazing and that goal is reached.<\/p>\n

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A similar approach can be used in jewelry. A gloriously monumental bit of adornment does not have to be complicated. You can simply make a lot of something that you love to create and bring it together into a single magnificent piece. Gloria Danvers<\/a> does a lot of this type of thing with polymer butterflies, leaves, and other caned shapes.<\/p>\n

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You know how I mentioned you could set your big goal to not just be one thing but that you might consider just creating a big collection? Well, what if you did both? That\u2019s essentially what Jeffrey Lloyd Dever<\/a> did with his Edensong Revisited<\/em> installation piece from 2011. Taking dozens of individual pieces, he created a fascinating wall piece that you have to just keep looking at to take it all in.<\/p>\n

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Edensong Revisited | 2011 | Approx. 50\u201dH x 42\u201d W x 3.5\u201d D | Polymer clay, steel wire, plastic coated wire, repurposed mixed media, latex paint | Photo credit: Jon Bolton\/Racine Art Museum<\/p>\n

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The idea of something big for you though, might just be a project that\u2019s really different and daring. If so, I would strongly suggest looking at artwork in other mediums for inspiration, not just polymer. I don\u2019t know if anyone\u2019s doing any really wild with ear cuffs like the ones below in polymer, but this is just one possible inspiration for what could be done with polymer and unique forms of jewelry. Check out this site for some wild pieces<\/a>. No artists are listed although they do say these are handmade.<\/p>\n

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Sometimes your big idea can simply be sticking with a particular theme and really pushing yourself to see what you can do with it. I got a wonderful email from blog reader Suzanne Andrews, noting how the last post on having a goal really resonated with her. She\u2019d already started on her goal to get focused this year by cleaning up her studio (and that\u2019s a pretty big project for many of us, I know!) And then, she said she, \u201cplaced one photograph for reference on the wall in the studio. It is of a painting that speaks to me and my goal is to create pieces that belong with this painting.\u201d I don\u2019t know if she\u2019ll make anything literally big or complex, but I love that idea of committing to that painting. It will give her a focus on something that she feels personally connected to, which can take some bravery. And that is a statement!<\/p>\n

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The Big Idea<\/strong><\/p>\n

So, whether or not you\u2019re ready to take on something big, in whatever way you define it, or just want to play around this year, I\u2019m hoping to make setting goals, or at least working on a focus, to be a bigger part of what we talk about throughout this year. It\u2019s something I\u2019m going to focus on with the Virtual Art Box, hoping for those of you who are up for it, to make what I share with you a more active kind of information exchange. Most of us aren\u2019t reading this to simply pass the time, are we? This material and our creativity drive us to make art, right? So, let\u2019s do that and make art that we are personally passionate about! I can\u2019t tell you how fulfilling it is to take risks and push yourself. You won\u2019t always succeed but, man, when you do, there\u2019s nothing like it!<\/p>\n

We\u2019ll go over a few other ideas for possible goals and focuses you might want to take on over the coming year if you\u2019re not sure what you want to do yet, if anything. There really is no rush so just let ideas wash over you until something grabs you.<\/p>\n

Myself, I need to put a rush on some things. I think we finally have the technical end ironed out for the new Virtual Art Box so I\u2019m getting ready to get sign ups set up on the website. Just need a few more tests. Then back to whipping the content into shape. That\u2019s my focus this week so keep an eye out for newsletters for more info and I\u2019ll update you on the blog this next week and as well. Get on this list here<\/a> to be notified first for special discounts.<\/p>\n

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Nudge Sale is Still On!<\/strong><\/p>\n

Don\u2019t forget we have that nudge sale going for another week or so. Almost everything is on sale so if you need more inspiration at your fingertips as you set yourself up for a great creative year, hop over to the website<\/a> and snatch up a great deal on beautiful print and digital publications!\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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Happy first full work week of 2020! Hope its a beautiful and creative one!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

So, here we are. The new year has begun, and we have 12 months and nearly 52 weeks of possibilities before us. Will you be changing the way you work or challenging yourself this coming year? If you read last week\u2019s post, you know I have mixed feelings about New Year\u2019s resolutions, but I do…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[1716,13,19,4699,4847,157,17,7749,92,7748,606,4476,259,166,294,29,7750,7752,640,12,1687,4698,11,3661,164,7751,79,3730],"class_list":["post-16795","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-inspirational-art","tag-artist-inspiration","tag-artistic-inspiration","tag-caning","tag-craft-blog","tag-craft-magazine","tag-creativity","tag-design","tag-ear-cuffs","tag-earrings","tag-gloria-danvers","tag-gwen-pina","tag-heather-campbell","tag-jeffrey-lloyd-dever","tag-jewelry","tag-mixed-media","tag-necklace","tag-nudge-sale","tag-personal-projects","tag-polymer","tag-polymer-art","tag-polymer-arts","tag-polymer-blog","tag-polymer-clay","tag-polymer-jewelry","tag-sculpture","tag-statement-pieces","tag-texture","tag-the-polymer-arts"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2O0Lm-4mT","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thepolymerarts.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16795","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thepolymerarts.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thepolymerarts.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thepolymerarts.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thepolymerarts.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16795"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.thepolymerarts.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16795\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16806,"href":"https:\/\/www.thepolymerarts.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16795\/revisions\/16806"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thepolymerarts.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16795"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thepolymerarts.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16795"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thepolymerarts.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16795"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}