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| Wilma...a sketch |
Last night was critique at our club, The Akron Society of Artists. Members bring a couple of works that go up on an easel and the members comment on them....good, bad, indifferent. This whole process can make people drain flasks in their vehicles before entering, smoke in dimly-lit alleyways and even retain anger and reluctance to participate for many years. This is a fact. I guess that we all need validation from others. Judging someone else's work is completely subjective. Surely, the design elements and principles are solid and works can be evaluated considering them as guidelines. But how an individual artist combines the principles are as unique as the artist himself/herself. A one-of-a-kind recipe dependent on the ingredients you choose to incorporate, as well as the amounts. I think that something we should strive towards is the release of work, the ability to separate ego from the work itself, and see the big picture of a progressions of works. Process over product. No work will ever be perfect. No work is innately bad. No one ever arrives. As usual, I am quite stimulated by this whole event, and usually end up sleepless. (could also be due to the consumption of 20 oz. of Diet Coke). Images float around my brain for days. ....the memorable ones keep surfacing. For me, last night's adventure was driven by the day lily painting by Wilma Kiser(the colors amazing!); the watercolor portrait by Lynda Rimke; the design-y lotus blossom work by Ann Emmitt; the gnarly trees by Jack Lieberman; the animated march of lemons and peppers by Judith Carducci; the mysterious pastel sky works by Kimberly Moore; and the brushwork and composition of Mina Huang.
Poignant is a quote from a 1992 film called Lorenzo's Oil. The Swahili Warrior Song: "Life has meaning only in the struggle. Triumph or defeat is in the hand of the gods. So let us celebrate the struggle". Amen.
The Akron Society of Artists Studio will be open from 5-9 pm on Saturday night during the Akron ArtWalk. Again on Sunday from noon - 4 pm during the Sunday Sampler at The Akron Art Museum. Come on along. See what you think.
"Wilma" was sketched during the critique......................it helps relieve the tension.
