I went to World Coffee a couple weeks ago to talk with Matt Farnsworth, who is a ceramics instructor at the Grand Theatre Center for the Arts. Matt is younger than most of the artists I've worked with on this project. He said that his submissions to the 15th Anniversary Exhibition at the Grand Theatre were his first ceramic works to appear in a gallery show. Matt considered it an honor and was very happy to be included. (I later learned that his work as a comic book artist has appeared in other venues, so he has shown other work in public before.) His comments led me to reflect on my first experiences having work accepted to a show and the time a judge ignored one of my best works. I tried to give Matt the impression that I had come to understood and accept that the judging of art can be subjective. Yet, I know that I've spent a lot of time and money entering shows in an effort to demonstrate that I take my work seriously and with the hope that people will consider me an artist. Is that a contradiction in my thinking? A little later in the conversation, Matt said that one of his favorite artists is Frank Frazetta, a fantasy and science fiction painter who is known for illustrating comic books. Matt said that he wanted to achieve the freeness of Frazetta, who didn't care whether others thought he was an artist. He only cared that he was able to make the art he loved. These comments made me think about how I have made this project about living an artistic life and exploring how the artists around me engage with the world in ways that tell the world that they are artists (entering shows, having their work judged). Yet, here was Matt pointing out that maybe it was better to not even care about whether others consider you to be an artist. What does that mean for my project? Matt and I met again recently for a photoshoot in the Ceramics Lab at the Grand Theatre. He brought the beginning of a bust made with non-dry wax-based clay. The clay is melted in a crock pot and then sculpted. He set up his tools and then asked if it was okay if he listened to music with his earphones. Having him tune out from what I was doing created a different dynamic than other photoshoots. It was almost like I wasn't there, so felt I had a chance to witness a more intimate connection between the artist and his work. Matt has a fascination with horror stories and movies. He also used to create illustrations for comic books. Since he has transitioned to ceramics, his interest is in creating fantastical and scary creatures with clay. Matt originally intended to create the bust of a fantasy creature for this shoot. As we ended the session, he told me that his original intention was to sculpt a Frankenstein-like face, but as he worked, he began to see that the bust resembled his grandfather and he planned to continue in that direction. I asked him what the next step would be if he finished sculpting a bust that satisfied him. Matt responded that, normally, the bust would be used to create a mold - it would not be considered complete in it's current clay form. However, regardless of whether he thought the design was good, he planned to cut up the clay and return it to the crock pot to be reused! I was a little shocked. If I could actually sculpt a bust that looked remotely like I had intended, I don't think I could just discard it. It makes me think I'm too much in a hurry to create things to display whereas Matt seems to be willing to go slowly and practice - and, hopefully, enjoy the creative process. This discussion was the second time Matt had said something that made me think I'm missing something in my understanding of what it means to be an artist.
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April 2022
AuthorTiffanie Heben is a photographer who has been inspired by the artists in her community |