Thursday, September 2, 2010

Goals

I have never taken an online class before! A friend recommended that I take a class from Alyson Stanfield about being more productive in my art career! I can't say I was not skeptical about it... What can someone teach me about art that I don't know? I forgot one thing; I have been taught technique, art theory and art history but have never been taught to think about my motivation to produce art! I know that I love to make art and that's why I do it! But what do I expect from my art? Money? Fame? Immortality? Neither have I considered setting goals for myself or envisioning what my future should be.... These are new things for me to process! So I sit down with my journal (something I never do) and try to figure out what my goals are....I always thought making enough money to live in style would be my goal! But after thinking about it long and hard, it turned out that all I want to do with my art is to leave a part of myself in this world. Most of us just leave dust and ash but I want to leave a part of my soul in this world. I think immortality is not living forever physically, but leaving a part of our psyche. If another person feels connected to my art then I live through them. All who had left a mark on this world through their art are immortal. Even the unknown artist  who carved the Venus of Willendorf  thirty thousand years ago! We still think and wonder about this artist, so his presence is still among us! I want the same thing that humans had wanted since the birth of civilization: immortality! Simple enough, isn't it? What do you want from your art (writer, musician, sculptor...)? I would love to hear from you.

4 comments:

  1. As you know, Ishita, I write. I write because I enjoy the creative process of doing it. I write because I believe I have something to say and wish to share it. Would I like to make a heap of money doing it? Sure, but I feel blessed that in the digital age I have a platform to share my writing without being dependent on an old system that only prints what they think they can make money from.
    Bill Marshall

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hi Ishita, I'm taking the Blast Off online class too. I like what you have to say about being immortal through art. I think that all artists do that. I believe that is what makes people feel connected.

    Fellow classmate,
    Hallie

    ReplyDelete
  3. Great post, Ishita!

    //Even the unknown artist who carved the Venus of Willendorf thirty thousand years ago! We still think and wonder about this artist, so his presence is still among us! //

    I prefer to think of this artist as "She". I like the image of a woman, done with the day's gathering of nuts, grasses, fruits, whatnot, the children sleeping for a little while, having a quiet moment to work with a fragment of bone, stone, etc. What did women alone and together to pass the time and express themselves before sewing circles and quilting bees? They made other kinds of art - before the artificial separation of "art" (the domain of men) and "craft" (left to the womenfolk).

    ReplyDelete
  4. Bill, you are a true artist. Does it matter whether we are writer, singer or performers? We are the vehicle through which universe speaks! Very few of us are wealthy but we are richer than most as we have rich imagination and desire to make our human experience worthy.

    Hallie, great to hear from you outside the class! It is always great to connect with other artists! As you would all agree that internet has done wonders to bring the kindred spirits together.
    Janice, you are so right!! A man would not have perhaps been able to bring out the essence of femininity in the imperfect(according to male gaze! Sorry, Bill) figure of Venus. One of my favorite work of art!

    ReplyDelete