Tales from the Art Side Art Blog
Developing Ideas
by teaching_kids_art , February 25, 2009—12:00 AM
There are two distinct areas of study to focus upon when teaching kids art production: the technical, and the analytical. The far easier of the two is the technical aspects of whatever media is being explored in a given project. Demonstrating and familiarizing student s with the various processes and procedures associated with a specific medium is always fun and relatively straightforward. Typically the students are excited to get to work and dive into their projects eager to make a calculated mess with the newly discovered materials. It is only then that a majority of them realize they lack the second and more important ingredient of art making: the ever illusive idea. This particular component of the creative process has long plagued both veteran artists and beginning students seemingly for as long as we as a species have been making marks.
There is a fascinatingly complex relationship for students to discover between the physical act of making art, and the psychological reasoning behind it. Art, at its core, is a form of communication; a vehicle of expression. And whether it is sophisticated or shallow, there needs to be some degree of motivation behind an artwork if it is to stand any chance of resonating with an audience. In other words, the artist needs to know why they are creating a particular image and allow that reasoning to influence the direction of the work. Otherwise the work is in danger of becoming another trite image in an ever expanding ocean of kitsch. Even work created with exceptional technical skill, if lacking a clearly defined purpose, becomes a transparent window exposing the artist's lack of intention.
Furthermore, it is imperative that the motivation be authentically expressed in the work. Not only must the artist know why they are making an image, they must pursue that inspiration with a focused sincerity. A finished image will translate to the viewer whether the artist embraced or neglected the impetus behind the piece. It is the non-verbal body language of a work and an audience need not be particularly art-savvy to pick up on it. The work will exhale whatever the artist breathed into it.
And that's not to say that the stimulus behind a work has to be exceedingly complex or intellectually engaging. In fact, some of my favorite artists are intentional juvenile, playful, witty, and absurd. And that is where the relationship between art and idea becomes so intriguing; there are no restrictions as to what dictates a successfully honest piece of artwork other than the motivation of the artist. As long as there is a clearly defined purpose in the mind of the artist, and that purpose is followed in earnest, anything is fair game. (Including the decision to not have a purpose and simply explore the possibilities of random visual coincidences. However, in order to successfully accomplish that you'd have to be cautiously attentive to not do something intentionally, and thus you'd be committed to following your purposeless objective!)
The careful development and nurturing of an idea is an absolutely critical factor in the art making process. And it never ceases to surprise me how many beginning students miss the importance of this concept. I try and illuminate the subject by comparing it to writing a paper. I point out to them that they would not expect to spend fifteen minutes stringing together a series of unrelated random words, devoid of syntax and grammar, and expect anyone to be able to understand it. Instead, they need to first decide what it is that they want to say, before they say it. Then they need to carefully develop a plan for how they want to express this idea so that it will be clearly understood by those who read it. Making art is no different.
In the microcosm that is a classroom, it can be a delicate task to try and facilitate the development of unique ideas. The proximity of the students to each other can often lead to multiple variations on a single theme. Ideas are cross pollinated into hybrid concepts and then borrowed and traded like stocks. As a result, one of my constant objectives is to encourage students to allow an idea to develop, grow, and blossom far beyond their initial conception. This can lead to a barrage of "what if" queries that I simply deflect with questions of my own as I try and carefully avoid superimposing my own ideas onto those of the student. In the end, making art is essentially about making decisions. Romare Bearden likened it to playing jazz saying, "you do one thing and then you improvise." One decision leads to another and exponentially they grow into a chain of thoughts that reach out to the world in an attempt to make contact and communicate. And it all starts with just one idea.
COMMENTS
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07/24/2009 * 14:06:24
Much of my painting years has been spent studying and trying to comprehend the technical skills required to let me express my creative directions - I look at it as developing my own tool box that lets me pick those tools required to make my creative visual statement at a given time. Understanding the 3-dimensional world and being able to capture that illusion on a 2-dimensional surface is a constant challenge for me. Light, color, structure, and creative composition are my elements. I thank you Michael, for stating the importance of the creative process - the idea that energizies us all, but that sometimes seems to get sidetracked in the art/life process. I firmly believe the arts are the catalyst for creative thinking in young people, and us older souls as well. I seem to be more in tune now with accessing my emotions and the creative application, than ever before, and look forward to the years ahead. I wish I had had a teacher of your dimension in my high school years.
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02/25/2009 * 16:32:17
Thanks very much for the suggestion! I'm not at all familiar with Chaet, but it sounds very intriguing. I'll be adding that title to the top of my "to read" list.
02/25/2009 * 16:09:54
Hi again,
It occurred to me after I wrote my first comment that you might be interested in a book on Drawing by Bernard Chaet, who taught art at Yale. It is not a recent book, but it is one of the best on the subject. He is completely catholic in his inclusion of styles and periods, using examples from old masters and (then) contemporary artists freely.
His insistence was that in order to draw, the artist "must have an attitude toward what he is drawing". I love that concept, because it is much more inclusive than "message". The attitude can be a love of pattern, or line, or shape; it can equally well be a feeling about the thing drawn, or - as you say - an idea to communicate. ANY of these will work. What does not work is to have no sense of the enterprise at all.
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02/25/2009 * 12:32:09
Peter,
I would agree with you 100% that as ability increases, artists can become quite adept at "allowing things to happen". In fact, that's what I was trying to suggest in my hypothetical scenario about introducing a certain amount of random circumstance into the artististic equation. While I might be debating semantics here, I would submit that knowing in advance that you will let the work develop somewhat freely, and knowing you have to technical proficiency to keep it under control, is still having a plan. You plan to let things happen more freely, and you will consciously keep tabs on the aesthetic development of the work. (That is what keeps your work engaging and no where near the shorelines of kitsch.) Neal Peart of Rush said it best when he penned the lyrics, "If you choose not to decide, you still have made a choice."
The main context of the article, as you mentioned, is introducing the importance of this concept to beginning art students. A subplot to that narrative, I believe, is that students need to learn "the rules" first in order to properly ignore them later.
02/25/2009 * 11:39:49
Hi Michael,
I need to argue a little here, lest I become myself a mere kitch machine. I think you are right that every work must embody an idea or inner purpose...but I don't think every artist has to "develop a plan" to communicate a deliberate idea. There are purposes in what I do of which I have little awareness and understanding when I start.
Maybe that isn't a good way to teach a beginner. I think your approach is far better for students who are adrift. For myself, though, when I itch to paint something, I know there is a purpose there - an "idea" - and have faith that it will be revealed to me on a "need-to-know" basis.
Kelly Iovine
07/10/2011 * 16:28:00
I teach high school art and you are right. Most of my student have trouble coming up with ideas. I wonder if it's because they are so used to being told what to do. By the time they get to high school, they're creativity is gone.