Finding Our Artistic Voice, Part 3
Art is a verb.
Hey GUT friends.
How is it already the holidays again?? If you are looking for a last-minute gift for a creative loved one, might I recommend gifting them a front and center seat at the DrawTogether Grown-Ups Table? Every week, they’ll get a lesson from yours truly, as well as an art assignment, and become part of an active, chatty, supportive, creative community around the world. BOOM. I set up a special 20% discount for annual memberships. Yes, you can gift yourself one, too.
Okay, let’s do this.
Finding Our Artistic Voice, Part 3
This is week three of our mini-adventure to find our artistic voice.
A quick review of parts one and two:
Look Closely at What You Love. In week one, we chose an artwork that inspired us and talked about why. The point was to look closely at the artwork we love and begin to understand why we love it, then share that learning with each other. And the outcome is the most interesting art history book I’ve ever seen. Thank you so much, GUT member Jennifer, for creating this fantastic spreadsheet that contains a list of every artist and artwork selected by GUT members. Members can see the actual artwork here.
Copy Copy Copy… with a Twist. In week two, we chose a specific artwork by an artist who inspired us, copied it, and added our own twist. We copy artwork to learn how artists made their works beyond what we can glean just by looking. By doing it, we internalize the lessons in our bodies and build our artistic muscles. By deliberately adding our own flare, we ensure we don’t lose ourselves in imitation. As with step one, the group’s results were nothing short of phenomenal. As always, I selected a few to highlight at the end of the email. Members can see and comment on everyone’s artwork here.
And that takes us to our final installment in this quick dip into Finding Our Own Voice…
Part 3. PRACTICE
“The only rule is to work. If you work, it will lead to something.” - Sister Corita
To develop our artistic voice, we need to do one thing over and over: practice.
Before we move towards the practice part, let me step back and share two big-picture ideas that might be helpful on this journey. 1) Letting go of expectations around capital A “art” and 2) understanding what the heck the terms artistic “voice” and “style” actually mean.
Forget Making *Art*. Just Make.
“The word 'love' is most often defined as a noun, yet we would all love better if we used it as a verb.” - bell hooks
Much like bell hooks’ definition of love, art would be better used as a VERB. But artists don’t Art. We Make. We Paint. Draw. Think. Look. Sing. Read. Build. Carve. Write. Photograph. Dye. Knit. Fold. Stitch. Film. Cook. Dance. And on and on.… Honestly, art can be anything. It can be REST. But making art is a verb. So, if you feel overwhelmed by the prospect of being an artist and/or making “Art” just put that out of your mind, pick up a pencil, and draw for 10 minutes. Just scribble. Make it BAD. Or Write ten lines of nonsense off the top of your head. Or Cut up paper and glue it down again. Great. Done.
Then, instead of asking yourself, “Is this art?” ask yourself, “Is this a drawing?” or “Is this writing?” Or “Is this a cut-up?” The answer will almost certainly be yes.
And that means you put in the work. You practiced. Which is to say, GOOD JOB YOU. Ten minutes were well spent. (NOTE: This is foreshadowing!) Make one of these drawings, writings, and/or cut-ups daily, and you will start to see your style emerge. That style is a manifestation of your artistic voice, which will be stronger and stronger with practice. And whatever you make with your artistic voice is Art.
Problem solved.
“But what exactly is the difference between style and voice?” you ask. Great question. There are different perspectives on this. Here’s what works for me, and I’d love to hear what you think in the comments.
Artistic Voice vs Style
How do you know a Matisse is a Matisse? Matisse worked in many different mediums - paper cut, painting, drawing, sculpture, stained glass and on and on - and his style varied widely. So, how can we instantly recognize his work when we see it? Practicing his skills and exploring the world led him to develop a style across mediums. His questions, cares, convictions, curiosity, how he saw the world, what and who and how he loved - that was his voice. While his style evolved over time and varied with medium, you could always see and feel his voice.
Maybe easier to explain with cooking.
My grandmother Nonie was famous for her signature gooey brownies. In the 19 years I knew her, she must have made them 200 times. The brownies only had a few ingredients and seemed easy enough to make. But since she died, nobody, myself included, can replicate the taste and texture of Nonie’s brownies. She made them in her unique STYLE.
Nonie also made baked steak, chocolate cake, and a few other signature dishes that were just as unique to her as her brownies. They were all very different foods, but each tasted like they came from her kitchen: the smell, the sounds, that old stove and giant freezer. Everything contained stories, and those stories, senses, and experiences all went into the dishes. I knew it was Nonie’s cooking. That was her VOICE.
To recap:
Her dishes and all the practice that went into it = STYLE.
Her cooking and all the life that went into it = VOICE.
Does that make sense? I’m testing this metaphor out. What do you think? Agree? Disagree? Let’s figure this out together.
So, what specifically goes into an artist’s style?
There are a lot of ingredients baked into someone’s artistic style. Some are concrete, others abstract, and others… evolving.
Concrete ingredients:
The Medium you choose (Oil Paint, Gouache, Watercolor, Ceramic, Stone, Ink, Paper, Walls, etc.)
The Subject Matter you focus on (Landscape, Figurative, Portraits, Botanical, Narrative, Abstract, etc.)
The Mood of your work (Humorous, Morose, Uplifting, Dramatic, Cinematic, Somber, etc.)
The Message, Questions, or Conversation your work contains (Political, Theoretical, Aesthetic, Formal, Literary, Illustrative, etc.)
The Genre in which you work (Painting, Drawing, Comics, Sculpture, Conceptual, Film, Photography, etc.)
(Along with a hundred other ingredients….)
Abstract ingredients include:
Your interests, identity, culture, experiences, education, geography, language, cares, loves, desires, fears, hopes, dreams, the choices you make… The unlikely combination of things that nobody else in the world has. The unique energy inside your body that moves through your hands, into your materials, and onto the surfaces you’re working with cannot be replicated by anyone else. In other words, you.
That all goes into making your style, too.
Add some elements from the concrete and all the elements from the less concrete, mix in a WHOLE LOT OF PRACTICE, and you get a style. Your style.
It’s called an “Art Practice” for a reason.
With practice comes confidence. And with confidence comes a voice.
I love this interview with Ira Glass about the gap we experience when what we are making is not as “good” as our ambitions.
“It’s going to take you a while. It’s normal to take a while. And you just have to fight your way through that.” - Ira Glass.
On the other side of that gap lies our style and our voice.
Remember, it took thousands of hours of practice for you to develop your own unique handwriting. It takes the same effort to develop your own unique drawing line.
And the only way is to DO it. The best way to do it - to practice - is to turn it into a habit, like brushing your teeth, exercising, or drinking coffee. And the best way I know how to do that is to do it every darn day.
So that is precisely what we are going to do.
In one week, we will start a new Daily Drawing Habit Adventure.
Between building up our artistic style and voice and setting the tone for what may very well be a roller coaster of a year ahead, I can’t imagine a better thing for us to do than this. I can feel in my bones this is what I need. I have a hunch you may feel it, too.
So let’s do it together.