Disorganized or Just Organic?

Organic or Organized..What Works Best in Making Art?

I have been knocking this concept around the old noggin for quite sometime, just like the "Competition vs. Creativity" deal I blogged about earlier this Fall.  It was really on my mind over the holidays, having just moved houses, not getting into my studio as much as I would like to and stuff like that.

So as my usual first step in contemplation of such matters, I turned to the dictionary to help me wrestle with this...

Even more enlightening than the actual definitions was the associations made with each word.  For instance,  with the first word below many ads for ADHD meds came up and with the second, "organized crime" was used as an example.

Hmmmm......

dis·or·gan·ized

[dis-awr-guh-nahyzd]  Show IPA

adjective

1.

functioning without adequate order, systemization, or planning;
uncoordinated: a woefully disorganized enterprise.

2.

careless or undisciplined; sloppy: too disorganized a person to be an 
agreeable roommate.

Origin: 
1805–15; disorganize + -ed²

Related forms

un·dis·or·gan·ized, adjective

Can be confused: disorganized, unorganized.

NOTE:  Not my personal living area. Computer file image, really.

Also computer file image, but in all honestly could be my desk any day of the week. 

Except I take my coffee with lots of creamer...

or·gan·ized

 [awr-guh-nahyzd]  Show IPA

adjective

 Computer file image, definitely

1.      affiliated in an organization, especially a union: organized dockworkers.

2.

having a formal organization or structure, especially to coordinate or 
carry out for widespread activities: organized medicine; organized crime.

Yes it is organized but will it help make art?  

both courtesy dictionary.com

On one hand with disorganization, it is annoying to be forgetting, and events, especially if it lets someone down-constantly looking for things is no fun.  Yet on the other (this is the creative in me talking), if things are too micro-planned out, then that creative spark and passion can get stifled or even snuffed out.

New Year + New Resolutions = EUREKA moment

While in my studio cleaning and rearranging this morning, it dawned on me.  You see I went into work but nothing was happening creative-wise so I just intuitively starting cleaning and putting things in their "home".  Whoa! I started organizing when I didn't want to.... I wanted things to just flow.

Why did I do that?

Because good art production needs an organized base. 

Only then can the creative juices organically flow and not be halted by having to look for that misplaced brush or to clean up the paint accidently spilled because it was in the wrong place.

So disorganization and organic are NOT the same in my book. Organic good.  Disorganization, bad.  The fact that confusion is listed by dictionary.com as a related word does not help disorganized's case.

As I have heard before..plan excessively but then be in the moment.  It is the planning but just as importantly the letting go of it that lets us truly be in the moment of creating...

Happy New Year!  May 2014 be the perfect balance of planning and creating for you!

VisArts Art Supply Drive for the Holidays

What a great way to brighten a little one's holiday! 

 The VisArts Center of Richmond is having a 

holiday art supply collection for needy kids.

It is so wonderful to see the bin filling up at the center, but let's get it overflowing!  If you remember the next time you are picking up a little something at a drugstore or even grocery store swing by the school supply aisle and spend an extra couple $.  Then either send it my way and I will drop it off next time I am there or bring to them at 1812 W Main St RVA.

Thanks for considering it!

Kathy

Thankful for Art

What a hokey post title, huh?

But I am. Not only for the opportunity to produce, share and teach it but for the way art can bring people together.

Especially this season, thanks to one of the sweetest and strongest art teachers I know,  Mrs. Ashley Cogbill.  (BTW she was also one of the sweetest art students I ever had. Wish I could remember her artwork but honestly that so long ago and I think I was teaching about 12,000 students at the time.  Love her stuff now though)  Anyway, Ashley graciously invited me to come be an artist-in-residence at her elementary school in Henrico County this past month.

I had an absolute BLAST working with her inquisitive, flexible, energetic and creative students.  

24 bundles of enthusiasm greeted me each Thursday as we worked together to create a 10'x5' mural, titled "Water Is Life" as part of the Wyland Art Foundation National Art Challenge.  

Though Ashley will not take the credit, she made my job so much easier by getting the kids prepared and working though a lot of the decision making before I even showed up. 

 She really spoiled me.... Ashley even served me tea while we were working!

So I got to do all the fun stuff like teaching chalk transfer techniques, making individual studies and splatter painting.

Not only were these kids and their art teacher a complete joy to work with but the whole staff at Springfield Park Elementary did so much for make me feel welcome.  I was especially impressed by classroom teacher, Melanie Moore, who was so giving and flexible with the class schedule.  Without her support and so many other teachers willing to switch around their schedules this mural just would not have been able to happen.

So this Thanksgiving as I tuck into my turkey I will be thinking of that kind art teacher, those 24 adorable artists and that caring faculty who helped to remind me how creating, sharing and teaching art are some of the most wonderful things that people can do for each other.  Thank you Ashley for making this happen!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Kathy

Is Art Life?

Yet another great article that really hits the mark about the timeless and universal way art can really sustain us, whether as artist or viewer.

 Alain de Botton has makes a few great  points in this essay, like the one below...

 In 'At the Linen Closet', a modest domestic scene by the 17th-century Dutch painter Pieter de Hooch, we see a couple of women putting the household linens in order. His painting suggests that the big themes of life—the search for prosperity, happiness, good relationships—are always grounded in the way we approach little things and ordinary routine. Peter Horree/Alamy

Just make sure you can pull up the artworks he references, otherwise it is just a touch annoying.   Reading about the influences these paintings had on him without being able to view them can be frustrating.


Otherwise, happy Reading!

Kathy

Competition vs Creativity

Which one do you think is the most important? Maybe some official definitions will help...

com·pe·ti·tion

ˌkämpəˈtiSHən/

noun

1. 1.

   the activity or condition of competing.

   "there is fierce competition between banks"

   synonyms:

   rivalry, competitiveness, vying; More

   
   courtesy dictionary.com
   
   

   
   

   
   

   

   
   

   
   

   cre·a·tiv·i·ty

    [kree-ey-tiv-i-tee, kree-uh-]  Show IPA

   noun

   1.
   

   the state or quality of being creative.

   2.
   

   the ability to transcend traditional ideas, rules, patterns,
   relationships, or the like, and to create meaningful new
   ideas, forms, methods, interpretations, etc.; originality,
   progressiveness, or imagination: the need for creativity in
    modern industry; creativity in the performing arts. 

   3.

   the process by which one utilizes creative ability:

    Extensive reading stimulated his creativity.

   
   

   courtesy dictionary.com

   
   
   

   

   
   

 Bet you can figure out which one I thought it was.  Then, a while ago, I had this ephiphany..

 Does it really have to be an oppositional thing after all?

A point I have pondered for many many years until today when Mr John Cleese of Monty Python fame has the answer for me from a speech over 20 years old!

John Cleese: A Lecture on Creativity 

Class, this will be on the test...

My take away... Deciding between creativity and competition is like trying to decide which foot to walk with.  Both are needed in the right amount at the right time to propel us forward. 

Thanks so much John for clearing this up for me!

But really, his humorous and insightful explanation is worth the entire watch (about 15 minutes).  Besides, it's fun to see if you can link up the Danish subtitles with his words...talk about creative!

LOVE This!!

Wish you had gotten that art history degree but now you just do not have the time?  Click on the link below to take a look at this shortened and funny version...

How to Recognize Famous Painters According to the Internet

Hmmm...Is He a Happy Partytime Guy?  Or Does He Look Like Putin?

I adore this as only an art teacher could.  I kinda do the same thing when I explain art history to my students but without the salty language and drug references... really.

Ooooohkay....  Now I Know the Difference Between Michelangelo and Rubens!

Enjoy!  Kathy

UNOS Opening Friday September 6th

Please consider yourself officially invited!