Mark, this is right on target, so right.

I had a sculpture professor who taught me something that I've tried to teach other people - that in a certain way art is smarter than we are, or to put it another way it's a way of thinking that is bigger than our everyday approach to things. When you're making an object, it becomes the product of numerous decisions and ideas - a receptacle of thought that becomes much more than you could have ever imagined without making it. It's a container of all those decisions, which is kind of magical. I've made artwork that is far more engaging than any idea I've ever had.

It's a really valuable thing.

I used to tell my students that no idea is a bad idea, but that no idea initially is really all that good - they are all just starting points. You don't set out to give form to that single idea - it's the thing that starts you on a journey that will hopefully be far more interesting than the initial idea would ever be. The idea is the map, maybe, but the journey is far more complicated and rewarding than just the map.
Marc Snyder | Homepage | 11.30.06 - 11:31 am | #