"When will it be finished?"
“Why do Artists sometimes take years to complete a work of art?â€
I was asked this question shortly after graduating from college with my completed bachelors degree. I was personally at a loss for the answer to the question, because of lack of experience. Art was always something I wanted to do and no one ever really had to force me to complete any of my assignments in art. I too, had asked myself the same question about some artists that are considered masters in the art world. Still the answer to which I had no real comprehension of the context that can create the tides of an artist’s life, as I was still a student.
My life offered me many opportunities this one comes with becoming an art educator. I began to look at how, not just what information is disseminated to the student. What does the student need to know? What does the student need to learn? What would the student identify with? I began to research for my students and not just for myself on each lesson I brought to my classroom. Each lesson plan had a life of its own, exploring artists as people, the context of their lives, and what they inspired through their artwork. Art History has always been a thorn in my side, my Achilles’ heel if you will. I decided to take a spoonful of sugar with my regular dose of art history and find out the beauty of the artist as well as the beauty of the product the artists creates.
Life being the thorough educator, also gave me an experience of my own which gave me many answers to the question above. The experience of an injured spine that, by itself can continue to fill pages and volumes of my own personal journals, so we will leave the details of that aside. Several things have to be considered when asking about why did it take so long to create?
“It will be finished when it is finished†is what Michelangelo said to the Pope while working on the Sistine Chapel. Art is the equivalent of conceiving, incubation, delivery, raising and educating a child into an adult. Only the art knows for sure when it has reached completion. We have trouble with this context, because most main events in our lives are determined by an outside source. Age, Gender, Race, Religion and Economics all ingredients in the mixture, for example we start school by the age of five. That does not mean we as an individual is ready to start school at five, some maybe ready earlier or later, this is the mean or guideline as to when a child should begin to start school. These rules and guidelines are there to help us live in society. I am a girl and therefore I should wear a dress and learn to become a lady. I am a boy and therefore I should wear pants and learn to become a man. And each label give a set a rules or standards to live by. Anthropologically speaking art is a bi-product of a civilized society. When we have time to reflect about how we live about our daily lives culture becomes refined and the Arts are born within that social structure. Art lives outside of the box.
Sometimes the reason is within the artist, unbeknown to him or her, they have something that must be learned, experienced or mastered before the art can reach completion. Sometimes it is a skill, or a new perspective, most of the time it has to do with living and coming to an understanding. These abstract concepts are much harder to perceive, learn and possess mastery of before completing the product of that education.
“I Spy With My Little Eye A Butterfly?†is an acrylic painting that was started in 2003. I completed the painting in 2009. I still do not think it is finished, but that is my humble opinion. It is finished for the moment and is hanging on my bedroom wall. Every morning I do not work at my job, I ask myself is it finished? And the answer is no. Yet, when I ask myself what I need to do next? The answer is the same, I do not know. SIGH. So I wait until the answer comes and the desire to complete what has yet to be finished tells me to get my paints and complete it.
I was asked this question shortly after graduating from college with my completed bachelors degree. I was personally at a loss for the answer to the question, because of lack of experience. Art was always something I wanted to do and no one ever really had to force me to complete any of my assignments in art. I too, had asked myself the same question about some artists that are considered masters in the art world. Still the answer to which I had no real comprehension of the context that can create the tides of an artist’s life, as I was still a student.
My life offered me many opportunities this one comes with becoming an art educator. I began to look at how, not just what information is disseminated to the student. What does the student need to know? What does the student need to learn? What would the student identify with? I began to research for my students and not just for myself on each lesson I brought to my classroom. Each lesson plan had a life of its own, exploring artists as people, the context of their lives, and what they inspired through their artwork. Art History has always been a thorn in my side, my Achilles’ heel if you will. I decided to take a spoonful of sugar with my regular dose of art history and find out the beauty of the artist as well as the beauty of the product the artists creates.
Life being the thorough educator, also gave me an experience of my own which gave me many answers to the question above. The experience of an injured spine that, by itself can continue to fill pages and volumes of my own personal journals, so we will leave the details of that aside. Several things have to be considered when asking about why did it take so long to create?
“It will be finished when it is finished†is what Michelangelo said to the Pope while working on the Sistine Chapel. Art is the equivalent of conceiving, incubation, delivery, raising and educating a child into an adult. Only the art knows for sure when it has reached completion. We have trouble with this context, because most main events in our lives are determined by an outside source. Age, Gender, Race, Religion and Economics all ingredients in the mixture, for example we start school by the age of five. That does not mean we as an individual is ready to start school at five, some maybe ready earlier or later, this is the mean or guideline as to when a child should begin to start school. These rules and guidelines are there to help us live in society. I am a girl and therefore I should wear a dress and learn to become a lady. I am a boy and therefore I should wear pants and learn to become a man. And each label give a set a rules or standards to live by. Anthropologically speaking art is a bi-product of a civilized society. When we have time to reflect about how we live about our daily lives culture becomes refined and the Arts are born within that social structure. Art lives outside of the box.
Sometimes the reason is within the artist, unbeknown to him or her, they have something that must be learned, experienced or mastered before the art can reach completion. Sometimes it is a skill, or a new perspective, most of the time it has to do with living and coming to an understanding. These abstract concepts are much harder to perceive, learn and possess mastery of before completing the product of that education.
“I Spy With My Little Eye A Butterfly?†is an acrylic painting that was started in 2003. I completed the painting in 2009. I still do not think it is finished, but that is my humble opinion. It is finished for the moment and is hanging on my bedroom wall. Every morning I do not work at my job, I ask myself is it finished? And the answer is no. Yet, when I ask myself what I need to do next? The answer is the same, I do not know. SIGH. So I wait until the answer comes and the desire to complete what has yet to be finished tells me to get my paints and complete it.
