The Artist's Way (05.03.2003)
Being an artist is more than simply producing artworks. It is more than simply knowing art and how to make it. Being an artist is a complete way of life in itself, and at its utmost is a mode of perceiving the world to where everything is seen as a work of art. Being an artist is a mode of existence. For the artist’s life to be this complete way of being, it is necessary to take a certain direction and overcome certain obstacles. It is easy for the artist for fall into ruts along the path of art. This is one artist’s account of how three of the biggest challenges, or these ruts, present themselves, and how it is possible to overcome them. As such, this is an examination of how the challenges of being an artist lead to a fuller understanding of what it means to live as an artist, and how being an artist is a very specific kind of life. The work done by Gabriel Marcel and Henry Bugbee presents a particular perspective which enhances the life of an artist, and so their work will help us to understand this artistic mode of being which I am talking about.
It is important to illustrate what the three most common ruts are that an artist can fall into. I use the term rut because what occurs to an artist is a falling into a hole of sorts from which it is difficult to emerge at times. These holes or pits seem more appropriately described by the term rut. So it is that an artist, when on the path of art, may find themselves stuck in any or all of the following situations.
The first rut is one of expectations. It is the expectation of what art should be. If this expectation is not met, the artist will become frustrated and will not enjoy their work. The expectations of one’s work may become more severe to where the artist becomes more deeply entrenched in this rut to the point of it turning into perfectionism. The rut of perfection is worse, because it never allows the artist to be satisfied, whereas the previous rut of expectation only creates dissatisfaction some of the time.
This difficulty seems to be encountered earlier than the others by an individual who is pursuing art. In a concrete example, when you try to draw an object, you expect that it will look in some particular way like the object you are drawing. During the process of drawing this object, it often times occurs that some part is not drawn in accordance with your expectations. As something other than a master of art, you will inevitably make some part too short, or too long, or too wide or narrow. And most of the time, this is unsatisfactory to you either because you want the drawing to look like what you are trying to draw, or because someone else, i.e. and instructor, says that it should look a particular way. When it turns out to be different, the tendency is to disapprove. When this disapproving internal dialogue becomes more frequent, it turns into a lot of frustration, and the experience of drawing will cease to be pleasant.
Further along the way, whether due to the continuing presence of the expectations rut or not, the artist will come upon the difficulty of the niche. The rut of a niche is such that when an artist finds a way of making art which lends itself well to some aspect of the artist’s personality or to some part of their life; it is a common tendency to remain that way. This develops into a rut when the artist is no longer able to move beyond this way of making art, and his ability as an artist is stifled and his creativity forced to remain stationary.
A common instance of this rut is that of an artist living in, i.e. Billings, Montana. The artist may find that in this part of the country many people enjoy wildlife and art which depicts wildlife. Those same people do not normally enjoy contemporary art very much. So the artist also decides that it would be good to sell a larger number of works on a regular basis. The tendency would then be to avoid anything which resembles contemporary art, and focus on painting traditional wildlife. If the artist becomes good at painting wildlife and doing so exclusively, they will be able to accomplish their goal of selling work on a consistent basis. If this happens, the artist generally continues to do this kind of work.
Furthermore, whether due to the two difficulties just shown or not, an artist may come to fall into the rut of solitude. In this situation, the artist may feel that no one else exists who is able to appreciate or understand the artist’s work. The artist may also be preoccupied by something economical which does not lend itself to pursuing other people’s input on the art in question. The trouble here is that the artist keeps the work to themselves, does not discuss it, and as a result their work may lack the progress that it may be able to make otherwise. This turns into an unwillingness to accept criticism and suggestions, and to accept other artist’s work as inspiration for one’s own. This is common to many young artists, in that they may feel that they are misunderstood. At the same time the tendency is to not trust the quality of one’s own work as being able to measure up to the work of someone else. Or perhaps the artist may be afraid of criticism as a result of this mistrust in their own work. Sometimes these things can be combined with a responsibility towards family, or other kinds of employment. All of these factors, however, make it more difficult to seek out the help, advice, or input of other’s in the community.
An instance of this is an artist who works in a way that is uncommon to those around them, in which case the artist is reluctant to share the work due to the chance of disapproval. This artist is also working in a job unrelated to his artistic endeavors, where the coworkers have no understanding of art. In such a situation the people around the artist are making it more difficult for the artist to seek out input and advice.
The following are the three most common difficulties that those walking the path of an artist may find themselves struggling with. However, these ruts, though difficult but possible to avoid, can most certainly be overcome by taking certain remedying measures. The most important concept to understand in such situations is an awareness of the difficulty in question. The necessity is to be still for a moment and actually listen within oneself. The listening to the self is what can be achieved by practice, as it may be difficult initially. But the examining of one’s emotions as they pertain to the creation of art, and one’s own work in particular, makes it possible to comprehend the situation. This listening, however, entails both a listening to the self as well as listening to the work.
If I were to apply this to myself, I would stop for a moment and remember that whenever I paint, I am, for instance, frustrated with things that are not working out. I could realize then that I am unhappy with all of the works I have created. I may notice that I always want to go back and change just one more thing which bothers me, but that there is always just one more thing. When trying to behold my art, I may notice this sense of frustration in it and this desire to change it in some way.
Bugbee quotes a passage from Walter Stace’s Time and Eternity, which sheds some more light on this kind of thinking.
One thing is better than another thing. Gold is perhaps better than clay, poetry than push-pin. One place is pleasanter than another place. One time is happier than another time. In all being there is a scale of better and worse. But just because of this relativity, no being, no time, no place, satisfies the ultimate hunger. For all beings are infected by the same disease, the disease of existence. If owning a marble leaves your metaphysical and religious thirst unquenched, so will owning all the planets. … For how do you attain your end by making things bigger, or longer, or wider, or thicker, or more this or more that? For they will still be THIS or THAT. And it is being this or that which is the disease of things. (Bugbee 157-158)
But these ruts, as mentioned above, can certainly be overcome. The first rut of expectations can be overcome by specific exercises. The second rut of a niche can be gone beyond by experimentation. And the third rut of solitude can be surpassed by engaging oneself with the local arts community and an online arts community.
The first, a rut of expectations, can be overcome by doing the appropriate exercises. In order to not expect something from one’s work, it must not be forced. An excellent exercise for this is blind drawing. The idea is not to look at the work until the drawing is finished. The result will be highly abstracted, and will make the point that there is not a way in which it can not be abstracted due to the near elimination of hand-and-eye coordination. Repeated sessions of blind drawing have the potential to teach the artist an appreciation for the uniqueness and uncontrolled work which is the result of these exercises. The turning off of the conscious mind which occurs in this exercise allows the drawing to be created entirely on its own, and yet always by the artist. By realizing that there is no way of controlling such a work, other than by actually looking, the artist should be able to accept that as an inevitability. Such an acceptance frees the artist from a responsibility of having to make the work into something particular. And when the artist is free of a responsibility towards the art, then the feeling of need to make it into something particular also dissipates. The feeling of freedom gained by such an exercise can be exhilarating.
After this is accomplished, the most satisfactory of the blind drawings can be transferred with equal lack of expectancy into the artist’s desired medium, such as painting, sculpture, etc. In continuing with applying these techniques to the artist’s preferred medium, the second rut may be overcome as well. However, the rut of a niche can only be surpassed by a willingness on the part of the artist. The rut of a niche is overcome by increasing experimentation. Through the translation of work from blind drawing to the desired medium, it may be realized that he medium in question is not ideal. This necessitates an exploration of multiple mediums to find the most appropriate one as the vehicle of the created work. When a blind drawing is so translated into a painting, for instance, it may not be to the liking of the artist to work in such a medium. It is always recommended that an artist be willing to experiment with multiple mediums. What works well in paintings is not always what works well in steel sculpture, or in ceramics for that matter, and vice versa.
The rut of solitude once again helps to go beyond its predecessor in its own overcoming. It may be obvious that the key to go beyond solitude is to expose oneself and one’s work to other individuals. However, it is not always easy to do so, especially if a group of individuals who have a comparable understanding of the work is not readily available. This may again seem obvious, but the remedy is available in two forms. First, the local arts community is an invaluable source of criticism, suggestion, and support. It is imperative that this be taken advantage of if available. And second, the existence of the internet provides such a community in its virtual setting, though just as valuable and real as the former. The internet makes available thousands of online artist’s communities where work can be displayed, shared, discussed, collaborated on, and more. This is also a good way of opening to a more global community and foreign artistic traditions. Pursuing these venues is an important way for an artist to further their own work. In doing so, the solitude rut may be more easily overcome, and the pursuit of these things helps to further surpassing of the previous ruts as well. In some small communities it is not easy to find individuals with a good understanding of art and the openness of mind required by the artist. In such a case, an online art community can serve sufficiently. Online art communities are primarily composed of an online gallery and a forum. The forum serves as the place where anyone with access to the internet can join in a discussion about the work of art. The internet makes forums for all things available, aside form art, which can serve just as well in any venue that the artist is trying to pursue.
Nevertheless, it is important to note that none of this can be achieved without the will of the artist in question. It will be to no avail if the artist does not endeavor to go beyond these ruts. And the reasons for many artists who decide not to overcome these ruts are largely economic. The first rut may be brought on by the existence of a type of work that the artist is often in contact with and tries to measure up to as a result. The second rut of sticking to a particular way is that the artist’s community may be very interested in a particular type of work, in which case the artist produces for the community. And the third rut may also be due to the last mentioned, in a rather paradoxical way. It is paradoxical in that even though the artist’s work may have a good deal of exposure because it is the filler of a niche, the artist may prefer to be in solitude due to trying to measure up to the work they are surrounded by and which they produce for the community but are never satisfied with having to be in the position to meet that need. More often than not the artist’s belief that, due to the first two ruts, the work is not adequate enough to be given exposure is actually what the artist will convince themselves of as being a personal choice.
So it is also important that artwork not become a merely commercial venture, as is often the case when a niche is found. The artist who discovers a demand for a type of work may be inclined to fill that need and find themselves stuck in that mode of production for a long time on account of profit. Other artists combine these difficulties and because they are frustrated with their work, they don’t think that it is good enough, and tell themselves that they don’t really want anyone to see it anyway because the art is entirely personal.
This leads to the obvious question of why the art is created in the first place. The finding of that answer, at least in part, is needed to the developing of the artist’s way as a mode of being. Though it may be true that the entire answer to that question is a lifelong quest, some small parts of the answer can be found upon careful consideration. Some create art only for others, with varying degrees of personal investment, while others create art solely for themselves and usually with greater degrees of personal investment as a result. An artist may be on the path with the intention of wanting to “touch people’s lives,” in some way or to help society in some way. Another artist may believe that the pursuit of art is an entirely personal matter, and that the creation of art is done in that case “because it makes me happy.”
In the first case, the creation of art for anyone but oneself takes the work outside of oneself. This removing of the work from the artist is in effect an objectification of it and in many ways in line with Marcel’s primary way of reflection. On the other hand, the creation of art solely for oneself takes the work completely into the self of the artist. This results in a great deal of personal investment and a clutching on to the works as a part of the self, because then it is just that. However, it is necessary to investigate Marcel’s idea of primary and secondary reflection here in order to understand the difference between the outer and inner portions of the self as they pertain to a creation of art.
Gabriel Marcel illustrates ways of reflection in his The Mystery of Being, Vol. 1 Reflection & Mystery. The distinction is made between primary and secondary reflection, and these are to serve us in an understanding of artistic creation. It is stated here that art plays a vital role in our society as a mode of being in the world. The thing which is the art and its practice serve as a way of life which affirms our existence in the world, and for it to retain this role it must be mostly taken by means of secondary reflection.
For Marcel, primary reflection is the standpoint of the onlooker. To reflect in the primary sense, is to be in a position of problem solving. The analytic and decomposing of such a reflection is an objective way of reflecting. The undesirable aspect of this is the detachment produced between that which is reflected upon and the one who is reflecting. We can objectively make a physical picture of something and therein exclude our participation. Marcel gives examples of how a person’s meaning of life is often an external activity, such as a job or another person. In this case, “a human life has always its centre outside itself; though it can be centred, certainly, on a very wide and diverse range of outside interests,” (Marcel 101).
Yet this sort of external meaning of life is such due to the fact that it is reflected on in the secondary sense. In opposition to primary reflection, secondary reflection is a way of unifying, of making whole, and of calling oneself into question. “…reflection is still part of life [and] it is one of the ways in which life manifests itself, or, more profoundly, that it is in a sense one of life’s ways of rising form one level to another,” (Marcel 101).
So, for art to enter into the problematic realm, and be considered by means of primary reflection, it becomes a problem in need of solving. This occurs in a formal analysis of art, such as is done academically. The taking of a painting, for instance, and studying it formally in the way that the composition is structured, its design elements, the choice of color and value, and so on, is a method of decomposition of the art itself. Such an activity objectifies the art. In objectifying it, we are completely removed from it and our personal investment in it is removed. In doing so, in such a detachment of ourselves from it, we can take it apart piece by piece and simply state an innumerable amount of truths about the art which really don’t tell us anything of value as it pertains to our lives and our position in the world.
When art is reduced to mere quantity or fact, it no longer assumes its role in our lives. Art is a means of communication on a fundamental level which calls upon us to regard it by means of secondary reflection. It is necessary to experience the art in order to be able to communicate with it on such a level, and in this unifying and making whole, we are called into question. We are shown a mode of being, or perhaps something about a mode of being, that is of vital importance.
However, this occurrence is not guaranteed precisely because of the fact that it can be taken by either primary or secondary reflection. In the primary sense, we are the onlooker. The one who sees the art and speaks with knowledge of techniques used and elements employed, but does so in a very passive manner. The onlooker can go on to every art piece in an exhibition in such a fashion, and leave just the same. It is all truly the same when things are reduced to the techniques that we all are familiar with and the colors which we have all seen a thousand times in our lives.
The way in which this art is taken by means of secondary reflection is an entirely different one. The one who does so reflects on the work as a participant. The participant comes and experiences the art, and the vital thing is that a dialogue is opened and a relationship formed. The participant comes with openness, and vulnerability as a result, to be with the art. The participant may be the creator, or someone who has come to see the work, but in either case an investment of personal magnitude is made. The participant comes to be present with the work and lets it come together in a unification and a making-whole of the experience in which both are present. It is the gift of the art and the courtesy of the participant to receive such a gift which makes this experience possible. And in being possible, it occurs if the willingness of the participant is rewarded, at which point the true mystery of what art is comes into the foreground. This is the role of art, and the way in which it manifests itself.
The need for this manifestation is in that it tells us of our condition in the world. By disclosing to us the situations, emotions, and scenes which art is a representation of, it sheds new light on them. We can begin to see these in that new light if it is our fortune that such a revelation is to occur. Furthermore, it is something beyond a revelation to us. It is a way of being in the world; the way of being in the world as a participant. By maintaining an open heart to this sort of relationship with art, we may begin to be open in the same way to the way which our senses present the world to is and be able to see that in itself as a piece of art. This is not a limitation or a state of being exclusive to artists, but it is one which is brought about in one instance by the existence of art in our culture.
By objectifying the arts, in a primary reflection if it, we become mere onlookers, however. Art is no longer dependent upon us, and it is no longer experiential in such a case. We must remain participants in the arts by letting it touch us and allowing for the relationship to be whole in a secondary means of reflection. Only by allowing for this to occur can the arts remain the thing which we need it to be. The thing which reminds us of what life is all about.
So neither the approach of creating art for entirely for others, nor completely for oneself, are fortifying of the artist’s way as a mode of being in the world. The most appropriate ways is this coming together of the two. It is not a merger, as has been pointed out, but, more specifically, a meeting of the outer and the inner work. It is the relationship between the work for others and the work for oneself in that it becomes both as a result of being each of these in part, but a simultaneously unified whole.
When the work is created with respect and an open heart, a dialogue is opened between the artist and the artwork. In this dialogue, the true nature of the artist and their ability can come to the surface, because the work is not forced into something that goes against the meeting of the work and the artist. As Bugbee writes, the way that he boys built the dam is indicative of this approach to art. It is a knowing and an answering of the call of the art that is the way. So too, “hours flowed into hours, and day after day we returned to gather boulders and rocks, staggering to the dam with the ones we could carry, and rolling up the big ones,” (Bugbee 44). In the end, the importance of such an endeavor is truly revealed. Bugbee once again writes, “How brief the flaming of that one tree each fall, reflected in our pond. How instant that touch of each leaf upon the live water. But one leaf in an instant touch upon the water is enough,” (45).
When the artist is finally able to discover why they wish to be the creator of art in the first place, and come to an understanding that he work is the result of a relationship between the artist and their art, then the artist can set out on the path of overcoming the obstacles noted herein. With the openness that comes from an understanding of the artistic relationship comes a willingness to move on in the artwork. The willingness to move beyond the ruts as they occur will leave the artist with a stronger relationship to his art. This is the case due to the fact that the overcoming of these ruts teaches the artist new ways of being in that relationship; as the situation itself is an opportunity of growth, like so many obstacles in so many situations. So too, the boys in the swamp were reluctant initially to the act of swamping. But in the end, “there was no mistake about the gladness of being in the swamp or the immanence of the wilderness there,” (Bugbee 43).
The understanding of the artistic relationship and the transcendence of the ruts which come into being on the path taken by an artist are a journey which most artists will face. By moving beyond the difficulties and cultivating their artistic relationship, one can find the opportunity to be a better artist, and to begin to see art in more than just one’s own work or that of others. The artistic way is a way of living, in that it is also a way of perceiving. When the artist develops their own way sufficiently, their mode of perception shifts to where all things perceived are art. This perception is something which inspires a great deal of wonder, and a great deal of appreciation for life. This is the essential centering experience which endures as the way of the artist. And the way of the artist is a mode of being in the world.
Works Cited
Bugbee, Henry. Inward Morning. Athens: U. of Georgia P., 1999.
Marcel, Gabriel. The mystery of Being, Vol. 1: Reflection & Mystery. Chicago: Gateway, 1960.
