Chapter Six Jeweled Mirror
In this chapter John Daido Loori is instructing us on how to be a ‘creative audience’. Certainly, a similar process to opening our creativity for the purpose of making art. This is different from ‘criticism’, this is exploring artwork in an intuitive, open way. Experiencing it without words, thought, memories and just seeing where the art takes us. How a work of art makes us FEEL. And thus, discovering what sort of impact our work has on others.
There is certainly a place for art criticism. French poet and philosopher Paul Valéry defined art criticism as “..a form of literature which condenses or amplified, emphasizes or arranges or attempts to bring into harmony all the ideas that come to the mind when it is confronted by artistic phenomena”. But this creative audience is more personal, more a direct response from our peers to our art.
It is important to be comfortable with the group of people we choose. To feel safe and trusting. We all know how easily we can be discouraged, even made to feel terribly inadequate when having our work analyzed, criticized, examined and discussed in harsh and rough terms.
Although I’ve had my artwork critiqued by arts professionals over my career (which never fails to terrify me), I’ve not been part of such a group as this. I do have friends I can ask to look at certain pieces to get their opinion, but they are all people I trust and know they are sincere and honest. I do want honesty, not someone telling me what they think I want to hear. But as an aspiring writer, I’ve been a member of a ‘writers support group’. The number of participants has ranged from 5 to 7 over the years. I’ve learned so much from this group. And there was never any negative feedback. Not allowed! Never a negative atmosphere. We discussed what worked and why. I learned and grew from this association. It was also a wonderful impetus for me to write.
So from my experience there is great advantage to having a group of people we trust to let us know if we are accomplishing what we intend to accomplish with our artwork.
What about your experiences with feedback? Please share.
I think being an artist makes us very vulnerable, we put ourselves out in the world in a way that no one else does.
MEITOU'S PROMPT
Hello everyone and welcome to the prompt for Chapter 6.
As Anne has pointed out above, this chapter looks at creative feedback – but worry not, this prompt will not be asking you to critique the work of other members in this group, or indeed your own work – although we may come back to that at a later date. Instead I'd like us to enter into this frame of thinking in a simpler and more direct way.
After having carefully read through the chapter and the exercises described by Evelyn Underhill and JDL, I'd like you to cast your mind back to something you have read, seen, heard, experienced, that affected you profoundly and then try to express how it made you feel. I've found that often it's a 'first' – the first book, poem, song, film, image that really moved something within me, something that resonated really deeply, that changed my way of thinking or my outlook. This response, more often than not, can be elusive when trying to capture it in words, unquantifiable, ineffable – and I feel that it's precisely this that distinguishes it from critique or opinion.
I've always liked this quote from French writer Albert Camus ( which obviously applies equally to women!)
“ A man's work is nothing but this slow trek to rediscover through the detours of art, those two or three great and simple images in whose presence his heart first opened.”
Can you find again one, two or three things which opened your heart? Write as much or as little as you want and perhaps add an image or link to the work that inspired you. Let all judgement and more importantly, fear of judgement drop away, let your feelings shape the words and liberate them – and of course, have fun.
We are both so grateful for your interest and participation in this project. So much to learn from each other!
Gassho
Anne & Meitou
webothsattoday
In this chapter John Daido Loori is instructing us on how to be a ‘creative audience’. Certainly, a similar process to opening our creativity for the purpose of making art. This is different from ‘criticism’, this is exploring artwork in an intuitive, open way. Experiencing it without words, thought, memories and just seeing where the art takes us. How a work of art makes us FEEL. And thus, discovering what sort of impact our work has on others.
There is certainly a place for art criticism. French poet and philosopher Paul Valéry defined art criticism as “..a form of literature which condenses or amplified, emphasizes or arranges or attempts to bring into harmony all the ideas that come to the mind when it is confronted by artistic phenomena”. But this creative audience is more personal, more a direct response from our peers to our art.
It is important to be comfortable with the group of people we choose. To feel safe and trusting. We all know how easily we can be discouraged, even made to feel terribly inadequate when having our work analyzed, criticized, examined and discussed in harsh and rough terms.
Although I’ve had my artwork critiqued by arts professionals over my career (which never fails to terrify me), I’ve not been part of such a group as this. I do have friends I can ask to look at certain pieces to get their opinion, but they are all people I trust and know they are sincere and honest. I do want honesty, not someone telling me what they think I want to hear. But as an aspiring writer, I’ve been a member of a ‘writers support group’. The number of participants has ranged from 5 to 7 over the years. I’ve learned so much from this group. And there was never any negative feedback. Not allowed! Never a negative atmosphere. We discussed what worked and why. I learned and grew from this association. It was also a wonderful impetus for me to write.
So from my experience there is great advantage to having a group of people we trust to let us know if we are accomplishing what we intend to accomplish with our artwork.
What about your experiences with feedback? Please share.
I think being an artist makes us very vulnerable, we put ourselves out in the world in a way that no one else does.
MEITOU'S PROMPT
Hello everyone and welcome to the prompt for Chapter 6.
As Anne has pointed out above, this chapter looks at creative feedback – but worry not, this prompt will not be asking you to critique the work of other members in this group, or indeed your own work – although we may come back to that at a later date. Instead I'd like us to enter into this frame of thinking in a simpler and more direct way.
After having carefully read through the chapter and the exercises described by Evelyn Underhill and JDL, I'd like you to cast your mind back to something you have read, seen, heard, experienced, that affected you profoundly and then try to express how it made you feel. I've found that often it's a 'first' – the first book, poem, song, film, image that really moved something within me, something that resonated really deeply, that changed my way of thinking or my outlook. This response, more often than not, can be elusive when trying to capture it in words, unquantifiable, ineffable – and I feel that it's precisely this that distinguishes it from critique or opinion.
I've always liked this quote from French writer Albert Camus ( which obviously applies equally to women!)
“ A man's work is nothing but this slow trek to rediscover through the detours of art, those two or three great and simple images in whose presence his heart first opened.”
Can you find again one, two or three things which opened your heart? Write as much or as little as you want and perhaps add an image or link to the work that inspired you. Let all judgement and more importantly, fear of judgement drop away, let your feelings shape the words and liberate them – and of course, have fun.
We are both so grateful for your interest and participation in this project. So much to learn from each other!
Gassho
Anne & Meitou
webothsattoday
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