"Those who do not want to imitate anything, produce nothing."
-- Dali
Well, I guess if I'd found this quote earlier, we wouldn't have had the fascinating discussion that started here. Whew. Dodged a bullet.
Wednesday, December 19, 2007
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9 comments:
You know, that's absolutely how it starts. You see something beautiful, and it inspires you to imitate it. The challenge then is to use the inspiration to make something that is satisfyingly your own. I've been seeking a style for years!
It's difficult for me to find my own artistic voice - in my younger years, when I was singing and acting, I considered myself an interpreter. And now with making stuff, I find that I do the same thing - interpret - often to the exclusion of my own voice. I love so many techniques and see so many things that I want to try that I haven't yet been successful in narrowing them down enough to consistently create pieces that are recognizably mine. But the journey is a blast!
Thanks, Lisa, for again making me think - it's all too rare nowadays.
I have got to stop making people think. It's a bad habit that could get me kilt one of these days...
I hear ya, girlie. We'll find our voices, sooner or later. Of course, I would prefer sooner. ;o)
I am glad i saw this. I just read the other post you wrote about the copying. I was at ARt and Soul this year for the first time and I came away very disillusioned.
Anyway, I think the Dali Lama knows a thing or two!
@mormar: She was quiting Salvador Dali, not the Dalai Lama.
@bloggingqueen: I found your voice behind the couch. You can have it back when you get home tonight. :-)
That quote is perfect!
Here is another:
Don't worry about your originality. You could not get rid of it even if you wanted to. It will stick to you and show up for better or worse in spite of all you or anyone else can do. --Robert Henry
I found this on one of Teesha Moore's journal pages. I read it every day.
I say, let's not give it another negative thought. Learn the skills and then wake up one morning and make something YOU love that takes your breath away. No fair saying it's bad. Make another with your new idea and get better. Then make another.
Catherine Witherell
If we're trading quotes...
"Every day we slaughter our finest impulses. That is why we get a heart-ache when we see pieces made by someone we admire and recognize them as our own, as the tender shoots which we stifled because we lacked the faith to believe in our own powers, our own criterion of truth and beauty. Every woman, when she gets quiet, when she becomes desperately honest with herself, is capable of uttering profound truths. We all derive from the same source. There is no mystery about the origin of things. We are all part of creation, all queens, all poets, all musicians; we have only to open up, to discover what is already there." -- (a quote by Henry Miller that I changed from being about male writers to being about female artists)
"When in doubt, make a fool of yourself. There is a microscopically thin line between being brilliantly creative and acting like the most gigantic idiot on earth. So what the hell, leap." -- Cynthia Heimel
"Style is knowing who you are, what you want to say, and not giving a damn." -- Gore Vidal
Great discussion and great quotes.
I still think the Dali Lama does know a thing or two...
That is what I get for not being detail oriented
Yeah evil greg, tell them all to put some swagger into it!
and mormar, you crack me up!
Catherine
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