by TASI Executive Director, Greg Busceme, Sr.
Thanks to all who came to participate in the Gumbo Clayfest ‘23 on July 6. The artists are jazzed to come back next year, and hopefully more artists will be presented! Look for a kiln workshop next February with Gary “Greenie” Greenberg, Tom Belden, Chris Leonard and possibly Steven Erickson, among others. The public is invited to participate and take part in a workshop that rarely occurs. Kilns last for decades!
Now this is what I want to talk about: art is a journey. We travel through our own landscapes and see what our eyes and mind can conjure. Our paths are as varied as we are. Each artist has a unique journey that has its own dangers and hills to climb, but there are clear paths that move you forward if you are progressive and determined.
Along the way there are dark and muddy roads where the light is shaded, and the path is difficult. Many stop right there, turn around and return to the world of everyone else’s art. Their artistic journey has ended, but they may continue creating art inspired by others.
There are other artists who will slog through the difficult, dark and muddy path who see no end. However, they continue; they don’t give up! The spring of hope is eternal in true artists. Finally, they round a corner, knee deep in mud, insect-bitten and covered with the stings of failure they encountered along the way. The struggling artist finds a sunlit clearing where all the ideas – good and bad – have resolved themselves. Now, the creation they have sought is in right front of them.
Wassily Kandinsky felt the creative path we must take is the one less taken. In his view, making art that has already been done (i.e. portraits, landscapes, realism) was an exercise in futility. Every artist is obligated to present a work that has no reference to any art before its making. Kandinsky found non-representational art – work that has no reference images of objects or people in any way. His path was deep and dark, and it took a long time to come out on the other side with an idea whose time had come. Artists needed to hear how Kandinsky did it. What will be the next deep artistic revelation that will blow our doors away?
If your work comes too easily, maybe your path is not challenging enough. It is not enough to make an image; it requires that the image brings something new to the world of art and is not a copy of a classical style. This is the true nature of what creativity is all about. Reflect what is happening in our world right now. There is so much to say and much to take in and process!
My hope is that no matter how hard the path, do not quit. Perseverance is a virtue of artists. So, keep making work; the work is the path. The goals you set are the darkness of not knowing what to make and the unsure footing of your own self-doubt. Most importantly, all of you who make art of any kind or skill level, have taken on a heroic task that most people are not even aware exists: the miracle of creation – the self-imposed burden we lovingly drag through our life with bright, brave and creative spirits. Never give up your dream.