"Spring is nature's way of saying, 'Let's Party!' " Robin Williams
The week has flown by largely due to preparation work for a photography workshop that I and three other photographers, Stan Buman, Bruce Morrison and Don Poggensee, are giving at Iowa Lakes Community College in Emmetsburg, Iowa this Saturday. My preparation went well until I realized that it would be a good idea to give a power point program, since the equipment was going to be available for such a presentation. There was only one problem...I have never done a power point! Yes, I've fallen asleep during many power point presentations, but never have had the need to expound on anything that required such preparation. Pigs, my former workmates, rarely had need of this sort of educational approach since they usually can find the feed trough and the water source and their innate curiosity usually takes care of the rest of the day. Needless to say, I did enjoy the opportunity to explore another method/medium and I think it will come in handy down the road...you know, power points on how men load a washing machine, or power points on how men shop in a more logical manner than women...that sort of thing. I'm sure the rest of the world that follows YouTube would find it utterly fascinating.
During the week I was notified by my good friend Robbie at the Lanesboro Art Center that I needed to fill out some forms for a future spotlight show and prepare and artist statement. I had no trouble with the form, but I just can't understand the need for artist statements. In my small way of thinking I figure if I hang a few prints that are photographic in medium and nature in theme everyone should be able to figure out that I might be a nature photographer, right? Furthermore, if I have a few black and white's sprinkled among the color work, they could also make a pretty close assumption that I might be, just possibly, multi-talented within the art of photography. So what's all this fuss about having to throw some words on paper explaining a persons artistic journey and inspirational output?
Being pretty much stymied by this assignment, and really not wanting to do it (like when I didn't do most of my French assignments in college), I thought I could get some direction and maybe even some inspiration at looking at a few tutorials on the mechanics and some examples in the art world. After spending a few minutes bouncing through the web I came to a couple of clear opinions. There are a lot of artists that think pretty highly of themselves and/or their work and for every paragraph spent on blubbering about ones own artistic prowess or explaining the intuitive adventure of paintbrush patterns, the quality of their artwork seems to diminish equally. For some reason, and I know that I'm a little slow in the area of artistic expertise, I'm of the old fashioned notion that a piece of art should really speak for itself. If it doesn't the artist hasn't done a very good job of perfecting his or her expression of the craft.
With a great deal of prompting by my wife I was finally able to grind out a couple of lines about what I do and why I do it, but I still think that the simple phrase "I make photographs" should be sufficient. If not, then I haven't done a very good job of stating my case with my art and all the framing and matting in China wouldn't make the work any more defining.
For more views of my work visit:
"A Piece Of Work", Spirit Lake, Iowa www.apieceofworkinc.com
Art Of The Vine Gallery http://www.artofthevinegallery.com
Artisans Road Trip www.artisansroadtrip.com
http://www.betterphoto.com/Premium/Default.aspx?id=251674&mp=V1
