I'll try to tell you a bit about my art making Process.
Whereas an artist's statement (the Why) will change from subject to subject, from one body of work to the next, an artist's process tends to be more consistent. An artist's process is made up of work habits, preferences of materials, as well as influences of culture, biography, beliefs, and so on.
Perhaps another way to say it is that an artist's process is where the Who, the How and the What intersect, with the Why, being the most variable.
The title of my site and blog, "ART / LIFE, how it all becomes one and the same," says a lot about my process. I find inspiration in the surprising and random connections between everyday things and how they can affect the way I see and relate to my world. What I am experiencing in a day to day way tends to show up in my art.
Indirectly. Metaphorically. Poetically. Suggested, abstracted, extracted: I don't illustrate, I integrate.
Painting abstractions based on granite cliffs in Maine, rift with deep, ancient fissures was my grieving a fractured, lost relationship.
Mixed media pieces recalling Venn diagrams reflected the overlaps and organization of my new relationship and new life.
An antique baby dress collaged into a chaotic landscape is about loss and war and refugees.
Hand strung necklaces with tiny gemstones and glass beads are meditations on the colors of the sunrises I'd see when I'd get up every morning before dawn to give my old dog his necessary medicine. Now, they are mementos of those last days..There were a lot sunrise painting then, too.
The style and materials that I work in varies from series to series, based on what I feel will best communicate my intention. I frequently mix media.
I very often paint over old paintings: I love the depth and history that reads through the surface. I feel that any 'finished' art piece is just at a pause in a long continuum of its' potential evolution.
I work best alone, or with Rothko the Wonderdog.
I love art, and art history, I love sussing out what the Great Ones did, how they tackle certain issues in their art making. Beginning as a child in art classes at the Nelson-Atkins Museum in Kansas City, Missouri, I developed the habit of referring to the masters, observing, analyzing and learning from their firebrand examples.
I look at a lot of great art, I study great artists. Consequently, I set the bar high on critiquing my own art.
I believe that content trumps craft, but that excellent craftsmanship definitely elevates expression.
Good craftsmanship alone cannot justify a weak concept.
I believe that 'art' that subsists on technique for its' own sake is sacrilege.
As much as I am charmed by the idea of a muse or guiding spirit informing my work, I have been at this long enough to take full accountability for what I make, the good and the ...not finished yet. I have put in a lifetime of becoming who I am, learning what I need to know, going deep, showing up for work, doing the heavy lifting. I get full credit, or blame, for what I make, not some unreliable muse who may or may not show up for work on time. The muse can drop in for a cup of coffee and a chat later.
If that sounded cynical, let me add...it is in the act of making art that I feel I come closest to my most honest, best self. I am making something for the pure act of creation, which is a small miracle, something that I am deeply grateful to be able to do. I am reflecting on beauty and pain, on the world and my place in it, on the paradoxical, humbling human condition. There is empathy, and compassion that reaches beyond the personal. There is a numinous, timeless, egoless flow when I am in the zone that is a pure feeling of LOVE. And, well, that is divine.
.
Diane Santarella Lawrence, November 7, 2017
Whereas an artist's statement (the Why) will change from subject to subject, from one body of work to the next, an artist's process tends to be more consistent. An artist's process is made up of work habits, preferences of materials, as well as influences of culture, biography, beliefs, and so on.
Perhaps another way to say it is that an artist's process is where the Who, the How and the What intersect, with the Why, being the most variable.
The title of my site and blog, "ART / LIFE, how it all becomes one and the same," says a lot about my process. I find inspiration in the surprising and random connections between everyday things and how they can affect the way I see and relate to my world. What I am experiencing in a day to day way tends to show up in my art.
Indirectly. Metaphorically. Poetically. Suggested, abstracted, extracted: I don't illustrate, I integrate.
Painting abstractions based on granite cliffs in Maine, rift with deep, ancient fissures was my grieving a fractured, lost relationship.
Mixed media pieces recalling Venn diagrams reflected the overlaps and organization of my new relationship and new life.
An antique baby dress collaged into a chaotic landscape is about loss and war and refugees.
Hand strung necklaces with tiny gemstones and glass beads are meditations on the colors of the sunrises I'd see when I'd get up every morning before dawn to give my old dog his necessary medicine. Now, they are mementos of those last days..There were a lot sunrise painting then, too.
The style and materials that I work in varies from series to series, based on what I feel will best communicate my intention. I frequently mix media.
I very often paint over old paintings: I love the depth and history that reads through the surface. I feel that any 'finished' art piece is just at a pause in a long continuum of its' potential evolution.
I work best alone, or with Rothko the Wonderdog.
I love art, and art history, I love sussing out what the Great Ones did, how they tackle certain issues in their art making. Beginning as a child in art classes at the Nelson-Atkins Museum in Kansas City, Missouri, I developed the habit of referring to the masters, observing, analyzing and learning from their firebrand examples.
I look at a lot of great art, I study great artists. Consequently, I set the bar high on critiquing my own art.
I believe that content trumps craft, but that excellent craftsmanship definitely elevates expression.
Good craftsmanship alone cannot justify a weak concept.
I believe that 'art' that subsists on technique for its' own sake is sacrilege.
As much as I am charmed by the idea of a muse or guiding spirit informing my work, I have been at this long enough to take full accountability for what I make, the good and the ...not finished yet. I have put in a lifetime of becoming who I am, learning what I need to know, going deep, showing up for work, doing the heavy lifting. I get full credit, or blame, for what I make, not some unreliable muse who may or may not show up for work on time. The muse can drop in for a cup of coffee and a chat later.
If that sounded cynical, let me add...it is in the act of making art that I feel I come closest to my most honest, best self. I am making something for the pure act of creation, which is a small miracle, something that I am deeply grateful to be able to do. I am reflecting on beauty and pain, on the world and my place in it, on the paradoxical, humbling human condition. There is empathy, and compassion that reaches beyond the personal. There is a numinous, timeless, egoless flow when I am in the zone that is a pure feeling of LOVE. And, well, that is divine.
.
Diane Santarella Lawrence, November 7, 2017
Rothko the Wonderdog looking across the yard at Skip's studio...or maybe a squirrel.
