Re: Judges' comments

[P3D Don Chaps <dchaps@xxxxxxx>]

On Tue, 17 Sep 1996, P3D John Bercovitz wrote:

>    
> I don't easily understand the making of art.  I think people such 
> as Dr. T and Eddie Hosey play by sense of smell like Tommy the Who.  
> Erlys talked about judges' comments.  I wonder if it would be a 
> good idea to make a FAQ of them. If I could keep enough of them in 
> mind all at once, I might be able to at least not make obvious 
> errors when I try to make a composition.  Probably a flawed 
> premise, but I'll give it a go.
>  
This is dangerous territory for someone like me who can be charm 
impaired. I've taught visual design and photography ranging from 
students in a school 
of architecture to 11 year olds. The meaning of Art is always the big 
question. Like other big questions - What is the meaning of Life?, Is 
there a God? Was the Realist created by Divine Intervention? - sometimes 
one learns more talking about the subject than by trying to answer the 
question. Personally, I feel about it the way some religons feel about 
the Name of God. You learn, you study, you devote yourself to learning - 
but you don't utter the Name out loud. Jump over a few cultures, and 
consider it a koan. What is a great photo but a bent light koan? 

Let's first give the evasive, but correct answer. "Art is what artists 
do." Consider explaining love and the answer might not seem so silly.

There is a way to discuss this that is a little oblique, but more 
productive. But first I'd like to respond to the assertion that you can 
point a camera randomly and some of the result would be Art. It might be 
instructive to agree and ask "At what point does it become Art?" At the 
point you looked through the prints and selected? 

Art is a act of destruction. It takes a feeling, a meaning and redefines 
it in the viewer. It destroys the previous meaning. Art is an act of 
selection. Think of a block of marble and the final sculpture. Is it 
possible that a stream of random images might, by virtue of being 
selected and separated from their surroundings, give you insight into 
their form and force you to examine commonplace objects in a way you 
never did before? Might you then be changed, and never look at these 
objects the same way? If that occurred, could we call this Art? This all 
leads to the oblique method referenced above.

I just finished teaching photography to a group of 11 and 12 year olds. 
I have a daughter this age. I used a view camera and Polaroid film to 
direct them in their discovery of light and photography. Part of every 
session we'd talk or look at books and photographs. One of the 
continuing questions we'd talk about is "What is the difference between 
an art and a craft?". I proposed that there was a difference between Art 
and Craft. I challenged the kids with my assertion that music can be art 
but cooking can only be a craft. Of course, they disagreed with me and we 
carried this discussion forward all year. The kids got pretty good 
at defining my assignments into Art and Craft. And by the end of the year a 
few kids really "got" it, and understood all the attention to the craft 
side and what that meant.

Since I'm sure you don't want me to stretch this out for a year (does it 
seem like a year already since you started reading this post?), I'll 
point in the direction of MY answer to this question. Art can change a 
person's life. Back in the days when war was debated publically, I know 
people whose lives changed from seeing Picasso's Guernica. Think of the 
feelings of love, patriotism, or solitude that music can instill. I love 
food, but have never met anyone who has had their life changed by a well 
formed puff pastry. Consider the music versus the pastry Napolean has 
inspired. Which has stirred people and changed their lives? 

Maybe we should look at this like a police case. We are just witnesses. 
We don't know who Art is. But call the sketch artist, and we'll describe 
him.





> So how about it?  If you like, could you think of judges' comments 
> and send them to me (bercov@xxxxxxxxxx) or to the list (keeping 
> the subject line intact so I can find them) and then I will make 
> up a FAQ.  I'll kick off the process with a few I've heard.
>  
> 
> John B
> 
> 
An exercise from my course.

I passed out small black matboards with a hole in proportion to the film 
we were using. The assignment was to go out and find a curve you like. 
Find shapes that make you feel something. Isolate them using the card. 
Try not to put into words what you feel. Look around to find more of 
these curves, of these shapes. 

Find your own visual vocabulary. Don't try to learn rules that will 
please judges. Or I'll flunk you. Oops, damn, that doesn't work here.


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