Mark Tobey on artistic craft
I've been reading this great book Janel lent me, called The Eighth Lively Art: Conversations with Painters, Poets, Musicians, & the Wicked Witch of the West. From the back of the book:
As a young artist and musician Wesley Wehr became a friend and often a confidant of many of the painters, poets, and musicians who lived or worked in the Northwest in the 1950s and 1960s. Drawing on his journals, Wehr provides an engaging, intriguing, and informative series of vignettes [of many of these people].
Yesterday, I ran into two comments from painter Mark Tobey that I particularly enjoyed:
"My friend Takesaki used to tell me, 'Let nature take over in your work. Get yourself out of the way when you paint.' But, as it is wisely said in Zen: 'You must be prepared before the fire can take over.' This is what I mean when I say that an artist should concentrate on his technique, so that he has a mastery of his craft. Then, when inspiration arrives, its expression will not be hampered by some lack of mastery of craft. Unless you know how to move your fingers on the piano, how to play the notes, how can you make music? But, mind you, you should develop your technique expressively.""You must have roots. You have to care about things and be excited by them. Young artists want to be 'original' too soon, so they're afraid of being influenced. What they end up with is a few gimmicks, which they call their style. I was interested in everything when I was young. You can waste yourself trying to be original -- that comes later. And don't squander your life trying to be your hometown's most fashionable painter! You just have to work and work and work until a real personality emerges."
Joshua Edelstein, on Monday, April 26, 2004 at 9:05 AM:
I agree with this completely. I'm into a huge variety of music, and draw little bits from everything I listen to. I can list many of the specific influences that go into my bass playing, and am probably subconsciously incorporating even more. My own perception is that I'm mostly unoriginal, but audiences and even other musicians say I've "got a unique style." It's how one combines that which one has borrowed that makes something unique or greater than the sum of its parts.
I mean, I only know how to play twelve notes, but for some reasons the songs each sound different!
Michelle, on Thursday, April 29, 2004 at 5:36 PM:
We went to look at the Waldorf School as a possible preschool for Alex. In one of the classrooms we noticed a whole bunch of nearly identical drawings of pumpkins. Later, we were talking to another couple, both of whom happen to be graphic artists, and they mentioned that it really bothered them to see children's creativity squashed that way and they were no longer considering that school. When I was reading some of the school's materials later, they made the same argument as Mark Tobey about the neccesity of learning technique. They also mentioned that in the upper grades, students produced art of both incredible quality and diversity.