Quotable Quotes

"A man who works with his hands is a laborer;
a man who works with his hands and his brain is a craftsman;
a man who works with his hands and his brain and his heart is an artist."
Louis Nizer
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"Life holds no promises as to what will come your way. You must search for your own ideals and work toward reaching them....If you are willing to take the opportunities you are given and utilize the abilities you have, you will constantly fill your life with special moments and unforgettable times."
Dena Dilaconi

Until the lion tells his story, you only hear the tales of the hunters.
African proverb

Art is not for the cultivated taste. It is to cultivate taste.
Nikki Giovanni
 
"Ideas must be put to the test. That's why we make things, otherwise they would be no more than ideas." Andy Goldsworthy
 
I tamed my personal art demon – the tendency to think about painting rather than actually painting – by throwing the stuff on the blank paper and telling myself I didn't care about the end result.
I believed it and was saved.
Rich Hawk

I don't wait for moods. You accomplish nothing if you do that.
Your mind must know it has to get down to work.
Pearl S. Buck

Process trumps plans. That's why our job is called "creative."
Robert Genn

Some people feel the rain. Others just get wet.
Bob Dylan

Art is when you hear a knocking from your soul - and you answer.
Terri Guillemets

"Your art isn’t for everyone.
Once you understand this, you’ll have an easier time
finding the people who appreciate your work."
Alyson Stanfield
 
"I think finding your voice is making the implicit explicit.
It is making what you already know on a subconscious level
conscious and repeatable."
Jessie Carty

"I tamed my personal art demon
 – the tendency to think about painting rather than actually painting –
by throwing the stuff on the blank paper and telling myself
I didn't care about the end result. I believed it and was saved."
Rich Hawk

"With age, art and life become one."
Georges Braque

"Never be afraid to do something new.
Remember, amateurs built the ark; professionals built the titanic".
Anonymous

Dealing with Procrastination

Last week there was a post about effective artist habits.

This week, the post is about a very ineffective habit in which many artists indulge - Procrastination

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"I tamed my personal art demon – the tendency to think about painting rather than actually painting – by throwing the stuff on the blank paper and telling myself I didn't care about the end result.

I believed it and was saved."

Rich Hawk

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"I don't wait for moods. You accomplish nothing if you do that.

Your mind must know it has to get down to work."

Pearl S. Buck

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Procrastination Videos - You'll really enjoy these!

Video 1 - Procrastination - John Kelly - 4 minute video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UXziurFkQxM
Video 2 - "Procrastination" Tales of Mere Existence - Lev Yilmaz - 1 1/2 minute video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4P785j15Tzk&feature=player_embedded  

          Video 3 - Overcoming Procrastination - Susan Gregg - 3 1/2 minute meditation video
          http://www.artofallowingclass.com/video/overcoming-procrastination  

Video 4 - Here and Now: Procrastination - Ellen Degeneres - 3:50 minute video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vU-0bF_sSas&feature=player_embedded#

Understanding and Overcoming Procrastination - Linda Dessau
http://www.genuinecoaching.com/articles/understanding-procrastination.html
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Unlearning the Art of Procrastination
http://coachcreative.com/abigcreativeyes/2010/03/14/unlearning-the-art-of-procrastination/
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The Little Guide to Beating Procrastination, Perfectionism and Blocks: A Manuel for Artists, Entrepreneurs, Academics and Other Ambitious Dreamsers - Hillary Rettig - 87-page free e-book - "The reason we have trouble overcoming procrastination is that procrastination is a sneaky, stealthy, doesn’t-fight-fair adversary. As you will see, it is expert at disguising itself and its effects, and at misleading you into trying the wrong solutions."

PDF version
http://lifelongactivist.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/The-Little-Guide-to-Beating-Procrastination.pdf .
Rich Text version
http://lifelongactivist.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/The-Little-Guide-to-Beating-Procrastination.rtf

Structured Procrastination
http://www.structuredprocrastination.com/

Quotable Quotes

"Women who strive to be equal to men
apparently have little to no ambition."
Edna (a.k.a. Anonymous Female Artist and Militant Art Bitch)

"Anytime a woman picks up a paintbrush,
it is indeed a feminist act, and by this fact alone,
every piece of art made by a woman is revolutionary."
Edna (a.k.a. Anonymous Female Artist and Militant Art Bitch)

"Think outside the box, collapse the box,
and take a f____g sharp knife to it."
Bansky

"Art is not a mirror held up to reality,
but a hammer with which to shape it."
Bertolt Brecht

"Artwork that is only about wanting to be famous
will never make you famous. Any fame is a by-product
of making something that means something.
You don't go to a restaurant and order a meal
because you want to have a shit."
Bansky

"Some of the greatest works of art and the
most important works of peace were created by people
who had no need for the limelight. They knew that
what they were doing was their call, and they did it
with great patience, perseverance, and love."
Henri Nouwen

"Fame and significance have nothing to do with one another"
Dennis Prager

"What is fame? The advantage of being known
by people of whom you yourself know nothing,
and for whom you care as little."
Lord Byron

"Accept that some days you’re the pigeon,
and some days you’re the statue."
Roger C. Anderson

"Move out of your comfort zone. You can only grow
if you are willing to feel awkward and uncomfortable
when you try something new."
Brian Tracy

"The creation of art is not the fulfillment of a need
but the creation of a need. The world never needed
Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony until he created it.
Now we could not live without it."
Louis Kahn

"When I stand before God at the end of my life
I would hope that I have not a single bit of talent left
and could say, "I used everything You gave me."
Erma Bombeck

Essential Services for Aging Artists

"Age gives you the freedom to do some things you've never done before.

Great work can come at any stage of your life."  Will Barnet

"With age, art and life become one." - Georges Braque

Essential Services for Aging Artists is a 233 page document that is the May 2006 final report to NYFA (New York Foundation for the Arts). It was produced by The H. John Heinz III School of Public Policy and Management at Carnegie Mellon University.

"The project’s goals were to gain a more thorough understanding of the problems and needs that visual artists face as they age, to research potential services that exist to address these needs, to pinpoint and explain needs still unmet, and to make recommendations for addressing these unmet needs."

The Overall Conclusions and Recommendations, and the Lessons Learned segments start on page 114. Also, be sure to look at Appendix H - the Artist Cheat Sheet. Additionally, there is an extensive Annotated List of Existing Services which, while a number of them are specific to the state of New York, many others are cited which are available to artists nationwide.

A copy of the survey used to collect the data is included - you may want to print it out and take it for yourself - use it as a tool for self-awareness and to help crystallize your thoughts about who you are as an artist.
http://www.heinz.cmu.edu/systems/report/51_FINAL%20SYSTEMS%20REPORT.pdf

You also may want to review the March 12, 2009 post on

Estate and Legacy Planning for Artists
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Artists and Aging: Better with Time - This is a 100-minute video of Part 1 of a 3-part professional development series sponsored by the Artist Trust and broadcast by the Seattle Channel: Taped on 4/24/10, it is "A discussion from a multidisciplinary panel of senior artists that have continued to create new work through the tides of personal and social change." Part 2 (Now and Forever: Legacy Planning for Artists) and Part 3 (Where There’s A Will There’s A Way: A Guide to Estate Planning for Artists) are not yet available.
http://www.seattlechannel.org/videos/video.asp?ID=5591041  

Quotable Quotes

I don't think artists can avoid being political. Artists are the proverbial canaries in the coalmine. When we stop singing, it's a sure sign of repressive times ahead. (Theresa Bayer)

There is only one art, whose sole criterion is the power, the authenticity, the revelatory insight, the courage and suggestiveness with which it seeks its truth. Thus, from the standpoint of the work and its worth it is irrelevant to which political ideas the artist as a citizen claims allegiance, which ideas he would like to serve with his work or whether he holds any such ideas at all. (Vaclav Havel)

Art does not solve problems, but makes us aware of their existence. It opens our eyes to see and our brain to imagine.~ Magdalena Abakanowicz

All great art comes from a sense of outrage. ~ Glenn Close

Art hath an enemy called ignorance. ~Ben Jonson

Art is the struggle to understand. ~Audrey Foris

The aim of art is to represent not the outward appearance of things, but their inward significance. ~Aristotle

Art is when you hear a knocking from your soul - and you answer. ~Star Richés

Art is not what you see, but what you make others see. ~ Edgar Degas

The Mind of the Artist: Thoughts and Sayings of Painters and Sculptors on their Art

This is a book edited by Cicely Margarte Powell Binyon that was published in 1909.

“It is always interesting and profitable to get the views
of workmen on their work, and on the principles which
guide them in it; and in bringing together these sayings
of artists Mrs. Binyon has done a very useful thing. A
great number of opinions are presented, which, in
their points of agreement and disagreement, bring
before us in the most charming way the wide range of
the artist's thought, and enable us to realise that the
work of the great ones is not founded on vague
caprice or so-called inspiration, but on sure intuitions
which lead to definite knowledge…”

Now out of copyright, it is available as a free e-book from different sites - some of them provide you with the option to download it in several different formats including PDF, HTML, TXT, RTF, and IPhone (among others):
http://www.gutenberg.org/files/18653/18653-h/18653-h.htm
http://infomotions.com/etexts/gutenberg/dirs/1/8/6/5/18653/18653.htm
http://manybooks.net/titles/various1865318653.html#
http://www.archive.org/details/mindofartistthou00binyuoft

United States Artists - Unapologetic in LA (Los Angeles)

United States Artists states:

Our Mission, with no apologies:

To nurture, support,

and strengthen the

work of America's

finest living artists

[emphasis added]

On Thursday, November 15, the United States Artists Fellows for 2007 were announced with an award ceremony in Los Angeles on Saturday, November 17.

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This unique organization is dedicated to providing significant funding and recognition to individual artists across a broad spectrum of disciplines. Following are quotations from some of the primary individuals who are intimately involved in making this resource for artists a reality:

"Bold vision and leadership are an irresistible combination for social investors. We hope this program acknowleges performance, helps sustain our artists, and inspires others to follow their creative instincts."
Douglas K. Freeman, USA National Leadership Committee; Chairman, Rose Foundation

“I am unapologetic about the unerring commitment to spanning this country, seeking the most innovative artists who represent the best of their medium, watching their excitement at the recognition, the network they are now part of, and the benefit they will derive from these resources.”
Judith Rodin, USA Board Member; President, Rockefeller Foundation

“It is important to nurture and honor the work of contemporary artists who take great personal risk to explore the outer edges of conventional thinking. They create an atmosphere in which we all can be more creative.”
Eli Broad, USA National Leadership Committee; Founder of the Broad Art Foundation

“I am unapologetic about rallying for recognition that our artists are indispensable resources for the life, economy, and legacy of the United States. I am unapologetic about enabling the support of USA Fellows, who represent the finest of American Creative practitioners, and about helping to bring them to the forefront of American awareness and appreciation.”
Samuel Hoi, USA Board Member; President, Otis college of Art and Design

“I am unapologetic about giving such talented artists the freedom to use USA’s support with no strings attached. If we want to foster artists’ creativity, we should allow creativity in the use of funds.”
Susan Berresford, Chair, USA Board of Directors; President, Ford Foundation

“I have learned how difficult it is to maintain financial security as an artist, even for some of our most celebrated, successful artists, and how few Americans appreciate that art comes from artists.”
Diane Kaplan, USA Board Member; President, Rasmuson Foundation

“We are unapologetic about going straight to the source in supporting individual artists rather than the circuitous route of supporting institutions.”
Arthur D. and Anne B. Collins, USA National Leadership Committee; Co-Chairs, Collins Family Foundation

“'Art comes from artists.’ This rallying cry from USA, I have really taken to heart. What has become clear to me is how complex it is to achieve the goal of making the public aware of this simple equation. I am part of the dream that is to have the contributions of artists and art making become part of the fabric of our society.”
Mark Bradford, USA Board Member; USA Broad Fellow 2006 in Visual Arts

“We are unapologetic about supporting excellence, originality, and the profound – uncoupling the need for deep thought and artistic innovation from the needs of commerce.”
Amada Cruz, USA Program Director

“With so many important causes to support in this country – such as poverty, medical research, and education – the arts are often ‘low man on the totem pole.’ I often feel the burden of having to justify supporting the arts. USA just does it: Here’s the money. Take it. Do what you must. USA puts into context why creativity, expression, imagination, and innovation are crucial to the health and prosperity of our country and the human spirit.”
Gillian Early, USA Board Member

“We are unapologetic about respecting and valuing the work of artists – both their external products, which bring us enjoyment, as well as the intrinsic process that produces the work.”
Susan and Pat Stevens, USA National Leadership Committee

“Contemporary art has often been controversial and difficult to support. United States Artists has made a powerful commitment to supporting living artists and, through its example, makes the rest of us wonder if we shouldn’t be doing the same.”
Paul Ha, USA Panelist 2006, Visual Arts; Director, Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis

“Being an artist is hard. Being creative is hard. Being original is hard. The artists I have met approach their work with the same rigor, dedication, discipline, and intellectual honesty that any scientist, inventor, academic, or philosopher does. Heck, these artists are, among other things, scientists, academics, inventors, and philosophers!”
Todd Simon, USA Board Member; Senior Vice President, Omaha Steaks

Quotable Quote - Lyndon Baines Johnson

" Our civilization will largely survive in the works of our creation. There is a quality in art which speaks across the gulf dividing man from man and nation from nation, and century from century. That quality confirms the faith that our common hopes may be more enduring than our conflicting hostilities. Even now men of affairs are struggling to catch up with the insights of great art. The stakes may well be the survival of civilization. "

Lyndon Baines Johnson

Artists Speak About Their Art and Spirituality

One of the commitments made as part of our grant proposal to explore the interrelationship(s) between creativity and spirituality was development of a guide to relevant resources, primarily those accessible online. This was a task that I personally undertook to produce, and a 116 page document was submitted at program end on the group's behalf. It included a section which was a compilation of quotations by artists speaking about the role
spirituality plays in their art. A few of them are as follows:

“My quilts are not just connections of varied fabrics. They evoke my sense of spirituality and have their own rhythmic movements that relate to my personal connections with the past, present and prayerfully, the future experiences I hope to encounter.”
Diane Pryor-Holland (fiber artist) http://www.blackerthanthouart.com/site/diane.html

“I am exploring the mysterious and intuitive link between spiritual expression and creative practice."
Wasma'a Chorbachi (ceramist) http://www.wasmaa.com/

“My aim was to create a building…which emotionally moved the soul of the visitor toward a sometimes unexpected realization.”
Daniel Libeskind (architect)
http://www.daniel-libeskind.com/projects/index.html

“My responsibility as a painter is to serve as agent to connect the viewer with something beyond my own perceptions and impulses, beyond objects and beyond the literal.”
M. Kathryn Massey (painter) http://www.masseyfineart.com/

“To create sculpture is to confront our dual nature as both spirit and body. The work must express spirit and speak to the spirit of the person who views it. And yet the work must be embodied. Making sculpture is intensely physical. Doing the work means working with and upon certain materials. It is out of this wrestling with form and matter that spirit can be known.”
Kathryn Field (sculptor) http://www.kathrynfield.com/

“I search for the signature of the Spirit.”
Chester Higgins, Jr. (photographer) http://www.chesterhiggins.com/

“There is an essential link between my creating art and the spiritual. Deeply felt experiences in my life are transformed by my art as part of my personal search for the spiritual and the sacred.”
Tricia Milford (fiber sculptor) http://www.cup.edu/nu_upload/Journal_11_13.pdf

"My connection with the stone involves spirituality and reverence for the spirit that dwells within. It has been on this earth much longer than man and for this reason the stone becomes the teacher, it is simply what my ancestors believe. I am the mediator between the stone and the tools; the stone and the viewer. I visualize what the stone wants to become and I strive to help it blossom.”
Cliff Fragua (sculptor) http://www.singingstonestudio.com/

"My challenge is to master unique compositions of spiritual significance. I desire to visually engross the viewer through powerful expressive works. I paint from an intuitive point of view. During this process the ‘spirits take possession’ and a ritual theme becomes dominant.”
Bernard Stanley Hoyes (painter) http://www.bernardhoyes.com/

“I write because life is awesome, because it holds beauty, and at the edge of beauty, a sense of terror. It calls me to risk opening my eyes, to look into the glare. It is an act of faith, for not only must I look into the light, I must look into the dark.”
Jean Janzen (poet) http://www.lineonline.org/JJpoem.html

“We have the power and the responsibility to shape new forms in the landscape, physical and spatial forms that will sustain and nourish, and poetically express that all-important intangible, the human condition at its spiritual best.”
Fay Jones (architect) http://www.fayjones.org/

“For me, both art and spirituality are truly about tending to the moments of life. Listening deeply, holding space, encountering the sacred, touching eternity. For a moment we touch time beyond time and in that quality of presence my heart grows wider, my imagination frees, my breath catches, and I am held in awe and wonder. We know we have touched this moment when we are moved by something beyond us yet also rising from deep within. We may be moved to tears or to laughter, or maybe both. In these moments the particulars of the world open us up to a great expanse. We suddenly see the other world hidden in the heart of this one. We may not know exactly why or how, but we know we have been touched and gently transformed, invited into greater compassion for ourselves and the world. In these moments words fail me and I want to sing and dance and cry poems from the center of my being. I try to capture them in images as a doorway to the next moment.”
Christine Valters Paintner (photographer)
http://abbeyofthearts.com/writing-art/photography/

“My work in fiber arts reflects the constant changes I experience in my personal and spiritual life. I use my work to explore the forces of nature and the mysteries of the soul.”
Doshi (fiber artist) http://www.doshifiberart.com/

“In my work I explore the relationship between violent destructive impulses in the world and the power of spirituality to overcome them. There is a delicate balance between the natural forces, human impulse (destructive and constructive), and an underlying spiritual presence in the world which assists in turning destructive aspects of our behavior into peaceful ones, the outcome being beauty and harmony. This struggle is manifested and presented in its final form in the finished piece of art work. In this way, each piece that I make, whether it is a sculpture, painting or drawing on wood, is a result of this process.”
Tanya Bell (sculptor & mixed media)
http://www.saatchi-gallery.co.uk/yourgallery/artist_profile/Tanya+Bell/5265.html

Quotable Quote - Amy Lindenberger

“Trying to distill a complex, multi-faceted subject into a single, representative image can rob the concept of its depth. Working in a series allows me to immerse myself in my subject by fully exploring and analyzing it. Each new drawing teaches me something new -- not only about the topic but about my art and creative process -- and each completed drawing suggests the path to the next one. I’m asked how many drawings I plan to include in this series. There’s no way to know. As long as the process remains intriguing and new ideas continue to unfold, I’ll enjoy the journey.”

Amy Lindenberger

Quotable Quote - Ben Shahn

“I believe that if it were left to artists to choose their own labels, most would choose none.”

Ben Shahn

Quotable Quote - Mary Kay Ash

"There are two things people want more than
sex and money... recognition and praise."

Mary Kay Ash

Quotable Quote - Earl G. Graves

"We keep going back, stronger, not weaker, because we will not allow rejection to beat us down. It will only strengthen our resolve. To be successful there is no other way."

Earl G. Graves

Quotable Quote - Jacob Getlar Smith

"The artist should be a seeing-eye dog

for a myopic civilization."

Jacob Getlar Smith

Quotable Quote - Amy Lowell

"Art is the desire of a man to express himself, to record the reactions of his personality to the world he lives in."

Amy Lowell, US critic & poet (1874 - 1925)

Quotable Quote - Lori Haigh

"....If art doesn't make you think, it isn't doing it's job. But art, like life, isn't beautiful all the time." - Lori Haigh, Owner Capobianco Gallery (http://creativityjourney.blogspot.com/2007/07/could-this-happen-to-you-and-your-art.html)

Quotable Quote - Robert Dalton

Lyric took issue with the one-sidedness of the earlier quote by Photographer Isaac. I think she's right - there is a need for some balance and I think the following quote by Robert Dalton helps to provide it.

We need beauty in our lives. We're hard-wired for it, and this need has been with us since the earliest human groupings. Creating art allows us to express our deepest feelings and ideas without having to put a name to them. Robert Dalton

Quotable Quote - Photographer Isaac

I believe art---even at its most beautiful---is at the core, motivated by pain. That is because art is made by human beings and as human beings, pain is what motivated everything we do. We are either causing it or running from it or facing it, but pain is always there, bracketing what we do. To get more mystical, we are born of pain, we live in pain, and we die in pain. There is, in my opinion, no way to make authentic art and in our case, pure and moving photographs, without feeling and showing pain---sometimes ours and sometimes that of our subjects.
Earlene Fowler, Broken Dishes

David Walker has a page of wonderful quotations on his website:

http://davidwalker.us/Pages/WORDS_HOME.html

Quotable Quote - Vinita Hampton Wright

“You can’t do art casually if it’s going to powerful art, if it’s going to be art that makes a difference to people.” Vinita Hampton Wright

The art referenced in the previous posts (Amigos Muertos by Jonathan Shannon, 25 Years of Virginity: A Self-Portrait by Christine Enedy, DARkly FURgotten, the piece in process of being created by Patricia Turner) are all examples of artists who are seeking for their art to have meaning. Over the next week, a series of incisive articles on this topic will be posted.

Quotable Quote - Bo Bennett

"It is not rejection itself that people fear, it is the possible consequences of rejection. Preparing to accept those consequences and viewing rejection as a learning experience that will bring you closer to success, will not only help you to conquer the fear of rejection, but help you to appreciate rejection itself."