Why go to art school?

Via an article on Hyperallergic I asked myself the question WhyDidYouGoToArtSchool? the other day... and I do have an answer for that. You see one of my professors asked us, in beginning drawing I think, why were we there? Was it because college is just what you do and we hadn't thought to question that progression? Was it because we were truly drawn to art education? What was our reasoning? I had trouble answering the question at the time, but after consideration I did have some answers, although not a lot of confidence to back it up. Now that more time has passed, and I revisit the question, I can say it with certaintly and a few more anecdotal details: 

As for college in and of itself - I think I did largely go because, in my family, that's what you did. Being aware of that fact at least made me be cognizant of my time, add the financial burden that landed on me in order to stay there, and I made an effort to make use of the resources that were available to me at school. I specifically chose to go to a university for the breadth of subject matter and because I am not inherently a competive person; which from my understanding was a necessary trait to succeed in the more specific art schools. 

Why Art though? I found while considering another major that I couldn't stand the thought of not making art for one. When I expressed hesitation about being good enough at art to explore it professionally, I received the answer of "that's why you go to learn - you study and train to become better." Finally, I was very very frustrated with my art, I couldn't give it up but at the same time the only feedback I felt I got was praise - even though I was dissatisfied with the work myself - so I 
needed a more constructive, transformative environment in which to seek out a new direction.

I felt I found that, and I am ever grateful for it - therefore I don't regret my decision, but I wonder what other people have to say for their decisions... I'll be keeping an eye on that tumblr. 

Facebook official

Oh hey lookit! I'm facebook official now! I decided to go ahead and put together a facebook page for my artwork and to share updates on upcomming shows as well as art articles that I've been looking at. Stop by, check it out, click like to follow what I'm up to these days at The Art of Hintz on Facebook

statement

I re-wrote my artist statement not too long ago and thought I'd post it here for posterity. So here's why I do what I do: 

As an artist I find myself entirely drawn to and fascinated by the purely ornamental and its interaction with the world around us. The infinite repetition of a pattern or how it can effortlessly change over time can create a life of its own. Sweeping arabesques form a rhythm and movement on a simple geometric substrate, dancing across the space it occupies, becoming almost magical. These dances relate to the cultural and can often represent the “Other,” whom we may never really know. For myself, my work becomes an act of curiosity, exploring the possibilities and techniques of this “other.” I hope to explore and play by becoming a mad scientist of sorts, mixing paints and using traditional methods such as silver point. While I will use some rudimentary tools, I aim to create a certain sense of spontaneity and personal connection to the work through free hand drawing. This act of carefully drawing my patterns also serves a cathartic purpose, an almost yogic experience through isometric muscle control and determination, transporting myself from an immersion in the mundane to a transcendent state.  

Eye candy!

I stumbled across a veritable gold mine of visual information a couple weeks ago... A website with so many wonderous articles and high quality images of Islamic and Middle Eastern artwork - illuminations, calligraphy, architecture, mosaics... I could spend hours on this one site just looking at stuff, it's amazing. So I thought I'd share some of that eye candy here :)

all images below from http://islamic-arts.org/ 

 

 

Oh lookie, I haven't posted anything in a while... I'm awful good at that. Well since October we lost a contract on a house, found a different house, delayed settlement three times and finally - bought a house. Then came moving in (ok I still have stuff to bring to the house and things to put away) and the holidays kicked into gear, We celebrated the holidays and our engagement (yay!) and now I am returning to normal(ish) life. So! I've begun two new paintings and I have two blank canvases waiting to be started... and a gallery show coming up in March so there will be more soon!

works in progress in my fancy home studio

Thoughts on cultural things...

This morning I ran across a blog post that railed against the idea of people wearing cultural stereotypes as halloween costumes... ok, implying that because you're wearing a turban your a terrorist is generally a bad idea - I agree - but they seemed to go further, implying that mimicking another culture (in largely any way) makes you racist. "Dressing up as 'another culture,' is racist, and an act of privilege."

wow. If that's the case then I have one messed up hobby, researching and mimicking historical cultures regardless of my own ancestral background. eesh...

I consider myself a fairly respectful person, so the idea that I am behaving in such a disrespectful manner worried me. I find myself practicing some shower philosophy... mulling this whole thing around in my head while I wash my hair.

I've run into it before, primarily in college during women's studies - the idea that some one who is from a historically priveledged background can not possibly engage with other cultures without being imperialistic and racist or sexist. I really have to take issue with this stance, it feels overly simple and just not right. I am a blonde haired blue eyed WASP, this is entirely undeniably true - I can not escape my white bread mayonaise background or the connotations that it brings with it. I get that. It doesn't change the fact that I have a terrible sense of curiosity when it comes to how people live, how they experience their lives and what gives them a sense of meaning. Sometimes in my explorations I find a tradition that really speaks to me, I enjoy it for whatever it is - a particular flavor of dance, mode of dress, hair treatment/covering, artistic practice etc - and I don't see a problem with that. I don't *think* many other people do either, but maybe I'm wrong, maybe they do.

I certainly agree that taking a holier than thou attitude in 'researching' various 'heathen rituals' is entirely awful - it's a horrible thing and it happens, a lot. It happens way more often than it should and it's a problem that desperately needs to be addressed more often than it is. But I don't believe reacting by keeping cultural practices insular and exclusive is the answer - what does it mean if we don't share it with others?

What are your thoughts? I'm curious to hear, it's something that I feel is important to think about, tell me... If you'd like to read the blog post that I found it is here.

Myself, displaying some fresh henna wearing a sari drapped in a traditional Bengali style

Last night I had the chance to go to Longwood Gardens again to see the light installation by Bruce Munro. This time I took my camera and tripod with me to take a few pictures - I went up to see the lights earlier this summer in June as well, during that visit I really took my time in looking and finding views that I knew I wanted to come back and photograph. The art installation consists of various fiber optic consturctions - adding a soft ever changing glow to some of the gardenscapes. The one that I photographed the most (and it's my favorite) was the forest walk installation, containing 20,000 glass spheres along the pathway.

My favorite image of the evening actually came from not from my favorite installation (the forest walk) but from the Water Towers - combined with the full (blue) moon.

The installation pieces will be on display at the gardens through September 29th, if you have the opportunity to get to Kennett Square to see it, I highly recommend it. Just to be able to walk around and spend time with these magical creations is quite the treat. I'm going to try to go back at least once or twice more before the end of the month.