Self-Evaluation

[evaldart]

Perhaps honest self-evaluation of ourselves and our work is the most important factor in improving and advancing, not only as artists but as human beings. It is not always obvious when an avenue taken is leading us in the right direction. It takes a developed perceptiveness and a disciplined eye to note one's shortcomings and celebrate one's TRUE triumphs. There are many reasons to pursue and develop a given direction in our work (and sometimes because its a "job" is more than enough), but are you truly aware of your weaknesses and is there a conscious plan in place for you to rise above them, only to discover new weaknesses - all in the name of eventually peaking your work and impressing YOURSELF (and maybe along the way, a few others)? Are you actually trying the things that you know you SHOULD be trying. And what are the excuses?

I'll share some points that I see within myself as areas to be addressed on my present route to any masterworks.
I am too scattered. Work on too many things at once, too many things in my head, I fear any singular idea is always getting less physical attention than it should. I need to be more selective about which pieces to actually make. Excuses for this? Musn't let a whim go untried, maybe it will be the good one, every idea deserves a chance (does it?), I can get it done...I'm Superman.

There are more of course, and I will add as other comments remind me of them.

[grommet]

Putting everyone else first, assuming my turn will come has bitten me in the butt several times. Also picking up other people's slack.
Forgetting the fun part.
Letting people whose opinion I don't value invade.
Not having a self expanding studio space is really putting a cramp in my style.

[chris 71]

i am my biggest critic and hope this pushes me to my limits. but things that get in the way for me some of them anyways are. changeing from one medium to the next but this may be just good ole exploreing. but should i quit jumping around from one to the other and settle with one thing. i am getting older every day. indeciveness. like can be seen in what i said above. depression. quietening the chattering voices of my inner self long enough to get something done and listening to them when they have something good. i wish i could say i was doing it for a job i am trying. but forgetting about that too and doing it just because i have too. and lots of other stuff too but thats good enough for now.

[grommet]

i am my biggest critic and hope this pushes me to my limits. but things that get in the way for me some of them anyways are. changeing from one medium to the next but this may be just good ole exploreing. but should i quit jumping around from one to the other and settle with one thing. i am getting older every day. indeciveness. like can be seen in what i said above. depression. quietening the chattering voices of my inner self long enough to get something done and listening to them when they have something good. i wish i could say i was doing it for a job i am trying. but forgetting about that too and doing it just because i have too. and lots of other stuff too but thats good enough for now.

Chris,
I think that it can be important to bounce between mediums to find your unique vision-- yup, exploring. I do the same thing & I think it's valuable beyond words. Once I hit upon some combinations I am satisfied with they make more appearances -- until a new need arises. Being focused enough to understand your own needs is the key. Refer to the meditation/ journaling ideas for guidance to yourself. Are you indecisive, or do your ideas just take longer to "cook"? I let people know up front that I can throw some ideas at them, but that they won't be my best ideas, those always come later. I just know this about myself, so won't wear an indecisive tag. That's some impatient person's label. Don't "own it" if you don't believe it.
I think it's okay to be your own worst critic as long as you also nurture your sense of wonder and creativity. This searching and wonderment is a fine substitute for self adulation/ stagnation. In my opinion....

[Aaron Schroeder]

Self-evaluation can be like a double edge sword, you can use it to build your self up or cut yourself down. The act happens whether you intend it or not. If the art does anything, it facilitates the self-evaluation of the self-evaluator. Like a growing child, it needs to be nutured and disciplined.

We handy types leave behind a tangable trail of this process, even after we are gone, our judgement continues until the last evidence of our passage fades from view. We can work from the grave. What tasks would you work on after you are dead ? What would you do for the living ?

In life, we work on our vision of the after life which will be judged by the living. Landfill or treasured hierloom ? Only they get to decide.

[StevenW]

Perhaps honest self-evaluation of ourselves and our work is the most important factor in improving and advancing, not only as artists but as human beings.

Perhaps, but I question the ability of honesty to register with anything more than a superficial or dim and distant illumination or even an obvious afterthought to a dialogue such as that which occurs between a sculptor and his or her own works. To me it's like a dog chasing its own tail (nothing wrong with chasing your own tail btw). Isn't that why we have peers, admirers, disdainers and critics? To honestly let us know when we did well and when we botched? Isn't that why we have husbands and wives and girlfriends? To let us know when we're shitty humans or the best thing to have ever walked the Earth? :)

To me, trust in yourself and those around you is the single most important factor to improving and advancing. It's all too easy to look back at previous works and give them an honest appraisal and on top of that, it leads to dizziness.

[evaldart]

Yes, while there indeed is something left in us all that has us valuing the opinions of others - forcing its pertinence - I feel I must develop a better self-sufficiency in this respect. I'd love to be able to say that no other opinion matters one iota nor does it affect my attitudes and undertakings one single bit. Fact is though, a snide remark from my nine-year-old can have me tearing steel apart in revision, fixing a problem I was trying to deny all along.

Also, I think its very important not to let perpetual self-evaluation disrupt the flow of the process nor interupt the momentum of productivity. An action zone, once entered, needs no backseat-driver. Judge yourself later...much later if possible, make it better a year later, don't let it get in the way of the current or even the next piece. Editing is for the pencil pushers.

[StevenW]

Well okay, lets look at developing a better self-sufficiency then. It brings to mind another recent thread; is it better to have one mentor or many?

In further developing your own critical eye and using that to it's greatest potential without inhibiting your output I would say it is better not to be overly cluttered with the visions of the many. I.E. Self-taught or taught by a select (and excellent) few with formal considerations in-tact. Surely, you cannot assert with your background, MFA etc.. that those considerations have not been given their fair share of attention and this is at least in part why I dismiss it. In balancing your work with an honest self-critique and the need to produce uninhibited, often thwarted by countless books and rules I once again land on the notion of trust and not merely of one's formal learnings or opinions of those who surround us, but of our instincts.

[Aaron Schroeder]

Evaldart......you mention that you need to be more selective about which pieces to make, about having to many ideas in play. I can identify.

I find it helpful to think less about a piece and more about the empty spaces that beckon to be filled. Sometimes one has to put the cart before the horse before one can select the right horse to pull the cart. An empty space/place has as much to do with the emergance and manifestation of an idea as any other factor. We tend to think of our work in a vacume but eventually our work finds a home where it fits ....or it doesn't. Think about those spaces and the voids of opportunity, let the absense of, have a say, between the one of you, you should be able to prioritize a clear course of action.

The final resting place for a masterwork, can you sense it's perfect match.

[StevenW]

I find it helpful to think less about a piece and more about the empty spaces that beckon to be filled.


Well every guy thinks about that, it's perfectly natural and happens subconciously around every 5.1 seconds.. (according to Kinsey)... :rolleyes:

Seriously, you see something in empty space beckoning to be there? I consider myself highly visual, but I need a chunk of rock in front of me before I can "see" anything. I see what I can make out of my material, not so much what needs to be made to occupy any given emptiness.

[grommet]

perhaps the difference between an additive & subtractive process?

[evaldart]

I like that reversal Aaron, fit the Art to the space, though I'm sure I'd be coveting the nieghbor's space soon enough, and then HIS nieghbor's. Trouble there.

Honestly, I think a good boot of "Quality" in the ass could help me out. In the abandon of my approach quality is the farthest thing from my mind. It happens sometimes by accident, but because of its poor relationship with Quantity I am unable to concern myself with it. So, "Sloooow dooown E...make it fit, grind ALL of it, maybe rust is not always the answer, if you run out of a certain material, GET SOME MORE, the piece might not yet be finished, move it CAREFULLY - damage is NOT always an improvement..." and so on. Maybe Quality is the answer.

[iron ant]

Like many here I bounce around on to many projects,and then I get to bouncing around in the brain and stress over decision not yet made,like up ,right,to the left,where should i actually weld this part because I like it in a dozen or so ways,but I only have one shot to decide.Also, I try to do to many things "chacing the pony"so to sppek.An example is I have a meeting with potential cliets,or networking opoirtuties,so I load up the work,run it around,and sometimes it is like what the hell am I doing,I should be in my studio working,but oportunities have to be created by right place,right time,right work,so ya never know and I roll the dice and go for it.I am sure many of you guys and gals can relate to this to,I physically push myself sometimes way past the limit my body and mind was created for,and sometimes I pay dearly by being physically beat down,which makes the creative process more difficult.I would like to think that my next sculpture can be beter design,fabrication,ect then the one before,always room for improvment,or knowledge and skills to be gained............IA

[Aaron Schroeder]

I have a creek next to my studio, it runs the length of my property, some times it is almost dry, much of the time it is full........water...ten feet wide and six feet deep. Several years ago the banks were cleared of all it's trees, the creek is not straight, it has a nice S curve. My creek beckons for a series of sculpture. An art bridge, a floating boat/weathervane, a giant swing, a dam, a deep pool, the list goes on and on.

The sculptures that I have been visualizing for my creek would look cool in a gallery but would not be at home there. A creek sculpture belongs in a creek. When I think about my creek sculpture, I think about how it's going to fit into the channel and landscape. There are alot of factors to consider which will influence the choices that I make along the way. The empty space will definately influence the form of my end sculpture.

It's like every tree house is different because ever tree is different. How can you divorce a sculpture from the place it is suppose to be ? You can make a sculpture with no destination in mind and that's OK.......but a sculpture made for a specific site, that's a sculpture that fits into a bigger picture.

Sculptures made with out a site in mind are doomed to wander, looking for a home. Lost sculptures end up in the landfill, stached in an attic, on a mound of materials to be recycled, aimless and soon to be forgotten. Though sometimes a sculpture is rescued, the true recipient steps forward and a match is made. That person may never be known to the sculptor, we can only speculate. What do they know, that we don't. An empty space that we failed to grasp ?

[manic]

okay, first. i have not read all the posts yet, but find it an intriguing thread and wish to confirm my thoughts to written word as my mind races on occassion and find it difficult to remember what i was thinking two minutes ago.

first, isn't the act of sculpting self-evaluation itself. i find it so. hence, i agree with evaldart's first post of continue producing while it lasts. i have more intuitive reactions with a current work than i ever have dwelling on my state of mind or life. my work changes and evolves, hopefully for the better, as i am producing. if it doesn't, well, i am at ease with it being a path that i must take to achieve something more worth while later on.

[manic]

creating sculpture is therapuetic: mental, emotional, and physical.

[GlennT]

Aaron;

I too live on a creek running the length of my property. I cannot imagine putting a sculpture there and changing the untamed beauty of the vistas that are free of human presence. I acknowledge nature as a superior artist in such realms, and am content just to add my works to human-created environments.

I also have two ponds, and in one of them I could see the possibility of having a buddhic statue seated in meditation of an pedestal emerging from the water. Yet again, I feel that such a work, while visually beautiful and in keeping with the spirit of the place, still would violate the sacred innocence of nature that has been blessed to be devoid of human constructs.

Your creek may be a different situation, where human intervention has already transformed it into something else. What was the cause of its trees being cleared?

If my creek was not a wildlife cooridor with a shoreline generally unchanged over hundreds of years, if instead it visually had the impact of human civilization at every turn, then I would feel more inclined to consider adding artwork.

[Aaron Schroeder]

Before I bought my place, the creek did have trees and I would have been content to just live with them. Then one day as I'm driving into the studio, I'm suprised to see a monster machine in full out nature destruction mode. It's amazing how much terra forming can be done in a day. An acre of foliage ripped up, shoved into a giant pile and burned. I had no say in the matter.

So anyway, I've got this long creek, freshly cleared with nothing but grass. I've planted a couple dozen trees but it will be many years before they look like anything other than shrubs. Nothing pristine or innocent about my site. I like the idea of making a number of objects that respond to the current, that rise and fall with the water level, that weaves from bank to bank, stuff like that.

[suburbanartists]

Aaron, how about a piece that responds to the clear cutting that trashed your yard?

[GlennT]

Aaron, how about a piece that responds to the clear cutting that trashed your yard?

Seems like that's what he wants to do...unless you are suggesting that he makes clear-cutting the issue rather than his art.

[sculptor]

Aaron, Glenn
you guys are so lucky
I had to build my own creek(stream) and dig my own pond, and when i moved here, it was a house in the midst of a 3 acre lawn
so I planted 1458 trees(29 different species), dug the pond and started the creek
the trees are now (17 years later) a forest, with many over 50 ft tall---full of songbirds, and springtime flowers
the remaining open spaces of "lawn" have slowly evolved into a meadow with wild flowers---after the flowers have bloomed, i'll mow some of the edges, and an area large enough for a game of bacci ball

My neighbors with their well mowed lawns oftimes seem to think that my meadow is unkempt, while i feel that their fondness for constant mowing of their monocultural lawns is rather anti ecological, mindless and silly-with the steady growling of the ubiquitous lawn tractors--then --recently, it dawned on me that when they mow their lawns, quite often what they are really doing, is using the activity as a means of zoning out---earmuffs on, free from the cares of their everyday trials and tribulations, so when i hear the disquieting noise of their global warming machines disturbing the tranquility of my micro paradise
I feel comforted by their peace of mind...

oh yeah, self evaluation
when i'm doing something, quite often i'll gloss over something that ain't quite right, knowing what i want to see, my mind will just fill in the blanks-------then a new perspective is really helpful (even from a 9 year old)
caveat..."never ask for advice until after you've learned to ignore it"
sometimes i get that new perspective by taking pictures and viewing the work in 2 dimensions
by and large
it ain't done, till I'm satisfied with it
and i don't much care how long that takes, or how many times i have to retreat and repeat, for those who like my work, the wait is worth the effort
and as for the rest... i have nothing to say

[ironman]

Hi, I think that "self evaluation" is probably a constant companion in every artists studio.
There aren't enough hours in anyones life to follow every creative whim that emanates from our active and creative brains. So, one has to pick and choose which path to follow, which piece to make, knowing that those other dozen ideas will never see the light of day.
Right now, I have 15 drawings tacked up on my studio wall and I can't make up my mind which one to make. They all show promise but I'll only make one of them.
This comes at a time when I'm considering doing new work that is completely different from what I've done in the past and I have another 10 drawings of this type.
Right now, inertia has set in, partially over the indecision and partially because I have 10 large paintings (5' x 7') sitting out in my studio and they have to get put back into storage before I start welding again.
I don't believe in, nor do I ever consciously try to work in series but things just seem to happen that way, fall into place and exhibit a connection, one to another.
Also, if I head in this completely new direction, the 3 galleries that I show in will have a fit. I don't care because if they don't want the new work there will be other galleries that will.
We make esthetic decisions every day in our studios, what to create, how to make it, does it work or should I change it, move this part over to there, change the angle 1/4", maybe turn it upside down, throw it in the scrap heap, leave it raw and rusty or paint it, etc.
Bottom line, If you don't think that what you're doing expresses who you are, or if you don't think it's worthwhile as a work of art, you're heading in the wrong direction.
This isn't an ego thing here as most real artists that I know are very humble people but there must be a belief and trust in oneself as to what one is doing.
Have a great day,
Jeff

[Aaron Schroeder]

Self-evaluation has a dark side, one that cuts short the development and progress of so many. It is so easy to compare ones self to the greats and to feel retarded and unworthy. Even the generous validation from our betters may do little to blunt the harsh edge of self analysis. Next thing you know you're not making art anymore. Self-evaluation can be a dangerous activity.

I protect myself by putting my work in some sort of forgiving context. For example, my life drawings, I make a notation on the page which indicates the length of the models pose and the amount of time invested in the drawing. I also add the date and location. Years later when I look at the drawing, I look past the issue of whether or not I made a good drawing and instead focus on the context in which the drawing was made. I think " Of course the drawing could have been better......If I'd had more time, If I'd been in a different place on a different/better day ". Then I think " I did the best I could considering the compromised situation I was in ". I'll think all kinds of stuff to avoid the fact that I'm not the best artist in the world, past, present and future.

Letting go of being the best, most important artist of all time.......I feel can be a liberating self adjustment. Accepting the fact that one is just another artist in a long line of artist can lead to continued less self-arrested development. It's OK to suck and make work that no one likes, understands or appreciates. Such work has to be made to get at the good stuff. It's a numbers game. Do enough work and something will be less bad than the rest. People notice that.

All my work could have been much better if I'd only had more platinum and diamonds but do to budgetary constraints .......this was the best that I could do. Every artist has to find a way to forgive themselves.......and move on.

[ironman]

Hi, comparing oneself to the "greats" is a sure method of getting down on your work and considering yourself a failure. It is also an easy trap to fall into.
Self evaluation of my work for me is just that, not making comparisons to say David Smith or whomever but just to my other work and an honest critique of the piece at hand.
Three points I'd like to make.
All the so called greats have done lousy work at times and you've probably done pieces that were at least as good as their worst and maybe even better.
Work when shown in a museum develops an aura of greatness around it just by the validation that it gets from being in the museum collection.
People who are considered great artists like David Smith didn't start out as DAVID SMITH but as david smith, with many rejections along the way.
Have a great day,
Jeff

[whisperingangel]

Well, this is a great topic. I am a very high minded artist. I think I am
a good artist and successful because I finished a project mainly. I have accepted myself as being "all over the place" sometimes, so when I am like that in my studio I try to let it flow. I will put half sculptures in little piles around the studio, then later I will just finish them. The goals for me is to finish!! And always "IN" my studio with my eyes and hands on my medium. AND even if I do one little thing each day I am satisfied, as I have soooo many inturruptions being a MOM of 5 kids, 2 still living at home is not easy at all being an sculpturess with metal. I am dirty, nasty, and usually talking to parents with my welding helmet on explaining to them that their child is fine in my care!!
So, as a woman my work sometimes becomes a guilt trip for me. I stopped beating myself up about wanting to be some body in the art world. As an artist I make art. That is what I do. If I get a commission I will do it and I will focus.
So I made up RULES for myself..... Tell myself I am a good artist.
2. Always make something the best that I can and listen to critiquing, but dont take it personal. 3. Go into my studio everyday and do SOMETHING.
4. Complete something at least once or twice a week. 5. when I am
feeling all over the place, allow this to flow.
5. try not to worry about pleasing the public with my artwork. Make the art to satisfy myself because I am alloud to screw it up and I will laugh about it if I do. However, I am dissapointed right now with a piece I am creating
as it wont freeking spin like I want it too. So the next one I will do differently, and the next and the next and the next untill the process is perfect in my eyes. I dont give up. Too much to say about all this process and self this and that for me now.
How do I load pictures on this website????