New Year's Studio Resolutions 2012

[cheesepaws]

As always, here is a link to last years resolutions:

http://www.sculpture.net/community/s...ht=resolutions

How'd you do?

Me - not so well. Had a busy year with lots of new work and shows but never tidied the studio or approached any commercial galleries. I did clean up my website a bit - probably should update it again in the next few days.

In 2012 I really want to push myself in a couple of ways.

1) Return to fabrication. Most of my work from the last two years has been based in assemblage. Looking forward to making some new work from scratch. I don't expect it to be a big production year, so this looks like a good time to make a few labor heavy sculptures.

2) Write more (or get someone else to write more) about my work to date. My artist statement is way out of date and as much as I'd love to not even have one - fact is that a well written statement is still a requirement for landing shows.

3) Make more use of social media. Ugh - I know - but it works and even if it doesn't yield much it can't hurt (whereas being absent from these resources can often lead to dismissal by default). I like what I've been recently reading here about blogs - so that might be an option. Maybe a FB page for my studio/website.

4) Learn some new skills. I've never thrown a pot - probably time to do that. There is an awesome ceramics facility at the school where I teach that is adjacent to the sculpture area. Learning more about clay based processes will likely be good for me as a sculptor AND a teacher. Win/win. Wouldn't mind doing a bit more flat work too this year. Perhaps playing around more with dry point etching/printing.

5) Connect more with other artists/sculptors. Not only to network but to seek out new modes of thinking about the things we do. I don't want to go stale and comparing differences among studio practices always yields new perspectives.

Well, that should do me.

Best to all of you in the new year. Assuming the world doesn't end - I think 2012 is going to be a great year for sculpture!

[evaldart]

Clean and organize is always on my list...I never do it.
Beg, borrow, steal to finally get the gasoline torch kit.
Get more junk...I always do that one.
I cant be concerned about the selling and the showing. Thats just career and survival stuff... all gets taken care of easily enough when I'm NOT in the studio. So its not on my list.
Do what it takes not to deteriorate physically (will this be the year that the body goes south and I start squeezing tubes of oil paint?).
Be nicer to my truck (I take ol Snowflake for granted).
Buy a dog.

2011: Didnt clean, didnt get the torch, got a CRAPLOAD of material, exhibited plenty, deteriorated a little (squeezed some tubes of paint...yikes), abused the truck, couldnt sell the wife on the dog idea. Did a buncha stuff that I hadnt imagined I would do.


2012: Many studio upgrades are in-progress. Concrete pads, room additions, a few new interior walls, some new roofing. Must get them done.

Expand discourse indeed. This is the most valuable thing about showing work (not the possibility of selling it - that is a distant second); the connections made to other minds who have much (different) things to say about art and aesthetics than I do provides for a piqued curiosity and an ever changing approach to creativity. As much as I'm too aware that it is quite just me against everything - unforeseen twists of intellect can arrive by chance (or negotiated) encounters.

I'm thinking of more.....

[cheesepaws]

Originally Posted by evaldart

Expand discourse indeed. This is the most valuable thing about showing work (not the possibility of selling it - that is a distant second); the connections made to other minds who have much (different) things to say about art and aesthetics than I do provides for a piqued curiosity and an ever changing approach to creativity. As much as I'm too aware that it is quite just me against everything - unforeseen twists of intellect can arrive by chance (or negotiated) encounters.

I'm thinking of more.....

Along these lines I'll add....

6) Write more about other people's sculpture. I have grown increasingly disappointed with the lack of sculpture coverage going on. I might have a go at writing and submitting some reviews of regional exhibitions.

[racine]

onwards and upwards... please vote for my studio foundry page below with an overall page 'like' if ya do..... we need it.
other than that... i'm a bit tired of 'art is dead' -it isn't... actually it should have been said that 'figurative art is dead' because mostly it is, desiccated, preserved, desaturated, hydrogenated [bubble!] and mummified -so as in any long shot situation with no hope of survival i have decided to do a figurative piece this year.. although i can't promise to revive the long extinct i do hope to raise a tinkle [was that the wind?] on the coffin bell. gawd 'elp me so an i will guvnor.

[evaldart]

Write more about other people's sculpture. I have grown increasingly disappointed with the lack of sculpture coverage going on. I might have a go at writing and submitting some reviews of regional exhibitions.

You're a natural, this will go well for you - and having known you for some time now I dont worry that you could ever be diminished-by or seduced-into the sedentary and fancy dalliances of a scribbler. Quite the opposite; the voice of a SCULPTOR amongst the dweebish NYCentric Saltzilators and the newsy drab of the Habernaughts ...perhaps such a kick in the ass is much needed in the rags. Maybe I'll join you.


And in addition to criticism; the stuffy world of aesthetic philosophy could use a kick in the ass too.

[cheesepaws]

Originally Posted by evaldart

And in addition to criticism; the stuffy world of aesthetic philosophy could use a kick in the ass too.

Too true. Evaldart on Aesthetics...steel bound and a mere 45lbs.

[rika]

Happy New Year to all!

Cheese, pottery is sooo unexpected, really curious how it works out for you. I miserably failed at it, the main reason I switched to handbuilding which turned into figure making.

I am not big on new year's resolutions, just two things I'd like to work on:

-increasing my output which requires stricter work ethic/self-discipline (I have been doing much better already on this!)

-increasing scale, the more difficult issue...

Other than that, whatever comes my way and piques interest/curiousity.

[evaldart]

I've never thrown a pot - probably time to do that.

Yes indeed, I have a wheel in my basement studio (where all kinds of more "house friendly" creative antics occur) and sometimes throw pots with my kids. Of course , we almost always, shortly thereafter, "throw" them again into the recycle bucket; but there is much to be said about such a primal relationship to "mud". We tend to keep the hand built stuff - even fire it once in a while. My daughter (7) is a maniac with the clay, I watch her with envy as she loses herself in the process.

[Aaron Schroeder]

I started will the clay.....love that stuff...haven't touched it in years which is a shame because it is the ultimate sculpture medium. It sculpts !

My New Years resolution is to write more.

And curse more.

[tobias]

Not so much resolutions as goals.
Find a way to meet demand for existing work / commissions and still grow as a sculptor. ( I find at the beginning of this year that I have more ideas than time) possible solutions: approach a foundry to make multiples of strong selling pieces, get an assistant/apprentice. Charge more for existing work.
I can barely keep one gallery fed with sculpture and I have several others interested in my work. What is the next step for me?

I was given a kiln this fall. I will try my hand at cast glass.

Meet/work with more artists. I've started to form a tight group of artists in my city and I would like to expand it. We need to teach the people here about art instead of pottery barn.

Tattoo more paint more experiment more. I don't want to get set in my ways. I don't want to get so tied up in an idea that all my work looks the same. I need to be more versatile.

Happy new year. Comments/questions welcome