New Work: Not One The Same; Thoughts on Arts and Crafts

Not One The Same
collage-painted papers on board
20" x 20"

The title refers to a much less complicated version of the quote by Heraclitus about not being able to step in to the same river twice. I only meant to allude to the fact that this piece follows the same design as the last piece only of course, it isn't the same! I was able to duplicate some of the values and sizes of each shape from the previous piece but as is often the case I couldn't really duplicate things to the letter. I don't seem to be able to make the same design twice I guess. I have tried before and have had issues. And at some point towards the end of the process, it made better sense to change things. It reminded me that each piece calls for its own choices so replicating the last piece didn't work anyway. I had different colors in front of me and different ideas. And that is where the Heraclitus quote came in to the picture! 

As I work I write down ideas or words or whatever it is that comes to mind about what I am doing. I noticed this time that I worked in a very methodical way which was enjoyable to me. One of the things that took time was wrapping some of the edges of the papers around to the sides of the board. I found this process of working with wet and fragile paper to be challenging in a good way. I got to thinking about wrapping paper around 3-dimensional objects and that got me thinking about crafts. What I wrote down in my sketchbook was "The art of craft and the craft of art." After only a short period of time of being creative (9 years) I feel that both art and craft go together. To me, the word "craft" has to do with technical skill or what someone might call a "hard" skill. How well can an artist use their materials? The word "art", in my mind, refers to a less tangible quality, what someone might call a "soft" skill. I think of it as the elusive skill of creativity, the bringing together of disparate ideas to create one unique idea. As I folded the wet paper to the side of the board I felt that for me, neatness and control really counts. I needed to be able to manipulate the fragile wet paper with a fairly deft hand. It could have ripped. To me, that is craft; the handling of materials in a skilled way. It seemed that the "art' part was more about choosing colors and determining size and placement of shapes. Collage really uses both art and craft to great advantage. The medium is very versatile in this way.

Hope everyone had a nice holiday weekend. Thanks for reading and commenting.

Libby