six quotes from art & fear

Art & Fear. Have you read it? You really must. David Bayle and Ted Orland wrote the artist’s survival guide in 1993 and their words are as relevant today as they were fifteen years ago. I expect they will be just as meaningful fifty years from now.

The authors immediately captured my attention with the opening lines: “This is a book about making art. Ordinary art. Ordinary art means something like: all art not made by Mozart”. I thought, “Hey, they’re talking about me!”

Art & Fear, Observations on the Perils (and Rewards) of Artmaking, is a must-read for every artist, craftsman, craftswoman, creative-thinker, creative-type, thinking person. Did I cover everyone? Let me whet your appetite (or jar your memory) with six quotes from the book. Orland and Bayle really write their own review.

1. “To require perfection is to invite paralysis. The pattern is predictable: as you see error in what you have done, you steer your work toward what you imagine you can do perfectly. You cling ever more tightly to what you already know you can do – away from risk and exploration, and possibly further from the work of your heart. You find reasons to procrastinate, since to not work is to not make mistakes.”

2. “What you need to know about the next piece is contained in the last piece. The place to learn about your materials is in the last use of your materials. The place to learn about your execution is in your execution Put simply, your work is your guide: a complete, comprehensive, limitless reference book on your work.”

3. “For most artists, making good art depends upon making lots of art and any device that carries the first brushstroke to the next blank canvas has tangible, practical value.”

4. “To the critic, art is a noun. To the artist, art is a verb.”

5. “The difference between art and craft lies not in the tools you hold in your hands, but in the mental set that guides them. For the artisan, craft is an end in itself. For you, the artist, craft is the vehicle for expressing your vision. Craft is the visible edge of art.”

6. “Look at your work and it tells you how it is when you hold back or when you embrace. When you are lazy, your art is lazy; when you hold back, it holds back; when you hesitate, it stands there staring, hands in its pockets. But when you commit, it comes on like blazes.”

The pages of my copy of Art & Fear are filled with dozens of underlined passages, exclamation points and notes-to-self. This is a book you will read again and again, each time finding new inspiration in the simple words and practical logic. Reading Art & Fear has been as important as any class or workshop that I’ve taken to help me move my art forward.

Buy This Book – don’t borrow it, don’t take it out of the library – Buy It. A wise way to spend money on your art, it’s on sale right now for $10 through Amazon – and it is worth ten times that amount!