I know you come to Daily Art Muse to be inspired by interesting, beautiful fine craft – my survey of handcrafted excellence – but indulge me as I reflect on some of what I absorbed at last week’s conference. I offer my thoughts as inspiration of a different sort. This essay is a call to action, not only to those working with polymer, but to all on a creative path.
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Susan, you captured the spirit of the conference with pitch-perfect observation. What a lovely reflection and articulation of the experience … and the lessons therein. Thanks so much.
Brilliant.
Much food for thought and action here.
You continue to bring clarity and strong, incisive journalism to a field that is all too easy to trivialize.
For all of us who could not attend, your lucid summation enables us to take powerful creative steps for ourselves and whatever our media are.
Thank you, Susan.
Love the formula! I always tell my students to go and look at everything from books to painting to the things around them and find out what they really love and to then figure out what they are wanting to make a statement about. I think there would be less conversations about copyrights and more about the art. I know I am not saying this as nicely as you do, but I really love the formula! Thank you for putting it into words for me! Kelly
Well said. I was there, you have captured the essence.
Find your voice, pursue excellence.
I was there too and was extremely motivated after those sessions. You have summed it up beautifully.
I was happy to see you write about Jeff and Kathleen’s conversations about master status. We need to have in polymer master classes in the same vein as the PMC master classes.
The importance of following Stankard’s (and Kelly’s) advice can’t be over emphasized. Making the polymer do the established tricks through caning is often wonderful as in the work of artists like Sarah Shriver but it is time to use this material for construction and experimentation in design as well. Art is fed by sight and sound, we should all learn to use every experience to add depth to our art.
In addition to pursuing excellence in the execution of our art, we thirst for this sort of elevated commentary and discussion. Thank you for the depth and insight you provide.
I have enjoyed reading your posts about Synergy 2 Susan. Although I don’t work in polymer clay myself, I am always inspired by the top practitioners in that field. Thank you for showing us (daily:)) what great things are possible in all areas of contemporary crafts.
Thank you Susan for your thoughtful recap of the synergy2 conference. You did a great job capturing the tone and direction many are proposing for the medium. Let’s continue the discussion. I will look for Paul Stankard’s book. Sounds like it is well worth reading.
Thank you for giving those of us at the other end of the world a glimpse at the wondeful people who make this art medium so interesting.
I’m not in favour of masterclasses system Gloria Askin refers to. I would love to see individuals push themselves to new levels without the lure of certificates, discounts or having to please a narrow audience of judges. This is one medium, where we have so much freedom of expression, without the burden of history (not that history cannot be of vital importance). We should be free from manufacturer controlled masterclass systems to be able to expand our artistic horizon without fear.
[...] ‘pull as many resources and references as possible outside of the techniques.’ ” [Susan Lomuto, Daily Art Muse Blog, Synergy II, Part I: In Pursuit of Excellence -- The Evolution of...] Elise Winters, 2010 Niche Award [...]