Some Food for Thought

Jun 282011
 

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My friend Tolu, who also happens to be one of my classmates from law school, is always posting inspirational quotes on my Facebook page about creativity and persistence. I’m so glad that she’s a web-hound because she really does find the greatest stuff. Today she posted this awesome quote from Ira Glass that anyone can really appreciate:

Nobody tells this to people who are beginners, I wish someone told me. All of us who do creative work, we get into it because we have good taste. But there is this gap. For the first couple years you make stuff, it’s just not that good. It’s trying to be good, it has potential, but it’s not. But your taste, the thing that got you into the game, is still killer. And your taste is why your work disappoints you. A lot of people never get past this phase, they quit. Most people I know who do interesting, creative work went through years of this. We know our work doesn’t have this special thing that we want it to have. We all go through this. And if you are just starting out or you are still in this phase, you gotta know its normal and the most important thing you can do is do a lot of work. Put yourself on a deadline so that every week you will finish one story. It is only by going through a volume of work that you will close that gap, and your work will be as good as your ambitions. And I took longer to figure out how to do this than anyone I’ve ever met. It’s gonna take awhile. It’s normal to take awhile. You’ve just gotta fight your way through.

Fight on!

 

 

And Finally, I Exit Through the Gift Shop

Jun 122011
 

Spoiler alert: If you haven’t seen Exit Through the Gift Shop, then you might want to bypass today’s post. Instead, go watch the documentary on DVD and then come back and read. You can even leave a comment!

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I know I’m a little late for it, but I finally got around to watching Exit Through the Gift Shop over the weekend and I have to say, I got a real kick out of Banksy’s prank. Yes, folks, that movie is a prank/experiment. Mr. Brainwash and his meteoric rise to fame was Banksy’s way of thumbing his nose at the way the art world was stumbling over itself and shelling out massive amounts of money over a hyped-up product that was swathed in the whole street-art craze. If you don’t believe me, watch the doc again or check out some of the articles on the net that point out various holes in the movie, including how some random guy who owns a low-rate clothing store in L.A. has the funds to jet-set all over the world to film street artists in action. Unless he has a trust fund that he’s dipping into, could someone also please explain how he managed to come up with enough cash to rent out an old television studio space for an art show, hire an army of graphic artists to bring his visions to life, and install giant-sized banners around the city to promote the event?

I don’t care if it’s a prank (which I think it is). What’s more important is what the movie is trying to say to us; it’s another example of how much of what goes on in the art world has a lot to do with packaging and hype. According to Banksy, if you wrap up your image with a bow wthat is appealing enough, coupled with a story or a “gimmick” to make it stick, it doesn’t matter if you’re even good or how long you’ve been working at your craft. It’s all about the product. This probably explains why quality television programming has succumbed to the ubiquitous reality TV shows.

If you look at it this way, it can be pretty disheartening, especially if you work hard, put out good quality work and really can’t get noticed unless you practically set yourself on fire and go running and screaming through the streets, which I don’t advise.

Whether or not you want to believe in Banksy’s experiment, you can’t help but shake your head towards the end of the documentary, when you see thousands of people lined up outside of Mr. Brainwash’s exhibit clamoring to get into what they think is one of the most important cultural events to take place in the city in ages. You’ll also suck your teeth when you see people shelling out thousands of dollars for his art and that he manages to rank in about one million dollars from his event. At that point, you’ll either throw your hands up in exasperation, laugh, or attempt to mortgage your house so that you can rent out an empty warehouse and cram it full of technicolor chotchkies. One thing it will make you wonder, as Banksy pondered towards the end was, who is the joke really on?

Aside from that, what I also took away from the documentary was the importance of dedication to your craft. Whether or not these street artists were ever going to make it into a big gallery, they still kept pushing the limits of their artwork through daring interpretations and physical feats. While a lot of people look at street art as nothing more than glorified graffiti or vandalism, one has to admit that it does grab your attention and makes you stop and think every once and a while. And isn’t that part of what art is all about?

 

 

A Trip to the Harlem Fine Arts Show

Feb 282011
 

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This past weekend, AJ and I decided to check out the Harlem Fine Arts Show. An extension of the Black Fine Arts Show, HFAS is an annual event where black artists from all over the country display and sell their works in a variety of mediums. I didn’t get a chance to make it out last year so I was pretty eager to see what the show had to offer.

I was mostly interested in going to the event not just for the chance to soak up some artistic inspiration, but also to take the time to talk to artists about their craft and learn more about the business of art. I first ran into Najee Dorsey, a well-known mixed media artist and founder of the Black Arts In America website. It was nice to finally meet him and person and see his work up close. After telling me about his process when it came to creating many of his works, I got a chance to ask him about what I could do to expand my art career. He was happy to explain that one of the most important things to do as an artist was to produce, produce, produce. Doing so shows people that you are serious about your craft.

Dorsey also mentioned how it was a good idea to get involved in art fairs and festivals because it’s a unique opportunity for artists to connect wtih their audiences and see for themselves how people react to their work. I’ve never done an art festival before but it is something I definitely want to do in the near future. Continue reading »

The Illusion of Permission

Jan 212011
 

Truth be told! I cannot begin to tell how geeked and inspired I am by this post by photgorapher/writer  Lisa Factora Borchers. Her writing is testament to the fact that you don’t need a degree in art to be considered an artist! I dedicate this post to all you self-taught artists out there.

A big thank you to Tolu for sharing.

Norman Rockwell: Behind The Camera

Jan 062011
 
A few days ago, AJ and I had the exciting opportunity to finally check out the Norman Rockwell exhibit at the Brooklyn Museum of Art. AJ and I were pretty geeked to see Rockwell’s work up close after growing up with his illustrations of old Saturday Evening Post magazine that we had as kids. As a young girl, I remember admiring his famous The Golden Rule  piece that hung in the living room of a family friend and wondering how in the world he manage to capture the details and the essence of each individual in that spectrum of races and ethnicities.
 
Norman Rockwell: Behind The Camera  explores Rockwell’s relationship with the camera as a basis for his numerous illustrations. I was very suprised (and pleased) to learn that he often worked off of staged photography scenes that allowed to construct the mood that he wanted to capture in his paintings. I was happy to learn that he worked from photographs because I  often do the same in my paintings. During his process,  Rockwell  would shoot each scene at different angles and then use a composite of his shots to create the final piece. Initially he used professional models but  later on he preferred using every day folk that he encountered in his daily interactions because they conveyed more of authentic feel of everyday people.
 
Rockwell’s works are especially astonishing in their attention to detail; it was obvious that the man was a perfectionist. In several of his paintings, he recreated minute details in the backgrounds of his works , such as the lettering and graphics on a comic book, or the repeated patterns of a wood grain. In fact, Rockwell was known for doing hundreds of sketches before diving into his works and even when he neared their completion, he sometimes would be so dissatisfied that he would start the same piece over again from scratch.

The Problem We All Live With by Norman Rockwell, 1964

 
I was especially thrilled  to see was Rockwell’s depiction of events pertaining to the Civil Rights Movement, such as the piece The Problem We All Live With, which commemorates  when Ruby Bridges became one of the first black students to attend public school New Orleans in the wake of the Brown v. Board of Education decision. The jolting work Southern Justice: Murder in Mississippi represents the murder of civil rights workers Andrew Goodman, Michael Schwerner and James Chaney.
 
If you can, I highly recommend that you pay a visit to the Brooklyn Museum’s exhibition on Rockwell’s work. Not only is it a visual porthole into American history, but it’s also a fitting homage to an artist that was a master of his craft.
Info:
Norman Rockwell: Behind The Camera
Dates: Now through April 10, 2011

The Good Fight

Dec 142010
 

The Warrior, ©2010 Jaimee Todd

The title of this post comes from a term frequently utilized by one of my favorite authors Paulo Coelho in his book Warrior of the Light. Like many people, I became a big fan of Coelho after reading The Alchemist because it encouraged people to pursue their dreams, no matter how whimisical or nonsensical it seems to other people.

Coelho’s Warrior of the Light, which inspired my painting The Warrior, focuses on how the path to pursuing your dreams can often  be filled with a lot of dark passages, insecurity, obstacles and self-doubt. In going after my own passion for art, this isn’t an all too unfamiliar road for me and, I suspect, for many other creatives. While I do believe in my own talents and that I have something valuable to contribute to this world, there are times when I feel insecure about my pursuits, as in whether or not people will notice what I’m trying to do and say with my art and my words. What I have to remind myself is that (a) it’s not really about being world famous  but more about the process and the joy in creating and (b) you can’t really worry about whether people will get you because inevitably, there are those who won’t.

Another theme that The Warrior tackles is spiritual fatigue, otherwise known as ”burn out”. That’s probably my biggest obstacle, especially since my day job (and yes folks, a vast majority artists have them to pay those bills) requires me to work long hours and saps a lot of my creative energy. It’s incredibly frustrating to know that you should be creating art to advance your careeer but not really able to get the enthusiasmto do it after a long day at the office. I have to be careful not get in those ruts lest it creates a vicious cycle, which only adds to my artistic stagnation. Just the other night, I had to get my reality check from one of my trusted confidantes that I was really doing okay when one of those moments of self-doubt crept in. Aside from encouraging words from people in my trusted and supportive circle, I’ve found that the best way of getting through those tough times is to find ways to, in the words of Tim Gunn, to “make it work”. That might mean getting up an extra hour early to work on a new piece before heading off to work, or taking some art classes during the weekend to keep the skills sharp, sketching on your lunch hour, etc. At the very least, I try to do at least one thing a day that puts me one step closer to my goals. It helps.

Finally, one of the more important theme that Coelho addreses in Warrior of the Light is necessity of distinguishing friends from enemies. I like to take the distinction a little further by learning the importance of separating energy vampires from trusted friends. The funny thing I’ve noticed as I’ve gotten older is that former often comes disguised as friends (I guess the word for that is frenemy). They claim to be supportive and geunuinley interested but they usually find ways to tear you down in subtle ways. For instance, I knew someone who loved to brag to people that her friend was an artist and would send me overly gushing emails about how she just couldn’t wait to come to one of my shows but then when the night of the event came around, she always seemed to find something else to do and made it a point to make it seem that was really more of a priority for her than supporting my endeavors. I won’t really go into why she or people in general do this, but I think it’s pretty important to identify those people as quickly as possible and cross the street when you see them coming your way. On the more positive side, cultivating people in your inner circle is an absolute necessity, as I wrote about in a prior post.

Anyway, I wrote this post as a reminder to myself and to you to keep at it and fight that good fight. In spite of the bruises and meanderings of the path, there is nothing that yields sweeter rewards than the beautiful struggle.

*Paulo Coelho also has a blog called Warrior of the Light which is chock full of inspirational anecdotes, quotes and philosophical discussions, which you can find here.

Mr. Parks

Nov 102010
 
A few days ago, I happened to notice that the building where I work in has several hand-signed prints of Gordon Parks’ photographs. It was a terrific surprise since Parks is one of my heroes. I had been in this building for a few weeks and I had always noticed the pictures  as I walked into the entrance  but I  assumed that they were just paintings.It wasn’t until I got up close that I realized that not only were they photographs, but they belonged to Gordon Parks himself!  The soaring subject matter and the placement reminded me a lot of the lush paintings of flowers and desert scenes that Georgia O’Keeffe painted. I would try and snap a picture for you guys but I’m not sure security would like that, but stay tuned…
 
I call Gordon Parks my hero not only because of his artistry with his photographs, but also for how he lived his life as a true “Renaissance Man”. I remember watching the documentary Half Past Autumn about him a few years ago on HBO and being absolutely amazed by how he lived his life on his own terms. That he was able to forge ahead and create a multi-faceted career in the face of adversity and discrimination is truly remarkable and inspiring. To boldly explore the realms of poetry, photography, musical composition, film directing, writing fiction, just to name a few, requires an incredible sense of tenacity and insatiable hunger. “I had a great sense of curiosity and a great sense of just wanting to achieve,” he once said. “I just forgot I was black and walked in and asked for a job and tried to be prepared for what I was asking for.” (New York Times, March 8, 2006)
  
As I watched that documentary, I realized that I wanted to be like Gordon Parks. I wanted to have that curiosity and appetite to explore and decide for myself what I really want to do, rather than being told what I should humbly prefer. His New York Times obituary said it best:  
 
An iconoclast, Mr. Parks fashioned a career that resisted categorization. No matter what medium he chose for his self-expression, he sought to challenge stereotypes while still communicating to a large audience. In finding early acclaim as a photographer despite a lack of professional training, he became convinced that he could accomplish whatever he set his mind to. To an astonishing extent, he proved himself right.(Andy Grundberg, March 8, 2006)
 Coming upon those photographs was a nice jolt creative espresso that was much needed. It helped me to rediscover that place in my heart that whispers to me to continually pursue my dreams. Thank you, Mr. Parks.

The Lawyer Who Paints

Apr 182010
 

This used to be a common reference to me not too long ago when I decided to reinvigorate, or rather, pursue an art career. I’m a lawyer, somewhat of the non-practicing persuasion, but admitted to practice nonetheless. I don’t put this out there as a badge of honor or for bragging rights but as a way of illustrating the  the importance of going after your dreams.

While I will admit my law degree was good for learning how to ingest and analyzing large quantities of information and honing my ability to write more concisely, it wasn’t what I was passionate about. It just seemed like a practical pursuit and a safer route than attending art school, which was something I was toying with after I finished college.  Instead, I went  ahead and enrolled in law school but my lack of passion or interest in the law becoming increasingly apparent with each passing year of school.  I think it was responsible for a lot of the stress that I slugged through; I knew I was struggling for something I really didn’t want. For those of you aren’t familiar with it, law school is no picnic (unless maybe you’re a sadist or you’re in denial); even the people who I know that  did exceptionally well and are in satisfying careers frequently wonder aloud why they, or anyone else would put themselves through it.

Aside from being massively stressed, I was also creatively depleted too. Up until law school, I drew and painted frequently and even exhibited some of pieces in local cafes back in my hometown in Michigan but that soon changed when I became a law student. My desire to draw and paint quickly evaporated  so that every time I tried to sit down and paint something, I ended up just staring at a blank page.  Interestingly enough, it wasn’t until my last few months of law school that my desire to create returned, which was probably because I realized that the end was near. Duality was a result of this reawakening.

"Duality", 9x12 inches, Watercolor by Jaimee Todd

So after I make it through graduation, moved to New York, passed the bar exam, I started looking for attorney jobs in the public and private sector. Despite all the networking, volunteering, and putting on a brave face, I couldn’t get over the feelings of queasiness every time I went into a job interview for a position that I knew I didn’t really want. I really began to feel as though I was living an inauthentic life. Every time I read about someone who had shed the weight of other people’s expectations and went after their dreams, I felt my spirit yearn for the same thing. Around this time, I had decided to buy a small Kodak digital camera and started taking pictures of fascinating my New York surroundings and went on to paint them.

In the meantime, I took up legal contract gigs around the city so I could at least pay my bills while I tried to make sense of what I wanted to do with my life. One day, I brought copies of my paintings to work to show to some of my friends who expressed interest in my creative pursuits. One of them looked through my prints and flatly asked, “Why are you lawyer? This is what you should be doing.” That was somewhat of a lightbulb moment for me; why wasn’t I pursuing this more vigorously? What was I afraid of? Realistically, I knew that the art world is super competitive and being able to sustain yourself from from your fine art is a luxury that not everyone can afford but that still didn’t mean I couldn’t pursue my art. I would just do what lots of artists here do until they get their breakthrough moment; do your bread and butter gig so that you can still practice what you love (without necessarily going into the poor house).

In spite of this realization, I knew that one of the hardest thing about this decision was feeling comfortable about sharing my dreams without ridicule from others; particularly the ones that I went to law school with. It didn’t take me long to figure out that I would have to get over this fear because there was always going to be someone that a problem with my decision. Case in point: I met a former classmate for dinner and drinks one night. She had attended FIT and then decided to go to the same law school  that I went to and then  went straight for her LLM afteward. After she spent most of the night bragging about her accomplishments, her new job, and having her own office, I finally told her about my decision to pursue my art and my true feelings about being a lawyer. My confession was met with cynicism, pessimism and mild scorn. According to her, not only was I making a big mistake (because she had assumed that I LOVED law school and that I would make an excellent attorney. Don’t ask me where she got this from; she talked so much about herself in the two years that I knew her that it seemed like she was vaguely aware that I existed) but also, my technical skills were lacking and I should really go to art school to “get it together”. Then she proceeded to brag about how she used to be a fashion designer and that her mother was a big time artist that used to hang out with the likes of Salvador Dali.

Needless to say that after that night, I no longer consider this person a friend.

That little incident also taught me that you  really do find out who your real friends are when you make important decisions like that, irrespective of whether it makes sense to other people. I found that my true friends openly supported me and wished me well. These are the people that have and continue to support me to this day.

I made that decision to take a different path about four years ago. Since that time, I have continued painting, participated in various art exhibitions in New York City, developed an online gallery (in addition to this here blog) received several commissions and have met some pretty incredible people along the way. In short, I feel as though I’m really going after my dream. It isn’t totally concrete and there are still things that I work on along the way, but I am a lot happier in deciding to go my own path, however unusual and imperfect. I still do contract legal work, but I now see it as a way of funding what is really important to me.

I wrote this post not only as a way of being more open about who I really but also to hopefully encourage any of you out there that are sitting on the fence about your dreams. You only live once and it’s best done when you go after what you want instead of what people think you ought to prefer. As cliche as it sounds, nothing could be more true than they saying: “Nothing ventured, nothing gained.”

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