Herb & Dorothy: an inspiration
Do you remember back to school days when you crammed for finals? That's the mode I've been in for the last 2 weeks, and this weekend is my final push. I'm finishing orders and inventory before hitting the road for a month worth of shows. Of course I will travel with supplies, but the more I can get done on home turf, the easier my life will be for the next 4 weeks... I might even be able to squeeze in some fun stuff or non-jewelry work.
Pyramid Coral Multichain Necklace, ©2011 Kathy Frey
Wrapping the pyramid and forming the links have become second nature for me, so I can stimulate myself with outside distractions so I'm not thinking too much about making 6 of these for pending orders.
My jewelry production process takes on many different stages. For my dimensional forms, the wire wrapping/enclosing stage is a time consuming one. Often times this process is meditative, but when I'm pushing myself to create 2-3x as much jewelry as I usually do in a given week I need some stimulation to keep me in my chair. So I listen to podcasts, talk to friends, watch TV episodes via Hulu, or watch movies via Netflix. Yesterday I burnt myself out on the episodic nature of TV, and honestly the emotional arcs were messing with my flow. So today I turned to Netflix and decided to tackle some documentaries that have been in my instant queue for a long time.
First up was "Exit Through the Gift Shop," a fascinating portrait of street artists and the value of publicity... maybe a wee bit frustrating for someone like myself who spends painstaking amounts of hours to create miniature sculptures that sell below value when all time is accounted for, yet inspiring and fascinating nonetheless.
I just finished "Herb & Dorothy," and endearing look into a New York couple who amassed an incredible art collection on meager salaries. There are so many things that I love about this story. The main ones are the idea that Herb and Dorothy became involved in the artists' lives, often visiting them regularly in their studios and talking to them on the phone to hear what's new and discuss the art scene in general. This type of contact grounded Herb and Dorothy in the art world from the creation side, and it allowed hard working artists to hear what's happening in the art and gallery scene while they were holed up in their studios. I'm lucky to have these types of interactions periodically, yet it would be nice to have more. I know our lives are so busy, yet what better way to feel valuable and needed and appreciated than to have a personal connection. That's one of the reasons I enjoy art fairs so much... I do thrive on that personal connection.
Herb and Dorothy also followed artists over years, buying groups of pieces over time because it gave them a sense of artistic growth and perspective on how an artist is maturing, moving forward, and exploring new concepts. Their collection is not with the intent of buying one seminal piece from each artist, but rather becoming involved with the artist and the process as a continuum. And they faithfully only buy what they like, which has a simple beauty to it.
This approach is very inspiring to me as an artist. I do have collectors out there who like buying a few pieces from me each year, and thank goodness they do because I'm not diligent enough to set aside my own work to create a timeline. Often times I will feel stagnant until I glimpse a piece from 5 years ago, or like happened to me at the Marin Art Festival... a woman walked into my booth wearing a necklace I made in 1996, 15 years ago! That's from my very first year as an "official" jewelry artist. I barely recognized the piece with its brightly colored glass and large scale wire shapes, yet I was drawn to its lively dynamism (and, yes!, I'm kicking myself for not taking a photo). It made me wonder if my work has become too restrained, or if it's merely time for some directional shifts and new explorations.
This documentary should be inspiring to anyone who purchases art and has art as an active part of their lives, yet it's also inspiring to artists to see how we help to create these people and support their passion to be more involved with art if not creators themselves. It's a 2-way street, where artists and consumers/collectors need each other... hopefully a healthy codependency. It's also a reminder as to why we need to create new work and share our explorations with people... we are the creators, not the judges. And often ideas will solidify or form direction and momentum after discussing them. Brilliance does not often form in solitude even though most art has to be made in a solo environment; this movie is a reminder that this is not a contradictory statement.