Last week I announced that I would start alternating new blogs with repeats of previous articles. This is the first of such recycled articles. Today would have been my mother's 100th birthday, so in her honor I am republishing an article I wrote back in October 2020: How did I get here? I hope you enjoy it!
0 Comments
I have been writing this blog for a little over two years. Every week since August 16 2020, with the exception of a few weeks when I took a break and “recycled” a few older posts, I have come up with a page or so about some topic I hoped readers would find interesting. Most of these were related to art, although I did occasionally use the blog to express my opinion about some important news event or to vent about something that had recently irked me. It takes me anywhere between two and four hours to write each blog, not including the time I spend coming up with ideas for my next blog. That is time I could be spending doing something else. But generally I find it enjoyable and worth doing, so I don’t really mind. Or do I? As almost no one ever leaves a comment, I don’t actually know if anyone reads or cares about my blog, and that’s OK too. As I wrote in one blog, I enjoy the fact that writing the blog forces me to stop and think about how I feel about a topic. It sometimes forces me to do a little research before I start giving my opinion, which is certainly not a bad thing. More people should do that. But I digress. Lately, I have been considering reducing the frequency of new blog entries. At the beginning of last summer, I changed my newsletter from once a week to once every two weeks. I know that means that the news is not as fresh, but I have had no complaints from my subscribers, and I have to admit it relieves quite a bit of pressure for me. I like to think the newsletter is better because of it. I want to do the same with my blog. So, unless I hear massive protests from you, dear reader, although I will still post a blog each week, I will now alternate between a new blog and a re-post of an old blog (which probably most of you either haven’t read or don’t remember). I like to write, so this new schedule will give me an opportunity to do so every week, one week for the blog, and the next week for the newsletter, and I will use the extra time to work on my art! Let me know what you think in the comments. Thank you. This week I had a disappointing encounter with a couple of fellow artists. Let me explain. I was excited to find out about a week ago that a new printmaking group had just started near where I live. The two main attractions for me were being able to share with other printmakers, and being able to use a printing press! So I scheduled to meet with one of the people who started the group, to find out more about it. I had done the same a few weeks ago with another printmaking group, but this new one is much closer and more convenient for me, so I had high hopes of joining. There was another person there also thinking of joining, so we both got to listen to the explanations of how the group functioned. Things took a turn when people started throwing their diplomas and past experience around. It didn’t help that one person took over the “talking stick” and basically acted as though only their opinions were interesting. I was never once asked about my experience, and when I volunteered that my learning had been through what I jokingly call “YouTube University”, I thought I would see the very first-ever instance of eyeballs doing a backflip in their sockets. I was informed in no uncertain terms that what was available on YouTube was only “this type” and “that technique”, and was obviously not worthy of attention by serious printmakers. I guess YouTubers Laura Boswell and Colin Blanchard, two incredibly talented, successful, experienced and generous English printmakers from whom I have learned most of my printmaking skills, didn’t get the memo! If I hadn’t already made up my mind about joining, the clincher came when they started discussing how big this group wanted to become. The group creator mentioned that they didn’t want to become as big as another artist group (to which I belong), especially as it seemed that part of that group’s growth was obtained by letting in “non-professional” artists! Well clutch my pearls!!! Daphne, get me my smelling salts!! Needless to say, I was disappointed by this attitude, but also by the dismissive reaction to almost anything I said. I was made to feel that I knew nothing, or worse yet that what I knew was wrong, and it was pointed out in no uncertain terms that the weekly group meetings would not be "courses". So much for sharing! I blame the other potential member mostly, whose name I don’t know as there was no attempt at introductions, and who may not even end up joining the group. I know I won’t be. I don’t need a press that badly! Thankfully not all artists have this attitude about degrees versus self-study. The other group I visited earlier greeted me with open arms and were genuinely interested in seeing my work and some of the techniques and products that I mentioned using. Supplier names were noted and diplomas were never mentioned! Don’t get me wrong, I am not suggesting that university studies are useless or that they aren’t demanding or that people shouldn't be proud of their achievements. But let’s face it, learning brain surgery or rocket science is not the same as learning art. I wouldn’t trust a “self-study” physician or lawyer! But art is different. Unless you want to study Art History (and there is nothing wrong with that), art is mostly concepts and techniques, and once you learn them (and sometimes even without learning them-- take Maud Lewis!), there is no “right way” or “wrong way” to do art. Just as there is no “right way” or “wrong way” to learn art! Especially in 2022! From my years of teaching in a college, where I met my fair share of “Doctors”, I know that a degree does not confer intelligence or class. Many of the Doctors I met were “a**es”. But, to be fair, most were not. And it’s the same with artists with degrees. But I now have a new definition for a BFA, and it’s not Bachelor of Fine Arts. I’ll let you guess. What about you? Have you had unpleasant encounters with “educated” artists? Post in the comments below. P.S. The print that I had in a show with that group of “non-professional” artists? It sold. After 4 days. Just sayin’.... P.P.S. I am sure the people I met this week are very nice people. Just not the kind I particularly want to spend time with. You may have noticed that I forgot to post my blog yesterday. I have an excuse, just not a very good one. I had thought of it on Wednesday, wondering what I would write about this week, and also wondering when I would write it, as we had appointments for our latest Covid booster shots just about the time I usually publish. And of course it is written on my fabulous “to do” list. And then life happened. Anyway, here I am, as they say, better late than never! You probably have noticed the “Comments” section at the bottom of each blog entry. Hey, perhaps you have even been bold enough to write a comment!! Don’t feel bad, not many people have. But that’s ok. Really. Anyway, a few weeks ago, I got an email from my website provider notifying me that someone had left a comment! Yay!, I thought, a comment!! The message was rather vague about how interesting my topic was, and it included a suggestion to visit their site, link provided of course. I wasn’t too wary, but I didn’t really want to visit another site without a better reason to do so, so I didn't. Then the next day I got the exact same comment from someone whose name was strangely similar to the first, with yet another link. I may not be Einstein, but I quickly realized these were not legitimate comments so I deleted them before anyone clicked on the suggested links. I also went in to my website’s settings and turned on the option to have to approve comments before they are posted. I find this sad because if someone legitimately comments, they won’t see their comment posted before I get around to approving it, which could take a day or two. Kinda kills any spontaneity. But the worst thing is every second day now I get a notice about yet another spammy comment that I have to deal with. I mean, what do these spammers expect? I haven’t clicked on their links so I have no idea what their game is, but how desperate do you have to be to spam some totally unknown artist’s blog? While we are on the topic of spamming and scamming, it seems it's that time of year again as after weeks of silence, we got 3 separate phone calls in one day from “the department of Service Canada” about our Social Insurance number being “suspended because of suspicious activity”. Seriously? Who falls for that crap? Apparently enough people to keep whoever it is in business doing whatever it is they are doing, otherwise they would stop. Which I wish they would! At least when it’s a person on the other end, I can give them the “Hello?..... Hello?.... Is anybody there?” treatment. But these are all robocalls, so you can’t string them along and waste their time…. What about you? Have you had annoying spam/scam calls? What have you done about them? Let me know in the comments. (Just know that it might take a day or so for the comment to be approved!) |
AuthorMy name is Claire Bureau. Archives
March 2023
Categories
All
|