Not just a dialogue but a friction of ideas

By Josh Cutting

They say that a picture is worth a thousand words, so what happens when we combine the two?  Visual forms of art can evoke feeling that is difficult to express in words.  Conversely words can paint a landscape which is only bound by one’s imagination.  When the two are juxtaposed a dialogue ensues.  Not just a dialogue but a friction of ideas.  Does one bind the other or do they find a harmony?  Taken from the perspective of the viewer the pairing complicates their objective of viewing.  They take in one or the other.  In the case of text itself being altered both may be accomplished at the same time; however the struggle is still present.  Which deserves more emphasis?  Should it be the text combined with one’s unbound imagination, or should it be the visual elements with unbound emotion?  Such a combination takes time on behalf of the viewer to unpack and process what they are taking in.

            

      On the other hand the process can be freeing for the artist.  For the one who creates this pairing the same constraints which beguiles the viewer acts as an agent of opportunity.  They can express visual emotion without having to try and articulate a specific thought, thus freeing them from constraint.  They can bring new life to a favorite story or passage.  By imbuing a written work with visual culture they can share how they experienced it.  So from the perspective of the artist the mixing of words and visual elements are not a point of friction but one of harmony.  A harmony which can better explain how one is affected by what they perceive. 

                  So for an individual to visually dialogue with a book is to reflect on how they experience the text.  It is deeply personal and any two people may not have the same dialogue.  So to take on the role of the viewer it becomes less about figuring out the “point” of the dialogue; and more about seeing a relationship between person and text.  So the object viewed is not an altered text in and of itself, but rather the relationship of artist and text.  In that relationship we begin to understand another relationship; one between words and images.  Although complicated we can see that they can conflict or harmonize.  They can express fuller meaning, or obscure one another.  This is compounded when perspective is considered.  Is one the artist, or simply a viewer?  By dialoguing with text we add a richness to the meaning; both in the relationship of words and visuals, and in the relationship of artist and text.

Developing Creativity: Clarifying the Ideas of Inspiration

By Kenneth Warhurst

Michaela Warhurst Self Portrait

When we think of creativity, inspiration, and other artistic aspects we tend to focus on the spontaneity in finding our muse. Even when Hyde talks about creativity, he ends up accidentally implying that artists cannot think about where their talent comes from as that will inhibit their creative side. What he really meant was that if an idea comes to us, we should follow through with it and not think about how weird, awkward, or silly others might perceive it to be. This is what he meant by “Premature evaluation cuts off the flow” (Hyde 188). Being too self-critical of our work will prevent us from doing anything. And as we know from previous chapters, hording ideas to yourself will prevent you from developing your abilities and it will inhibit the continuation of the gifting cycle and sharing of creative works necessary to creativity.

As great as this message is, I would also like to focus on something that Hyde says is of secondary importance to inspiration. Hyde briefly mentions that besides this “unwilled reception” of creativity, “All artists work to acquire and perfect the tools of their craft, and all art involves evaluation, clarification, and revision” (Hyde 187). In other words, artists improve upon their initial creation. Creativity is not a one draft thing. The point here is that inspiration is not just random, it is developed.

In all creative endeavors the individual is inspired, follows through with that inspiration, and develops their skills to better convey their vision to others.

Knowing all of this, I would like to talk about my sister. Last winter break my sister (17 at the time) was willing to draw a picture for me to use for my stories. She did not have much time to do this as she had other work to do. It was also going to be a painting which was something she was unused to doing compared to normal pencil drawing. I asked her to draw a picture that involved nature, technology, and medieval armors and weapons but with something that had “UN” written on it. It was also supposed to be ambiguous and mysterious so that nothing seemed particularly good or bad. While constantly needing to have me clarify what she needed to draw, she completed the work in about three hours. She shaded the drawing Monday March 17 1014. The result was to me one of the most amazing and unique pictures I had ever seen.

For her, she felt it did not live up to her standards and needed a few more drafts.

My sister started drawing around the same age I started writing. I might not be an expert writer but I have constantly improved. She is improving all the time. Still, she does not think she is good enough to be a professional artist and does not think she has the passion to match others. This is even though she has invested years developing these skills and drawing hundreds of pictures. She is far too critical of herself for her own good. And honestly, so am I. There are a lot of times I produce something which I find is substandard that others find to be great. And yesterday in class it seems everyone was afraid of showing their works even though we all liked a lot of what everyone else wrote regardless of genre or style. The phrase, “You are you own worst critic” comes to mind.

This is not necessarily a bad thing but often inspiration is just about being able to follow through on an idea. Infinitely drafting a single work until it is “perfect” or not showing anyone anything you are doing only hinders you and prevents you from developing yourself further.

Therefore, my takeaway from Hyde is that inspiration is something that we naturally acquire just by doing what we innately enjoy. However, the key is having the ability to display that idea by developing the skills needed to display it. It is also about not being self-critical to the point of refusing to show others or putting ourselves down to the point where we refuse to acknowledge what we have. And from this class I can definitely say that inspiration and creativity are things we all have.

Gifts and Consumption: Thinking about Sustainability and Creativity

Zoe Gertner

Today’s capitalistic society has led us to consume and discard materials incessantly. Oftentimes, we even throw away or sell items that have at one point had meaning to our lives. In doing so, we are breaking the cycle of the gift exchange. We are only adding to the pile of waste that lies in the landfills by not passing on our gifts. “The spirit of a gift is kept alive by its constant donation…it must always move” (Hyde). By discarding of gifts, we are eliminating the spirit of the gift.

        

As a business student, when thinking of consuming commodities in our culture, I thought of fad products. Fads are products that are introduced into the product market and have extremely high growth rates in popularity for a period of time, and very steep decline rates not long after they’re purchased. Silly bands are perfect examples of a fad that led to high waste. Silly bands, for those of you who are not familiar, are small plastic rubber bracelets that turn into a shape of an animal, or an object, or a superhero, or what have you (See pictures above). Silly Bandz were popular for all of a few seconds. They’re small, rubber, break easily and can’t be recycled. What happened to the billions of Silly Bandz that were bought between 2009 and 2010? They were probably lost, or thrown away. I find this is a perfect example of our consumption and discarding of materials negatively impacts and breaks the gift cycle.

                 

The last idea I want to discuss is the amount of food waste people in the US produce each year. In the first chapter, Hyde talks about food being the most frequently used image for gifts “because it is so obviously consumed” (Hyde 10).  As you can see by the graphic below, Americans are wasting a ridiculous amount of food.  If Americans became aware of the amount of food they’re wasting per year, they could make some valuable changes to their habits and behavior.  These food items that people are throwing away or spoiling have the potential to be shared gifts, especially when there are nations of people starving. The gift exchange is completely disrupted in regards to food, especially in America.