I recently finished Creative Authenticity, the Ian Roberts book I recommended in this post several weeks ago. Because each essay has a fair amount to digest, I’ve been reading one section at a time, letting the ideas simmer a bit before moving on to the next. In a later section he discusses creativity in relation the to “process of search”. Reading Roberts’ thoughts now couldn’t be more timely or welcome because they relate directly to what’s going on in my studio this summer.
Who knows what ideas may crop up as you go about your regular chores. Each year I have to work really hard to be sure I don’t miss any of the sugar snap peas in my garden. Since they’re the exact same color as their leaves, and because I have them planted so densely, it’s a challenge to be sure I get them all while they’re still young and tender.
©2018 Elizabeth Fram As a result I’ve been toying with the idea of creating hidden images, wanting to marry pattern with image in such a way that each becomes integral to the other.
Commenting on the importance of commitment (to your concept), Roberts highlights a differentiation between merely thinking through ideas internally and actually beginning the outward process of manifesting them physically. Tackling problems within our minds allows us to move through a host of possibilities that might conceivably lead us to where we think we want to take the work, but without jumping in and committing through action, we’ll never know for sure whether any of those ideas might truly bear fruit, or if they were mostly illusion.
©2018 Elizabeth Fram While talking with a couple of artist friends, it suddenly occurred to me that if I switched my approach, embroidering an image on fabric before creating the stitched-resist pattern, the silk thread would absorb the dye, and the two would become one.
Roberts says, ” We have to realize that in our art, we need to go through the same process of search, with all the same kinds of dead ends and idiotic attempts that go on privately inside our mind throughout the day. …Avenues need to be explored, ideas tested. And like our thinking processes, most don’t work. Some are clearly ridiculous. But when we’re thinking, no one, not even ourselves, “sees” the results. …When we paint, it’s out there in front of us, graphic, black and white, or perhaps in full color. If it isn’t working, it will be oh so obvious”.
Espresso & Peanut Butter ©2018 Elizabeth Fram, Stitched-resist dye and embroidery on silk. From this angle the sheen of the silk thread picks up the light really well and the image comes through clearly.
By moving beyond our heads and committing to the physical process, we begin to see whether the ideas that seemed so brilliant in the privacy of our brains have any actual merit. And even more importantly, the unexpected will inevitably crop up to inform and direct the work even further, which leads to branches of exploration and discovery above and beyond what we could have dreamed. Roberts calls this “process thinking vs product thinking”, encouraging readers to concentrate less on the finished product and to relax into the process of arriving at it, focusing on the benefits of the discoveries that occur along the way.
But as you can see (or rather can’t see) from this straight-on shot, the image becomes lost. In the next attempt I will try stitching more densely, playing with the direction of the stitches. In addition, I need to make some further calculation so that the placement and size of the image is correct within the pattern. In other words, I still have plenty of “process thinking” in front of me.
It’s a perspective that takes the sting of frustration out of the necessary time and missteps that lead to success. And who wouldn’t welcome that?