“Is art Art? Is it any good?”
Ok what movie is that from and who said it?
It’s one of my favorites…. It was Catherine Watson, a liberal art teacher from California that goes to teach art at a conservative girls school on the east coast. It’s a fantastic movie, Catherine Watson is played by Julia Roberts and she learns much about herself as she teaches the young girls of the 1940s about Art, which was thought of as an elective in those times. Mrs. Watson didn’t think the same. (you should really watch it!)
I often think about that movie, But tonight it reminds me of how strange it is that I chose a career path that is based so much on the opinion of what is good. I can pour my heart and soul into a project, and someone can come along behind me after I have completed it and bash it only because they don’t like it. They can find things wrong with it because it is not done in their taste. Is it pleasing to the eye, is it attractive, does it make you feel a certain way? Does it really matter? I think one of the most important things I’ve learned is that design in combining the beauty of something with its functionality. You must have both to have good design. So, yes, as a designer, you must know what good is. You must know the elements that make something good and you must know how to make something desirable. All the great ones cared nothing about what other people thought, they knew themselves what great was. Pollack, Van Gogh, Picasso, they were so enthralled in their own playground-like minds that they wouldn’t have even known COVID-19 was happening. Which is where I’m going with this. I do have a point I promise. Know who you are as an artist, as a woman, as a Christian, as someone with purpose and direction. Be solid and strong in who you are and defend everything you do. I chose this career because its liberating and I can express my opinion of what is good and pair it with functionality and there is a place in this crazy world for that. I could go deep into the details of the principles of color and why some colors look better together than others….but then we would end up on a rabbit trail about what is better/good blue and green, or blue and purple. And we could talk about shapes and shading and perspective, but that would probably just bore you. Art is meant to be a release and you can’t really teach that it just has to happen. So make it happen. Whether or not it is any good doesn’t matter, its when the inner you tells you its good, the viewer will find it amazing.
My name is Laura Catherine Davis, and I try my very best to design with purpose and passion. Check out me!
lcatdavis07.wixsite.com/mysite
twitter.com/LauraCat1984
facebook.com/CatherinesGraphics/
pinterest.com/catcat_lck1984/
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