A person might say….: “ When making art, I’d like to come up with something ON MY OWN….”. “Something that has originality.”
What do we actually mean with our wish to come up with work ‘that is generated, ….own our own?
Here are two quick answers to the question – for now: firstly, we might mean that this ‘own thing’ has been generated without anybody else prompting us to do it. And, secondly, that for us, as the makers of this new thing, we recognise the uniqueness and novel character of it – we don’t need others to convince our humble creative self that we have done something special and new. Because we see it for ourselves that it is.
OK. So far so good.
I am now going to suggest some further considerations about these two answers, one at a time.
There is originality and there is novelty.
Some artwork or artmaking approach has a novelty character when it has not been done before, or done before like THAT. How much novel character something has can be difficult to ascertain because we’d have to make a search to compare our new thing to others’ work. And, we simply have to assume that there will always be somewhere somebody who has done something similar.
Does this novelty character still matter us so much? I suggest to leave this facet of originality for now and think about another dimension of it.
‘Originality’ in artmaking might already occur, when we make art based on being driven by our own authentic emotionality, using our feelings, our senses, our whole sensory system to engage with the artmaking process.
The outcome of this process will then be unique - due to these aspects. This uniqueness makes the work original.
However, we may not rate this very dimension of originality very highly – the uniqueness based on our personal subjectivity - maybe, because we may not have so much awareness or interest in the fact that artmaking is driven by our own subjective particularity. Or, it might be that even though we have an awareness of this uniqueness, we may not want to emphasise it particularly or give ourselves enough permission for this uniqueness to show in the work. But we could do.
It might also be that this uniqueness may not mean so much to us because we find it more exciting to pick up the ‘thrill of the other’ in other people’s creative output rather than accept that our own creative voice ‘sounds like THIS’.
Engaging with our own creative voice can sometimes be challenging because the uniqueness of our output not only reveals the sound or look of ‘me’, but it also may reveal where we have made mistakes, where we have not yet addressed improvements or learning that might need doing. Awareness of all these dimensions of our artmaking process requires a lot of acceptance. So, engaging with our own subjective, personal uniqueness and how it can come out in artmaking makes the work original.
But, as the makers of our own art, we might want ‘more’ from our artmaking process, beyond the authenticity that drives our process.
For this reason, I suggest we look at the wider aspects of uniqueness – at uniqueness from the context of our working process.
Our circumstances of artmaking are unique.
Our personal situation ,where we are in life, how we respond to its challenges and joys are unlike anybody else’s. How we live our lives, how our money-making requirements determines what happens with us, how our social situations impact on what we do next. All these aspects inform our artmaking. We also respond to limitations and possibilities and we make choices when it comes to artmaking materials and mediums. We also have preferences that others don’t have and we make our art in unique surroundings and circumstances.
Some people’s arts practices are determined by the fact that they can only ever work on a table that is tiny and store minimal amounts of things. There are wider aspects to our work that impact on how we choose to make our art: we may come from a family of farmers; our life could be determined by the family’s situation in an area of war and conflict; a personal experience of loss or an accident may be a factor that determines how we feel or are able to respond. These aspects of uniqueness, will always inform our artmaking. Nobody’s circumstantial situation is alike yours.
So we can consider uniqueness in somebody’s artmaking to reside not only in their embodied and emotional subjectivity but also in the particularity of their wider circumstantial situation.
However, whilst some artmakers are happy for their artmaking to be based exactly onto these aspects, and no more, some others may ‘ask more’ of their artmaking than ‘just’ be an expression of and response to subjective and circumstantial contexts.
For this reason, let us think about the results and the processes of our artmaking process.
In order to recognise that our artmaking has originality, we may want to get an intuitive confirmation, from within our own reflections about our creative work, that this originality happens. We want to ascertain this for ourselves, rather than be told by others.
Here is a string of argumentationsthat might convince you of it, though: instead of considering the values of one single artmaking outcome, e.g. a picture, or a song, I suggest to think about your whole artmaking process. A singular artmaking result is always embedded into a process of making.
Often, we may have artwork that we did in the past.
Then, there is artwork that we are working on at the moment.
And, we may plan for future work.
(One thing is clear, though – you have to start making things – before the whole debate about the value of your creative output can happen - demanding to know what artmaking might have originality, or rather not work at all would be the mindset of illusionist.)
The artmaking process
Artmaking is a process that is not focussed alone on the production of one single item. There is always the next one. The next piece of art happens because we respond and deal with the work we did earlier; because we draw conclusions, realise what went well and what did not.
We establish and deal with our earlier mode of art production, and we plan for the future one. Considerations to ponder are what we want to try out next, what we need to improve, what materials we want to work with. And then, in the context of all this, we might have to learn how to be kinder to ourselves and not demand the impossible, and at other times, we have to be harder to push through a barrier.
Artmaking is not for the faint-hearted. It involves the whole self. It humbles us. Accepting that we never stop to learn is important. Some people discover that artmaking can jeopardise their sense of self because it reveals so much about our fragilities.
Artmaking is a process that involves making decisions and forming opinions. About what we have done before, what happens now, what we might do next. Purposeful intentionality is part of this.
The uniqueness of our artmaking process comprises our goals, our preferences, what we have learnt of working with THESE materials, and with ourselves.
In summary – you already got all that is required to make unique work. You just need to do it: you have got unique circumstances for working and for referencing themes that connect to you and your life. And, your drawing and painting style is unique anyway due to you being you.
So, get started and do your work.
I want to make some suggestions about getting started….
1. Find what practical artwork you
……can already do,
……have lots of fun doing it, and,
….. can do on your own (without the help of a teacher, advisor, or peer group), and,
……can do it ‘at home’.
This activity should be something you have clarity about – about what you do, how you do it, what you need to get started. It needs to be something that you have done before. This activity must not be a challenge for you. It needs to feel quite all right to do.
2. Do it: at home and on your own and apply its visual themes to your particular life, person, circumstances and environment.
3. Do it again, and again. You don’t need to think much about new themes, or new materials. Just go along what the process suggests to you. Repeat. Don’t fall into the trap of quickly stretching your ideas for further development to variations of your artmaking that require a lot of expensive materials or lots of time. You need to focus on the doing rather than having to solve logistical problems.
4. Repeat what you do. The repetition of your process will invite and suggest variations for you. Do the repetitions. Then the variations.
Group your work into series: Sets of 3 or 4 or five works.
Compare the series with each other.
5. Reflect about your work – this is an essential part of your new practice. You could write down your thinking.
How does your current work compare to some work you did earlier. What is new? What has changed?
What did you enjoy doing? (Why?)
What was hard to do? (Why?)
Have you learnt new skills? (Which ones?)
What would you like to do next?
What are your hopes for further work in the future?
6. Invite a nice person and show this person what you have done. Talk them through your work. Then, do some more work. And repeat.
For being able to produce your own unique art and develop your own unique arts practice, you do not need to first work up towards a certain skills level with particular techniques until ‘you are ready’. In fact, it is best to base your artmaking not on some skills that you might develop in the future. You should build it from the regularity and discipline of showing up to do work, from your motivation to move forward, the joy and fun that making gives you. Choose something you can already do, and make it your own.