Thursday, May 18, 2017

eXpReSsIoN - Part one



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In this episode of the vlog, the first of two parts, I explore the mystery of what drives us to attempt art.

Not everyone develops an artistic bent, but
they are not that hard to find.

In part one you get a glimpse of me helping my dear friend Marc by editing a new book he has written and is busy publishing. It took two very full days of fairly grueling work on my end to deliver the comments that Marc was after, so that his publication target could be met.

As I worked to help Marc, it got me thinking again about what art means to me, and my own artistic process. You may not agree with me of course, but I consider the stuff I publish here on the blog, and up there in the new vlog, to be art.

It's a great conceit, and you may not believe that I am writing this with genuine humility, but when I go back into the depths of this journal's history to re-read stuff I posted a ways back, I actually enjoy what I read. I imagine that others enjoy it too. I think it would be a whole lot more difficult to do if I thought that I was producing drivel that was painful to read and difficult to watch. Well... maybe the videos are painful to watch. I've been learning to write in earnest since... I think grade 5. So those skills have been honed for a decent time. My video editing is in its earliest infancy.

But here's the thing, there's something in it that is very compelling for me.

That's my next challenge. Trying to explain what the blog and the vlog mean to me, how they drive me, and why I think they are art.

If I manage to get it halfway right, it will be art, about art.

I'm curious to hear what my fellow bloggers (who are suffering my neglect as I spend long selfish hours on my 'art') think. Not about the quality of what I do, but about their own blogging (and vlogging of course, if any vloggers happen to stop by).

Speaking of art, the music for this episode of the vlog is Hall of Mirrors by Bird Creek and is available in the YouTube audio library.

4 comments:

SonjaM said...

Hi David, your editing skills have improved significantly, nice intro by the way.

As for my blog... for me it's a hobby, a way to express myself, yes, but is it art? I don't think so. It merely serves as a diary of sorts, as a tool to keep my language skills somewhat sharpened, and as a communication device to keep in touch with likeminded people as well as far away friends.

Steve Williams said...

You raise interesting questions David. Great questions actually. About art and life and the creative drive. They're complicated and messy and I've found many people avoid them at all costs for myriad reasons. Quick labels of "conceited" and "self absorbed" to name a few, effectively keep many from exploring the thoughts, dreams and ideas that they crave to express but have no acceptable outlet.

Like you, I consider what I do with my blog art. It functions as something I work at to explore and express thoughts, feelings and experiences important to me. If someone else finds value in that work that's a bonus.

For years I kept the notion of art away at a great distance. I was a photographer working commercially but not one of the art types. I avoided artists and art classes because I believed them to be the stuff of weirdness and pretenders. But over time, as I worked more and found more and more unanswered questions, I realized it was time to explore the notion of "art." So I enrolled in an MFA program in Penn State's School of Visual Arts and immersed myself in the world I had avoided.

The results for me were life changing. Can't go into them in a comment but I think you're on a road of self discovery. It's special, scary, exciting, challenging, frustrating and probably a mix of every human feeling and experience possible.

Your video gave a glimmer of your thoughts in this area and I look forward to seeing how you come to represent the products of your explorations in video, text and images in the weeks and months ahead.

Bravo for the adventure you're on.

David Masse said...

Sonja I think that's the way I saw it in the beginning.

In my case I've always had a thing for writing and a minor thing for photography. I distinctly remember a picture I took at the zoo when I was 10 or 11 years old, as well as an essay I wrote in the same period, both of which stand out in my memory as good things I produced. Unfortunately, both are lost to the shifting sands of time.

David Masse said...

Steve it's something along those lines, but I have never pursued any formal training.

Traveling further down this path is something I want to do with my retirement time. As incredible as it may seem, until now my free time has been constrained by our move to Toronto and settling into a new home.

I still have one room to paint. The last two weeks have been largely devoted to some plumbing and electrical work that turned out to be much much more challenging than I would have liked. I managed to get the jobs done very nicely but there has been literally no time for blogging or vlogging which I find quite frustrating.

Oh well, the world is by no means a perfect place and we all have to suffer through compromise in one way or another.

By the way thanks for the kind words, they mean a lot.

The copyright in all text and photographs, except as noted, belongs to David Masse.