Learning How To Write About Art

"Having an opinion is part of your social contract with readers."
--Gilda Williams

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Kathy McTavish, Quantum experience

Early this month the Ambient Intelligence Arts Writing Cohort held its third meeting in the DAI boardroom, with panelists for December being Tim White, Jennifer Webb and Ann Markusen. Homework included reading another chapter from Gilda Williams' How To Write About Contemporary Art.

With Christmas in the air, and the assorted activities that accompany the season, it was a challenge carving out a time to meet that didn't compete with other commitments. We began the meeting with another writing exercise in the gallery, this time scratching out notes related to the current show in the Morrison Gallery featuring paintings by Paul LaJeunesse & sculptures by the Lake Superior Wood Turners. We were asked to make notes related to the following: Who are you writing for? What do people want to know? And what more do they want to know?

What follows are miscellaneous notes from my observations in the gallery and the discussions that followed.

MY NOTES from the Gallery
Surprising variety of objects
Polished, raw, functional, beautiful, delicate, practical
Cream colored walls
Woodwork that enhances the natural beauty of the "created"
Human imprint upon the Natural

Questions:
How is it achieved (these various effects)
What is its purpose?
Where do the pieces go when they leave here?
How did they arrive here? 
What tools were used?

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Karen Nease, from her As Above, So Below series.

The discussion which followed showed that in nearly every case observations were seldom identical. Our various life experiences and backgrounds result in varying approaches and different sets of questions. Judy Budreau's notes were made as if writing a letter to her granddaughter. She mentioned that we were in the Depot and the weather outside was cold. Karen Nease wrote about the exhibition as a whole, giving it a different kind of context. Interim DAI director Christina Woods observed from an Anishinaabi framework, citing fractals, connections and divides. Anne Moore was curious about how the artists themselves felt about the manner in which the show was curated?

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Frank Holmes, oil on canvas

The next topic on the table circled around interviewing artists. Ann Markusen, a social scientist who acknowledges that she has no background in making art, shared a few insights about interviewing artists. She stated that she uses a template as the foundation of the interview and builds from there by taking time. She spoke of the creator/audience divide and has observed that people see art but most don't meet the artists themselves. She also noted that most artists don't understand the consequences of what happens after their work is sold.

The subsequent dialogue included these observations:
Tim White: "I've always thought closings more valuable than openings."
Jennifer Webb: ...made the intriguing comment that "Art museums (are) associated with rich white people."
TW: Stated that in writing about art he "aims to give readers an entry point" into the work.
Ann M: Who are the gatekeepers? (They are) often looking out for the interests of the rich. Who decides what is great?

ASIDE, or rather, inside my head: At this point my mind went back to a Brown Bag Lunch discussion about the role of art in society, led by John Heino during our Red Interactive show as part of the Phantom Galleries -- Superior in 2001. Who decides what is and is not art?

TW: Here's what I saw. Is that relevant?
JW: "I don't like talking about art by itself and don't like museums." She said that she was "interested in the historical moment. Context and Intention."

ASIDE, or rather, inside my head: Stop the presses. This is yet another statement worth a deeper dive. More exploration. But it passes and we move into more territories.

CW: Writing for Native Report Christina Woods writes about Anishinaabi artists. "Know your audience. Get as much time as possible with the audience. Humanize the person being interviewed."
JW: Artspeak turns people off.
Kathy made a comment about "radical event makers."
Another divide is between what happens in the institutions and what's happening street level.

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Ed Newman, "Don's Girl -- Glowing, eXtruded"

IN THE AFTERMATH of the meeting I felt a measure of "out-of-sorts-ness" with regard to the discussion that had taken place. I wondered if we tried to hard to keep to an agenda instead of allowing the discussion topics raised lead us deeper. The dialogue felt unfocused while simultaneously remaining one inch deep and excessively wide.

Or maybe the problem was generated by my unmanaged expectations. Being surrounded by so many smart people, most smarter than I on these matters, I looked forward to asking questions, debating issues, exploring territories and topics that there's seldom real opportunity for at the workplace water cooler.

In the end the experience brought to mind Parkinson's rule about the "coefficient of inefficiency" in groups where the number of members is too large.

In expressing my frustration with another member of the group I received this reply:
"Your blog may not have a center because there really wasn’t one. So what if you wrote a conversation between the two points of view and see what happens?" Intriguing. Maybe someday.

This thought led to a question as regards which two points of view on which topic? There were so many raised with two or more points of view. Personally, I love art museums. It would have been great to have a pause button so that one topic alone could be explored in more detail. I'm planning to visit the Tweed this afternoon and am hard-pressed to understand what the downside of such museums might be.

Maybe we'll have to save that one for another space in time.

BONUS TRACK: Read Tim White's Selective Focus at PerfectDuluthDay.

Meantime, art goes on all around you. Engage it.