Storytelling

Once upon a time songs, books, movies, and dances were designed around stories. Stories are what we want to see and hear. Stories are what connect us as a species. 

Think I’m wrong? Then think about the great stories we remember. “Sound of Music” or “Roots” or “Star Wars” or “The Nutcracker” are all fine examples of stories. OK? What is the greatest selling book of all time? The Bible is nothing more than lots of stories. With characters like Mary Poppins or Frankenstein or Harry Potter or Alice and her rabbit the stories can go on and on.

Going back to the early folk songs, they were sung to tell a tale that could be repeated and told again and again. Today’s songs are the same. The tell stories of love and pain and experiences we all share.

So how does this story telling relate to artwork? A painting or a drawing or sketches have to do with telling a story? Many of the old wall drawings were to tell the story of a hunt or a war. The hieroglyphics told stories etched in stone. Paintings of figures who could pay for the attention or were symbols of the moment grace museum walls. Then other paintings show us a detail of previous life telling us the story of our history. Quilts were not just constructed for warmth but to also tell a family story.

Even abstractions, whether in music, writing, movies, or artwork tells the story of the artists? For every time a person with an open mind expresses their thoughts, they are telling a story. 

It is your turn

Imagine if you will, watching an orchestra. A mass of bodies in their black outfits studying the pages in front of them patiently waiting for the conductor to beckon their participation. An impressive figure walks out of the darkness onto a podium in front of the assembled group. After flipping a few pages and acknowledging the applause of the crowd who know not what will be accomplished, turns to the performers and raises the wand.

Not many jobs require a leader to have this much power over your work or require that you blend into the crowd so to not be recognizes for your outstanding accomplishment. 

Some do rise above the class with certain virtuosity or fervor and are rewarded by being made first chair. What happens to the rest of the team? They sit and wait their turn to join the group in the belief that more is better. What about the oboe player? A difficult instrument to play yet there are very few pieces of music that will highlight the effort. Blending in with the other reeds but often lost in it’s own quiet breath. 

The strings work together to make their swirling sound while the brass accents in it volume. The percussion carries the power but what of the triangle? 

A foreign language of dots and lines only known to a few translate a composer’s thoughts into words for the musical performer. Up and down scales with assorted pitch changes and timing variations is what the player is required to read, understand, and give back with the precision of a surgeon. Smaller groups can make variations on a theme causing a unique performance but the audience wants to hear what it recognizes and questions a deviance to the norm. 

Everyone works in a similar team concept whether we know it or not. Like a football organization, each player has his or her unique place and necessary requirement to compete. Any business will acknowledge what their mission and vision is and how each position must be filled to acquire the ultimate goal.

Through our careers we claw our way through the maze of different experiences retaining some and forwarding others. Surprisingly enough during this journey each of us gets a chance to exceed. Some become followers and some become leaders as we separate our talents or perceived abilities but we all get a chance.

So I nod to the oboe player who will wait your turn. All your sweat, blood and tears is appreciated.

Social Interaction

 

As a painter or a dancer or a singer or a musician or any other performing artist, there must be social interaction to succeed in delivering your message.

Most of the social interaction must be about sales. 

A painter cannot sell a painting without some reason for it interactive with the viewer. The colors and style of presentation will not appeal to everyone, but with some explanation of the preference for the piece, the viewer may get a better understanding of the artist approach and appreciate the work better. 

A musician can write a song or piece of work but without a listener it does not fill the air. Again a title that draws a listener in can help or a video but the notes of the piece are what convinces the song to be played over again or purchases or shared.

A dancer can have acrobatic moves but until someone else watches and appreciates the amount of work put into it there is no interaction.

Artists engulf themselves in the passion and technique of their art, yet many times do not realize there is another side of presenting it to the public. 

There is the immediate satisfaction of an artist when someone stops to look or listen but that should not the full commitment of the producer. There must be social interaction to insure the viewer or listener receives the true message of the art.

Imagine it, compose it, perform it, then sell it.

Applause please

Having worked on both sides I wonder why certain jobs get applause? Celebrities or performing artist or political figures get applause when they inter a room. Rock shows and symphonies and Broadway shows get applause when their act is over.

But what about the rest of us?

Does anyone show approval for the daily struggle to provide for the family by working for someone else for a paycheck and if you accomplish the goals can possibility get a raise every now and then. Does that show appreciation for the effort?

Recently I was at an outdoor art fair walking pass tent after tent of people displaying their creations. Some were full time artisans while others portrayed works as a side business or hobby. How many hours or days or months did each put into their carvings or paintings or jewelry or textile works only to be passed by as a stream of others who do not take the time or effort to be creative walk by. 

And those who wander through the museum observing items chosen by ages to be classics do they show approval of what they see? In silence they shuffle through talent long since gone but still admired. Perhaps their presents offer enough appreciation for the artist’s vision.

So while we momentarily approve of the famous or their presentation by clapping our hands together, shouldn’t we show the same for the factory worker or the insurance salesperson or the doctor or trash collector for they all do a valuable contribution to our lives. 

Put your hands together. 

Bravo.

What is your favorite color?

Again it has been a while since I used this platform, but I realized there are lots of others out here who have ideas, opinions, and tips for trying to be creative. 

So I will continue to present ideas or listen to opinions or even share some old tips from my catalog of knowledge on the subject but will temper my writing with some odd comments that might just make the reader think. That was the idea in the first place.

So I will ask, “what is your favorite color?” 

As a graphic person I started out with a box of crayons. Eight little waxy color sticks wrapped in paper. Primary colors on a limited size newsprint paper were my pallet. 

Then there were more colors and more colors. The medium changed from crayons to pencils to ink to paint. The paper changed to canvas and the art turned into blending available colors into new variations. 

A vast array of possibilities presented themselves to me, but was it too many?

I look upon an orchestra and think of the third chair violin. He or she will not get the solo parts or the accolades from the conductor but will accept the applause the same as the first chair. There is a reason to be there and without that part of the orchestra something would be missing.

The same is true for the performer who works in the background behind the leads. They fill in and present the substance for the lead dancer or singer to work from.  

Like the painter who exhibits in a gallery next to others, some know and revered and others struggling, without their presentation there is no variety. 

So as I look at the box of colors they are all important.  

Have you ever watched?

Someone creating something allow you the access to look over his or her shoulder and observe the process.

There are videos of painters, musicians, and dancers practicing their trade but it is different when the creator is oblivious to you being there.

A friend of mine calls it “parallel play” which is being in the same space without bothering each other and feeling free to follow individual inspiration.

To stand next to a creation taking place, I suppose that is what festivals and concerts are about, the performing artist in live action before an audience, but so few quietly appreciate what is appearing before them.

An artist who can absorb themselves in their art without the annoyance of another presence can be revealing and inspirational.

Promote Yourself

As an artist, you realize what inspires you to create but can you show anyone else how to get that feeling.

Your art will speak for itself but in the world of changing ideas and expectations, your inspirations into a career to make a suitable living to survive may need to be promoted.

Make a name for yourself.

Not just a name; an image. A brand.

Take a look at the magazines at the grocery store while waiting to check out. Pretty faces and big headlines that are interchangeable, but people pick them up and flip through the pages while stacking their cereals and cheese slices and diapers on the moving rubber belt, mesmerized by the activities of these people.

Of course, this just doesn’t happen.

One must put down the creative side and put on the “business” side.

One must appear in events, rub elbows with those in the production industry, those who are already in the local conversation columns, those whose names are passed around to impress others in the name.

So what is the magic formula?

There is none, BUT with that said, there are some typical actions to take.

1. Know others (networking) in the same art form. Hang out with them. Observe their art.
2. Evaluate what their work offers, then take a close look are your work. Do you want to continue to go down the same road or change?
3. Present yourself and your ideas. Don’t sit back, explain your art as you see it and listen to responses.
4. Take the criticisms and comments as positive instructional education.
5. Most important, observe what other’s trend to. This is your audience and to be successful, which means you will produce art that will pay the bills; you must perform to their approval.

You can be shy and create your art at home, but to be successful, you must promote yourself.