Soapbox Racer

It seems I've picked up a couple soap boxes to hop onto lately. Seems weird for me. Maybe I'm becoming old and opinionated. Not necessarily a bad thing.

The first is regarding art. I learned alot about art while working at Pageant. Mostly I learned that you can like what you like & you don't have to like what you don't like. That fact that you like it or not is not what makes it art.

When creating (whatever the medium) things change. The concept evolves as you work and the end product is yours none the less. You change your mind about that brush stroke, that note, or as is often the case for me, that choice of fabric (I've recently been trying to view my work as art since other artists have told me it is). Your piece evolves while you're creating it and what you end up with can be quite different than your intial concept. That's part of the creative process. That's part of what makes creating so fun (or frustrating). My soapbox platform is this: if you tell someone to create art, approve their concept for your exhibit & later say, in affect, "your art doesn't fit my in my bubble. here's how you can change it so it will...." THAT'S NOT RIGHT. You said to be inspired & create. That's what was done. You stepping into someone's creative process to make it "fit" in the name of "helping" I feel is manipulative. When going to an exhibit of any sort I do not expect to like every piece. Even more so, I do not expect to like every bit of every piece that I do like. I can like the concert but not every song. I can like the painting but not the color of the house. Other's probably like the bits that I don't like. THAT'S WHAT'S SO COOL ABOUT IT! Different things speak to different people. Geeze! You'd think an artist would know that.

That's enough negativity for now. Perhaps I'll rant on my other soapbox later.

P.S. Mine was not the creative process stepped on. I was just a witness who not so successfully bit her tongue.