This post has been sitting in the draft folder for 2 years, it’s time is now…
Artists (aka makers, craftsmen & women, poets, musicians et al) are the filters for the world, we let the world in through our eyes and hearts and give back what falls out of our hands…
it’s the work that comes from the deep dreams…
the day to day of living…
the sorrows…
the joys…
the fears…
the anger…
the wonder…
the excitement…
the pain…
it’s in the process of recognizing & transforming that a life can become art
the world needs these pieces of the artist’s heart and soul…
& we give it to them…
because letting it go just makes room for more…
& really no art is made without lots of dark rich blood flowing through it, and it quite often needs a few tears of frustration and even anger & a lot of sweat and stripped back to the bare bones honesty to yourself… to get to the truth… ’cause that’s what this artist’s life is all about… finding your truth, no one else’s otherwise it’s not the real thing & it won’t speak true.
Saying all that though it also needs objectivity…
a plan can help with making art, whilst doing the degree in Visual Arts 30 years ago, the glass department was into autonomous learning but keeping an objective eye on the work by using a scientific way of looking at things-
Aim
Method
Materials
Conclusion
when I was in second year the teachers said my work wasn’t objective enough & I simply could not get my head around that, art making is a subjective experience after all!
A friend who was doing a doctorate in semantics helped me understand…
She asked, “What are you making?”
I said, “Glass dragons”
she said, “Tell me what you know about dragons.”
So I talked at length about the history of dragons in myths from all around the world & the various lizard dragons that live on earth now and in prehistoric times.
Then she asked, “How does what you know about dragons relate to the dragons you are casting in glass?”
& in that moment a light bulb came on in my head, suddenly I was able to view my art objectively, taking the me as maker/dreamer out of the work and seeing how it relates in the context of other similar work in the world.
am I an artist? or just a crafty old hippie, really it’s just a mind game… I can only make the work and hope for the best in these last few weeks before we let the Crow Show fly…
75 books are signed numbered, wrapped & ready to go… must take some photos and do a little video of Old Man Crow looking through the book…
Brass Key, Back Door detail Mo16
Selling Art – Heart & Soul
Posted: August 9, 2016 by Mo Crow in It's Crow TimeTags: bandaged hearts, bookbinding, inspiration, talismans
Comments
It's Crow Time 
The more I’ve been making lately, the more I’ve been thinking a lot about the what and why of my work . . . and I’m doing an online workshop that is taking me further in how I look at what I do so your post is really helpful. And yes, “I can only make the work and hope for the best” is really what it comes down to in the end.
Your tally is rising . . . such stunning work by you both! (Keep checking the phone box and I’ll try and find one here.)
and really looking back over the past 6 decades, is there anything better than trying to make sense of the world through our hands?
x fingers one of these telephone boxes works soon!
Great post… have a wonderful Crow Show!
thanks V!
I love your thoughts and words, but your art most of all. How fitting that Brass Key, Back Door ends the post, as this was the image that first connected me to your creative journey.
(((Liz))) that drawing is the closest I have got to abstraction in this lifetime
i feel like there is more. that where you got to with this was kind of the the prelude …or,
i was hoping, and when i saw it came to an end, i, well, wanted you to say more…i thought
you were going to, about
selling art
selling what we make
in certain ways of thinking, having the audacity to do that
or
how it seems as if it’s not thought of as honorable, unless of course, you are already deemed famous in one way or another,
and this isn’t the time, you have so much to do in just days, but ……
i am so excited for you and your old man
(((Grace))) I’ve been making and selling art or craft in one form or another for 43 years- paintings, drawings, mad hats, dancing shoes, lampshades, embroideries, feather & shell jewelry, stained glass windows, glass engraving, amulets, talismans, hand bound books, etc. I have never made a living from my work but it has always helped make ends meet. I burned all my paintings and drawings when I was 22 on a giant bonfire and embraced craft with a capital C for many years, then went back to art school for the third time in 1986 & graduated in 1989 with a BA in Visual Arts to become a gardener! Making art and selling it is not an audacious act, it is a necessity, like eating food or breathing.
PS this is the first time in a lifetime of making I have enough work on hand to fill a gallery!
Magical art, magical words ((((Mo))))
(((Carol))) it’s a real thing!
I often puzzle over that line down the middle that separates craft from art. Love your art and know the show will be a success. Thoroughly enjoyed your light bulb moment!
it’s in that liminal space in between where anything is possible…
It is the speak true part that helps us get here i think. in a more meaningful way. No matter “what” it is, what form it takes, we can feel the value in that.
and we can never know if a work has spoken it’s truth clearly until it goes out into the world, I have made many dream things straight from the heart that have crashed in the translation from dream to reality…
Great post, fabulous art. Glass dragons … now that has really captured my imagination 🙂
Eric of Dragonglass makes the best glass dragons straight from the flame, you can see a recent one here
AT LAST…..Such a long life to this moment….and how I’m vibrating good fortune for your endeavors fruition…like the cicada, cricket, katydid serenade out on Long Island where I’m lodged but for this brief two days before returning to morning chirps greeting me, wind that speaks through trees that wave in errant breezes and all manner of small wonders just be-ing. Disconnecting is a potent tonic.
I often wonder whether we will ever get out of this city alive!
Trust is such a big part of all of this, in many directions & exchanges. I loved reading & thinking on this.
and trust takes a life time
So thoughtful, honest and with integrity
Susi you’re a treasure