Too True: Words to Make Art By

"Usually the dumbest thing you do is the most important"

Perhaps one of the greatest aphorisms I've ever heard was this surreptitious comment from visiting artist Dennis Sipiorski, during his presentation as juror for the Fairbanks Arts Association's annual 64th Parallel exhibit. As I was in the front row, I also thought my POV of gold-painted cowboy boot + ubiquitous Xtra-Tuffs summed up the cultural divide between Louisiana and Alaska quite nicely.

Via Brain Pickings: All my art friends, prospective, current and former students, and aspiring talents alike will all find something to empathize with, relate to and learn from in this excerpted keynote address by sculptor Teresita Fernández, and a list of blunt perspectives from her experience like this one:

When people say your work is good do two things. First, don’t believe them. Second, ask them, “Why”? If they can convince you of why they think your work is good, accept the compliment. If they can’t convince you (and most people can’t) dismiss it as superficial and recognize that most bad consensus is made by people simply repeating that they “like” something.

Another visiting artist to our neck of the woods, Jakob Trollbäck, who was part of the excellent Alaska Design Forum's annual lecture series, had this to say when asked about his impressions of Alaska:

"So much nothing that is beautiful."