SPOTLIGHT ON ... ARTICLE
November 2007

Capturing Your Vision, Creating Your Artistic Voice
Written by: Lisa Kan

I'll start this month's article off by quoting the painter, James McNeill Whistler, who aptly stated that "an artist is not paid for his labor but for his vision." How true that is. Payment is not necessarily monetary either, as there are many intangible rewards. As a novice, in the beginning, one naturally focuses on other's works. There are no excuses allowed, at a certain stage your personal artistic growth truly does not begin until you make a shift to find your own voice. Anyone can build skills to duplicate a design, but it is the visionary that has the authenticity of originality, creating from their intangible ideas developing them into tangible creations. The visionary takes calculated risks, sometimes making mistakes, but keeps on treading forward to make things happen despite possible setbacks. And no matter how long it takes, they are adamant and persistent about achieving their goal to create that MASTERPIECE.

With that introduction, recently I had some time to catch up on my magazine reading and I was thumbing through the summer issue of The Flow Magazine, a glass-related quarterly publication. Milon Townsend's article on "Creativity" piqued my interest. Milon spoke about documenting your ideas on a moment's notice, to keep pen and paper close at hand, as ideas come and go. Interestingly, he found a pattern where his best ideas always occurred during or after a hot shower. For me, it's more random.

Even before reading Milon's article, I often carry a notepad and pen in my purse for this purpose. Once I was in a movie theater and while sitting there I heard some words in one of the previews that triggered me to reach for my notepad. Oh no, it wasn't in my purse (why wasn't it there?), so I quickly grabbed any piece of paper and jotted down the words. These little bits of paper that I have collected in similar situations are priceless treasures that may lead to many possible grand designs. I'm sure of it! They only have meaning to me and may make no sense to you. Some of these notes are just a few words and others are rough sketches. Some ideas are immediately explored while others may just "live on paper" until it's the right time. Some papers get lost or misplaced only to be found during those aha! moments, come to save the day.

Did you just get that? Did I lose you? Are you still awake? I just wrote "live on paper". Yes ideas begin to have life when they are written down. And when you are ready to explore these ideas, they may undergo a metamorphosis and become much more than you first imagined. It takes time to cultivate an idea. No one just sits down and creates wonderful works of art. There may actually be many instances where designs are created, taken apart, and recreated only to go back to the drawing board during the prototyping stage. If that's what it takes, that's what it takes. Don't finish a design if you are not happy with it during the creative process. It's better to start over. I know the dreaded words "start over" bothers and scare a lot of people. Rest and a good night's sleep sometimes bring new light to a dilemma too.

So when is a vision a good idea? When it is attempted and executed, even if it's not successfully at first, it may grow into an even grander idea later. When is a vision a bad idea? When it is not attempted thus ever given the chance to develop or "live".

When inspiration strikes, you may not always have the time to immediately delve right in and explore. Some ideas may go unexplored or are forgotten temporarily to be revisited many days, months and even years before it takes fruition. I don't think one necessarily has to rush into an idea without first planning the execution. I have a few ideas that took me several years to plan in my mind and then when it finally was the right time to execute, the design came together more quickly than without forethought. You will know when it's the right time. Perhaps you are one to just jump right in, design as you go, and wing it. There is a place and time for that also.

Let's go through an exercise. Look through any magazine with plenty of photos. Flip through and stop at the first ad that catches your eye. It may be the colors, the composition, the subject, the catch phrase, a company slogan, whatever that may have stopped you and said "look at me". Study this photo. In marketing and advertising, this is known as "branding" but I would like to refer to this as "telling a story" through words or images. The two images below tell a story and is a clever ad campaign.

The ad tells a story and catches your eye. When you create what do you want to convey to your audience and what is the story you wish to tell them? Creating a piece of jewelry is very much like designing a clever ad because you want to capture the attention of the viewer. You can tell your story with the types of beads you select, evoke a certain mood with the color choices, create a theme by naming your piece or perhaps have historical influences to the creation. And then, there are times where there is no story and jewelry is just created for fun. And, that's okay. This is one major attribute that separates jewelry by the crafter from jewelry by the artist.

An artist desires to have a unique voice in their art medium. This can be viewed as the artist's style or "signature look". The artist likes to traverse off the beaten path and not follow trends or copies someone else's designs. The crafter is more concerned about finishing their project so they can wear it or sell it quickly. The artist will wait until their art is ready to be completed with the right materials at the right time for that "perfect ending to a perfect story".

What inspires us to create? When you see a finished design at a show, in a magazine, in a book, or on a website, etc. don't you naturally stop yourself to perhaps admire the design and even critique it. It is natural to pick out elements you like and elements you may not like about a design. We are all critics. What may be pleasing to some may not be to another. There will always be the natural inclination also for people to compare one artist to another. This can't be avoided, especially if their styles are similar. In the age of the Internet Super Highway, information travels fast and we are constantly in a race to be the first to create the next fantabulous jewelry. It's not a race, slow down and think about your artistic voice in your next creation. It's very easy for people to take what you work so hard to create too, which unfortunately can't be avoided. You are the visionary! Don't tread in someone else's shadow, create your own limelight. And if you design from your heart, use quality materials and create what you love - instead of what is popular, trendy or based solely on economics (what sells) - you will continually be rewarded by the creative process and create work that speaks to others.

Lisa Kan is a glass bead artist, jewelry designer and writer. As an avid researcher and bead purveyor, she hopes to share her knowledge about beads through her writings. Look for her first book, Bead Romantique, published by Interweave Press to be released April 2008. Her book is available for pre-ordering on Amazon.com and Interweave Press. You may view more of her work on her website, www.LisaKan.com or email comments about this article to LisaKanDesigns@yahoo.com