Please allow 30 seconds for the audio to load
- Is meaning important to art?
- Are certain meanings more suitable for art?
- What is art for art’s sake?
- Is meaning the same as communicating an idea?
- What devices do we use to point toward certain meanings in our work?
In the first session, Marina Ross poses questions regarding our feelings for meaning in art and how we develop meaning in our practices. Many of the artists in the group use the process of collaboration in their practice. We discuss the idea of meaning verses intention and function. Sessa Englund mentions that part of her concept is to obscure intention. ‘Art for art’s sake’ begins with an artist wanting to scratch an itch but may have larger implications when it deals with the idea of changing people’s perspectives. We deal with how an artist establishes a voice that can be heard across many types of materials. Nico Brown explains how an interest in watercolor or decorating his room always reveal his aesthetic. We find that meaning is subject to the read of an audience while communicating certain ideas may be more straight-forward. Michael Fleming states the in good work, something spiritual or about the artist’s intention will translate to an audience while in bad work, it will not. This isn’t always a direct translation but a certain amount of energy is able to be travel from the artist to the audience.
