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January 1, 2006

things that have never been

by gl. at 11:19 am

"now let's welcome the new year, full of things that have never been." (rilke)

the scarlet star studios site hasn't even been around for a full year yet, but it feels like we've done at least some of what we've wanted to do w/ the blog: write as part of the creative process, talking about creative experiments as well as creative successes.

mph writes in "who knew":

The thing that’s pretty cool about what’s going on over at ScarletStarStudios’ blog is the way stuff is getting documented. You get to see what’s being done as it’s done, you get to read about the decisions that are being made to make stuff happen, and you get a stronger sense of the “ferment” part of “creative ferment” instead of being reduced to spectator status where it’s the “consumer’s” job to wait passively until Art is Presented for Appreciation.

I think it must be fairly hard to be that honest, because other artblogs I’ve come across sometimes stumble into an attempt at creative transparency that becomes a sort of droning lecture on how perfectly the process was executed instead of a conversation or narrative about the inevitable pitfalls along the way. The “lecture” format inevitably ends back where lectures do … a black box that spits out Art for Consumption.

That isn’t to say that I think every artist or creative type should be a documentarian. It isn’t going to be for everybody. It’s kind of the same with corporate blogging and the Cult of the “Authentic Voice.” Some people have it, and their company blogs are a credit to their company and themselves; other people don’t and they’re just part of the branding strategy.

which makes me breathe a huge sigh of relief. he gets it! i write what i want to read, and mph's description of creative transparency is exactly what i want to read. :) i'm fascinated by the creative process, which is just one of the reasons why i facilitate the artist's way.

another reason we like to write is because one of our "problems" is that we're inspired to create in lots of different mediums, and sven & i create in entirely different modes. our breadth is unusual, and this is a "problem" for most art marketing, which wants you to be rarified in your niche. but writing about what we do lets us cross-pollinate to create strange and fascinating flowers. jane levy campbell called us "a real Renaissance pair!" when she discovered our site and i thought that was one of the best compliments we could have received.

i also write to maintain my momentum. this might seem contradictory because writing about the art we make takes a lot of time. but i'm beginning to formulate a newtonian art theorem: a body in motion tends to stay in motion; a body at rest tends to stay at rest. if i stop making art, then it's harder to start again. writing gives me enough of a break to breathe without allowing me to come to a full stop where inertia might claim me. writing is another form of creation, and it often helps to clarify & reinspire the next project or step.

and of course, we write because we've been inspired by the writing of others. we've gotten a lot of traffic lately from animateclay & the stopmo boards (hi, there!), a couple of the many sites that have fed sven's recent insatiable research in stop-motion animation. so it's great to think we have something to give back. but stick around! we may not always write about stop motion, but we'll always write about something interesting and fun!

posted by gl. | January 1, 2006 11:19 AM | categories: miscellany